Friday, June 12, 2009

Preparations Complete; Galaxy Ready for Real

We'll have the next installment of This Week Inside the Galaxy up in a few hours, but we'll start to get you ready for Saturday's game with some notes, facts and figures. Real Salt Lake get into town tonight aboard their new RSL inspired JetBlue aircraft, but while they were getting ready to travel, the Galaxy were training here at The Home Depot Center.

As is usually the case the day before a game, Bruce and the coaches ran the players through their set pieces, what they expect from RSL and how they will matchup against that at both ends of the field.

With Landon away in South Africa, a number of players stepped forward to say that they would take the penalties if the Galaxy were awarded one, including this guy.
After everyone took their penalties, the group divided up with some doing some finishing drills and others passing and juggling before heading inside for their daily post-training video session.
While that was going on at one end of the field, there was a highly entertaining 5v5 game going on with the small goals. In that game, Cobi (seen below with Yohance Marshall) and a few of the senior players took on Tristan (seen with his former Galaxy U-20 teammate Michael Stephens)and many of the young guns. We didn't get a final score on the game (if there even was one) but you could tell that bragging rights were on the line for both sides. The old guys definitely did not want to lose to the kids and the kids clearly wanted to show the old guard that they were ready to take them on!

Be sure to read the latest View from the Booth by Mark Rogondino where he discusses the dangerous RSL attack as well as the importance of Donovan Ricketts, who Rogondino believes should be an All-Star this season.

Larry Morgan also checks in with the guys as they look for wins and try to complete the season sweep of Real Salt Lake.

The MLSnet.com staff also breaks down all the numbers and all the matchups in the game preview with even more nuggets of information in the game guide.

Here is what A.J., Eddie and Edson had to say about Saturday's game.
A.J.


Eddie


Edson

Lastly, here is what a few of the guys back in Salt Lake had to say about this game.



Also, don't forget to arrive early for tomorrow's Alumni Game at 5 p.m. and the World Spicy Topokki Eating Contest at 6:30 p.m. where you will be able to see This Week Inside the Galaxy's own Troy Bardy attempt to win a fantastic cash prize and other goodies from our friends at the Korean Ministry of Food. The club is also collecting new, unwrapped toys as part of the Summer Santa Program, which you can learn more about here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bring toys for the Summer Santa Toy Drive. They have a list of toys you can bring on lagalaxy.com.
I did a little shopping for it today.
I cant wait for the game tomorrow!

charlesj27 said...

Guys,
Thanks for the training updates with some pics. Can't wait until tomorrow. I hope the LA Galaxy, above all esle, play with guts, purpose, fight, and togetherness! Yes, I would like them to win very much... but, let's also be realistic - RSL have Yura, Robbie, Clint, Javier, Fabian, and Will as their YOUNG, FAST, ATTACKING options. My fear is that our players in trying to stop them get carded. Tomorrow's game cannot be played with tackling - it has to be played with smart positioning, shielding, and most of all fast & accurate passing. All of our players need to keep the rhythm, pace, and composure at all times!
I got my toy-shopping done for the Summer Santa Toys donation program.
Good luck, LA Galaxy - hope tomorrow is a very strong, good game where we get our three points - at HOME!