Sunday, June 28, 2009

Galaxy Snap Two-Game Losing Streak; Defeat Houston 1-0

LA Galaxy 1, Houston Dynamo 0
Sunday, June 28, 2009
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Todd Dunivant 1 (Mike Magee 4) 24’

Misconduct Summary:
HOU – Mike Chabala (Yellow Card) 54’
HOU – Bobby Bosewell (Yellow Card) 56’
LA – Edson Buddle (Yellow Card) 56’
HOU – Geoff Cameron (Yellow Card) 81’
LA – Mike Magee (Yellow Card) 89’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts, A.J. DeLaGarza, Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez (Tony Sanneh 62’), Todd Dunivant, Stefani Miglioranzi, Eddie Lewis© (Chris Klein 84’), Jovan Kirovski, Mike Magee, Alan Gordon (Bryan Jordan 72’), Edson Buddle.

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Leonard Griffin, Josh Tudela, Kyle Patterson.

Houston Dynamo: Pat Onstad, Richard Mulrooney, Bobby Boswell, Geoff Cameron, Mike Chabala, Corey Ashe, Brad Davis, Stuart Holden, Brian Mullan (Dominic Oduro 75’), Kei Kamara (Cam Weaver 73’), Brian Ching©.

Subs Not Used: Tally Hall, Julius James, Craig Waibel, John Michael Hayden, Ade Akinbiyi.

Notes:
• With the win the Galaxy are now 3-3-9 on the season, giving them 18 points. LA remains in sixth place in the Western Conference, one point behind fifth place Real Salt Lake and three points behind fourth place Colorado for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
• Bruce Arena made two changes to the team that lost 2-1 to the San Jose Earthquakes at Oakland Alameda Coliseum last weekend. Alan Gordon and Eddie Lewis returned to the starting XI, replacing Chris Klein and Kyle Patterson, each of who started the game on the bench.
• Joining Klein and Patterson on the bench was goalkeeper Josh Saunders who had not been in the 18-man squad for either of the last two games as a result of a right ankle injury. Kevin Guppy had served as the back-up goalkeeper in each of the last two games.
• The Galaxy were also without the injured Sean Franklin and Julian Valentin who are both on the Disabled List with hamstring and knee injuries respectively. Dema Kovalenko was also out for the second straight game with a left calf contusion.
• Yohance Marshall missed the game after joining the USL-1’s Austin Aztex on loan. He played 90 minutes on Saturday in their 2-2 draw at Cleveland, a game that Israel Sesay had two assists in.
• Landon Donovan also missed the game while with the U.S. National Team at the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa. He scored in the 27th minute of the 3-2 loss to Brazil in the Final of that tournament. He will return to Los Angeles next week ahead of the game against New England on July 4.
• Todd Dunivant’s goal in the 24th minute gave the Galaxy a 1-0 lead. It was his first-ever goal as a member of the Galaxy and his first goal in MLS since August 30, 2006 when he was a member of the New York Red Bulls.
• The goal was the second game-winning goal of Dunivant’s MLS career and his first since his MLS debut on April 13, 2003 as a member of the San Jose Earthquakes in a 2-1 win over Colorado.
• Mike Magee assisted on Dunivant’s goal, tying him with Landon Donovan for the team-lead with four assists on the season.
• Omar Gonzalez left the game in the 62nd minute with cramping in both hamstrings and was replaced by Tony Sanneh. His departure marked the first time this season that Gonzalez had not played the full 90 minutes in a regular season game.
• Donovan Ricketts kept a clean sheet for the third time this season and improving his record on the season to 3-2-8. His three clean sheets are more than the Galaxy kept in all of 2008.
• Chris Klein entered the game in the 84th minute, stretching his MLS record consecutive games played streak to 130.
• The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Galaxy and gave them their first win since June 6 at Toronto. Prior to tonight, their last win at home was a 1-0 win over New York on May 2.
• Before tonight, the Dynamo had been the only MLS team that the Galaxy had never beaten in a regular season game at The Home Depot Center. The Galaxy had been 0-2-2 all-time at home against the Dynamo.
• The win was the Galaxy’s first of the season against a team from the Western Conference. LA is now 1-3-6 on the season against the West.
• The Galaxy win snapped the Dynamo’s 11-game unbeaten streak, giving them their first loss since April 4.
• The Galaxy wore their all-blue uniforms for just the second time this season and for just the second time at home in an MLS game since the uniform debuted in July 2007. LA is now 1-0-1 in the blue’s this season and 1-1-0 in them at home all-time.
• The attendance for today’s game was 17,938.
• The Galaxy are back in action on Saturday, July 4 when they welcome Landon Donovan back to the squad for a game against the New England Revolution. The game kicks off at 8 p.m. and can be seen live on Fox Soccer Channel with a fireworks extravaganza to follow the game.
• For more about this afternoon’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.

