Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Locker Room Reaction

Edson Buddle's 12th minute goal proved to be all the offense LA Galaxy needed to beat Club Sport Herediano, 1-0, at The Home Depot Center on Tuesday night. Replay the Cover It Live match blog here.

Bruce Arena...


Edson Buddle...


Leo Griffin...

8 comments:

charlesj27 said...

Just got back from the HDC. Great exhibition game. Congrats to the team, but especially to the trialists who came together at short notice to play with the rest of the youngsters. Great job in managing to score, getting the lead, holding onto the lead, and thus, winning the game! Proud of our guys!
Thanks very much to the Angel City Brigade and Riot Squad members for showing up, and supporting. Great effort by our supporters' groups. Good number of Costa Rican national fans and a few SC Herediano fans attended. I am glad that Bruce, Dave, adn Cobi are taking serious, good looks at these trialists - they held their own, and performed adequately! And, it really helps that they are all under 30! Thank you, scouts - whoever you are.

charlesj27 said...

Here's my rating of our guys from this game [1=Crappy & Horrible -> 5=Very Good & Skilled]:
#14 - Edson B , 4.2 (Smart, crafty, timed through balls - while trying his best to maintain posession; and, took chances toward net a bit more too!)
#27 - Bryan J , 3.9 (I absolutely admire Bryan's guts, raw energy, and fight - no other player has that level of commitment!!!)
#17 - Tristan B , 2.3 (Tristan may have shooting skills on net - but, he was lagging for number of minutes and plays,; his positioning and communication with the midfield was also severely lacking)
#29 - Mark Haskins , 3.9 (Mark is capable of getting a much better score if he continues to play longer with this team and understand each of the players' positioning, timing, and movements; but, he handled his position as left-mid quite well... finally, a player that gives us mobility & flank options whiel going forward)
# 15 - Stefani M , 3.8 (Stefani made some intelligent and important interceptions, as well as thwarting dangerous plays from developing out of midfield)
# 9 - Jovan K , 3.2 (I know that Jovan does not have the speedy wheels anymore; OK, that's understandable - but, there were plays that he could have stopped from the opposing team if he just had more fitness, practice, and attitude; But, I did see him try as best as he could against a much younger SC Herediano team to keep up, and try to set-up either Stefani, or the flank players, or the forwards)
# 30 - Kyle P , 3.9 (Kyle stepped up his game very much in this game - plus, he maintained posession for us quite a bit, as much as he could even after being double-teamed; it was a very energetic & attacking option on right-wing)

charlesj27 said...

Continuation of rating from above:
# 20 - AJ D , 3.4 (Yes, AJ is young & has speed; so, he can catch up to players to defend; that's true! However, he is also second-guessing himself a LOT!; that can lead to turn-overs; So, what does he do so as not to lose posession - keep passing it back towards the center; but, he is also a rookie - new to MLS level of play; with more coaching; more games; and conitnued playing - he will make a very good wing-back option in MLS)
#16 - Gregg Berhalter , 3.8 (Gregg has tons of experience, smarts, and good reading of plays - and, he is a good commander & captain of the back-line; but, he is aged & will get burned by fast, side-stepping, jolting forwards; plus, he made some passing mistakes tonight)
#24 - Julian Valentin , 4.0 (Julian played very carefully nad always checked both his sides - right & left to make sure that a tight, coordinated line was kept; plus, he is trying his best to be that communicator, as well; he deserves to be coached; to be given many chances; and to play regularly; come on LA Galaxy - let's not lose him!)
#3 - Leonard G , 3.4 (Leo could definitely get a higher score, I'm sure; but, he too was lacking accuracy, coordination, confidence at various points in this game; I know he is coming off from an inury - but, he needs to be more tougher and sure of himself; but, he has to keep practicing - there were quite a few times his challenges could have been card-offenses!)
#34 - Jamil Fearrington , 4.0 (Jamil played incredibly smartly; he is patient; methodical; and always checks his relative positioning with the rest of the line - GOOD! Plus, he maintains positioning and feeds balls forward to help the midfielders in attack; good showing as a right back!)
#25 - Fred Murray , 3.7 (Fred is not as tall as Gregg nor Julian, but he makes up for it in good left-footed passes and positioning; he reads the building up of opposition play well; I feel he might make a much better left-back than a center-back. I guess he can play both positions; but, he has a gift for wide-play; however, if he stays - he will get more acclamated to our (US/MLS style and pace)
#12 - Josh Saunders , 3.0 (Josh did make some good/important saves; but, he also dropped a couple of gimmes, too; he looks better than the beginning of the season - but, he has to spend much more time with Ian, the team, and with other goal-keepers to get better; the only way he will ever have a chance in MLS regular play-time is if he strictly practices over and over again; a goal-keeper's necessity is assuredness, decisiveness, resolve, and ownership of the 18-yard box)

Anonymous said...

This match proved one glaring problem in MLS. The lack of a reserve program.

While MLS used to have a reserve program it was never complete, just ask the ticket reps and office staff who had to step in to fill out the roster.

Many of the players were lagging. This is due to a lack of fitness. Sure you can drill the heck out of the players in practice, but nothing keeps the body ready for the demands of a 90 minute match like a 90 minute match.

It is high time that Don Garber pulled his head out and took time to think about the league development. YES, we should expand the league into cities like Philadelphia. But we shouldn't give up the reserve program to save money, and then spend that money expanding. What ultimately ends up happening is that the quality of the league suffers without a reserve program.

BrownieACB said...

#24 - Julian Valentin , 4.0
the ACB love this guy be cause 1) he's punkrock, and c)he is evil when it comes to defending that dude hurts people after awhile the guy he was blocking started to stay away cuz he didnt want to get hit anymore, Julian "DESTROY EVERYTHING" Valentin

Anonymous said...

Was this game necessary? Pain must Explain!

Was blowing a bonus game worth all this hassle?

BrownieACB said...

Anonymous said...
Was this game necessary? Pain must Explain!

Was blowing a bonus game worth all this hassle?

last year we had none this year we have three ac milan, barc, snd this one.so get over it, plus we got to see people that we never get to see like jules. so whatever, before you say it ill stop you and say "no one got hurt" so forget it, i bet you didnt even go so you wasted your ticket... ROCK AND ROLL GALAXY

Anonymous said...

"i bet you didnt even go so you wasted your ticket... "

I was one of the 5 people in the stadium you idiot. The point is that this should have been a scrimmage open to a few of us who are interested. It would have cost them a lot less to give people credit for next year than to open up the stadium.