6 comments:

charlesj27 said...

Congrats to our players for playing so gritty and tough so as to hold down the fort at home. Aprreciate the hard work & effort. Appreciate the WIN (3 points)!
It was by no means, sensational, flowing, accurate football - NO - it was not. But, it was a display of strength and will where hard, hard work from Jovan, Eddie, Edson, Gregg, AJ (AJ has been improving tremendously in a few games - I am so impressed with his progress), Stefani, and Mike. Alan - dude - I know you played with considerable effort - but, lord, Alan's touch is like a 14 ft clown shoes going at goal with the ball. Crimony - so many one-timers he missed!!!
Where is Dema? Please tell us!
Edson cannot be tasked with trying to go on goal when marked by two-to-three Houston Dynamo players. Come on guys - where is the relief & help? Where is the three-person triangles? And, where is the four-person offset-quadrangle / stretching pendulum/anchor? I know someone has to teach these guys this - someone should be spending time on this? We served so many hopeful balls either to the side or in the center... but, it usually ended-up near a Houston Dynamo player.
I'm sorry to hear about Omar's hamstring cramp/tweak... but, leaving us in the back with both Gregg and Tony was NOT smart... DO NOT do that when we play Real Salt Lake, Colorado... oh, heck - do not do that - period! We're getting burned continuously with the lack of speed in the down the center. Come on, Bruce - please - we need players BELOW age 34 years of age!!!
And, of course - blessed be Donovan Ricketts - who made so many important, life-extending saves for us!
Next Saturday - we face New England... another, young, speedy, counter-attacking team.
Guys - please tell the coaches that the players need to continue top wear the ALL BLUES!!! It works!

Anonymous said...

Blue and Gold rocks so much more; awesome

those 3 points were unexpected, but we can use them sure enough.

hope Omar is allright soon again

Anonymous said...

Well Played,3 points well deserved,hard fought football. Our 1-touch definetly needs working on,and our centerbacks need to settle down and make timely runs.Players of the match would go to both our outside backs, TODD & A.J. I have to agree with Charlesj27's comment about AJ,he has improved each and every game,especially the last 3 games.I think A.J is starting to get comfortable with his new position,and is starting to make timely offensive runs,and looked very fresh towards the end of the game, he has some beautiful speed,
and definetly shut-down Ashe whenever he was on AJ's side.
Buddle played his heart out,he kept the defenders on there heels most of the night.

Philip Wang said...

"The Galaxy win snapped the Dynamo’s 111-game unbeaten streak, giving them their first loss since April 4."

111 games? Those guys are monsters! ;)

Mark Villa Sec.132 said...

Way to go guys. I am so happy you won the game. The effort was great and I hope that it will escalate to amazing. I was ecstatic with the play of almost everyone,(there were two midfield selections I just don't understand, but that can wait for some other time)and was overwhelmed by both Mr. Ricketts and Mr. De La Garza. Freakin awesome both of 'em. With that kind of play and tenacity, I am a happy fan and I hope the boys can maintain that level of fight.

When do we get Dema back?

BeepBeep said...

Galaxy should wear the all-blue uniforms in every home game. if you walk around the HDC you'll see that most fans favor the blue jersey over the white ones.