Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Galaxy Win at Toyota Park; Beat The Fire 2-0

LA Galaxy 2, Chicago Fire 0
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Toyota Park — Bridgeview, Ill.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Mike Magee 2 (Jovan Kirovski 1) 23’
LA – Landon Donovan 10 (Mike Magee 6, Jovan Kirovski 2) 54’

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Stefani Miglioranzi (Yellow Card) 43’
CHI – John Thorrington (Yellow Card) 61’
LA – Donovan Ricketts (Yellow Card) 72’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts (Josh Saunders 85’), A.J. DeLaGarza, Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunivant, Stefani Miglioranzi, Dema Kovalenko (Chris Klein 46’), Chris Birchall (Tony Sanneh 68’), Landon Donovan©, Mike Magee, Jovan Kirovski.

Subs Not Used: Leonard Griffin, Kyle Patterson, Alan Gordon, Bryan Jordan.

Chicago Fire: Jon Busch, Austin Washington, Dasan Robinson, Wilman Conde, Brandon Prideaux (Mike Banner 64’), Logan Pause (Justin Mapp 64’), John Thorrington, Chris Rolfe (Stefan Dimitrov 78’), Marco Pappa, Cuauhtemoc Blanco©, Patrick Nyarko

Subs Not Used: Andrew Dykstra, C.J. Brown, Peter Lowry, Calen Carr.

Notes:
• With the win, the Galaxy are now 8-4-10 on the season, giving them 34 points. LA is now alone in second place in the Western Conference, two points ahead of third place Seattle and five points behind first place Houston, who are tied for the MLS lead with 39 points on the season.
• The win is the first at Toyota Park in four tries for the Galaxy, who had previously lost three MLS games and the 2006 U.S. Open Cup here at the Bridgeview, Ill. stadium.
• Bruce Arena made four changes to the team that lost 2-0 to Seattle on Saturday at The Home Depot Center. Chris Birchall, Landon Donovan, Dema Kovalenko and Mike Magee were all drafted into the lineup in place of David Beckham, Alan Gordon, Chris Klein and Eddie Lewis. Beckham and Lewis each missed the game while serving one-game suspensions for red cards that they picked up against the Sounders while Gordon and Klein began tonight’s game on the bench.
• In addition to Beckham and Lewis, the Galaxy were without four players, with Edson Buddle, Alecko Eskandarian, Sean Franklin, and Julian Valentin all missing the game through injury.
• Chris Birchall made the first start of his MLS career in tonight’s game. His first two league appearances had come as a second half substitute.
• Landon Donovan was also back in the starting lineup as the Galaxy captain after starting Saturday’s game on the bench. He made the 200th regular season appearance of his MLS career in the game.
• Dema Kovalenko made his first appearance in a regular season game since the 2-0 loss to Real Salt Lake on June 13. He has missed the last eight league games while recovering from a left calf injury.
• Kovalenko left the game at half time with a right heel injury.
• Mike Magee’s goal in the 22nd minute was his second of the season, with both coming on the road. A native of Chicago, Magee has four career assists against the Fire, but this was his first goal.
• Jovan Kirovski assisted on the goal for his first assist in an MLS game since August 26, 2007 when he set up a Conor Casey goal for the Colorado Rapids in a 3-0 win over the Galaxy at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
• Kirovski also assisted on Landon Donovan’s goal in the 54th minute for his second assist of the game. This is the second time in his MLS career that Kirovski has collected two assists in a game and the first since May 28, 2005 in a 2-0 Galaxy win over Chivas USA.
• Donovan’s goal in the 54th minute was the 10th of the season, placing him in a three-way tie with Guillermo Barros Schleotto and Fredy Montero for second place in the league in goals this season, one behind the MLS leader, Conor Casey of Colorado who has 11.
• The goal was the 94th of Donovan’s MLS career and he now has 10 or more goals in five of his nine seasons in the league.
• Mike Magee also assisted on Donovan’s goal for his team-leading sixth assist of the season, setting a new career-high.
• Donovan Ricketts, who played 85 minutes, recorded his first clean sheet since June 28, when the Galaxy shutout the Houston Dynamo at The Home Depot Center 1-0. Ricketts did not face a shot on goal. Saunders came in off the bench to replace Ricketts. Saunders did not face a shot on goal either in his five minutes on the field.
• Stefani Miglioranzi was booked in the 43rd minute for a foul on Cuauhtemoc Blanco. It was Miglioranzi’s fourth yellow card of the season, placing him on official warning. If Miglioranzi gets a yellow card in any of the Galaxy’s next three games he will be forced to serve a one-game suspension.
• Chris Klein entered the game at halftime, replacing Dema Kovalenko, stretching his MLS record consecutive games played streak to 137.
• The Galaxy are now 6-0-4 against Eastern Conference teams this season, including a 4-0-1 mark on the road.
• The attendance for today’s game was 20,000.
• The Galaxy are back in action on Saturday, August 22 when they continue their road trip with a visit to RFK Stadium to take on D.C. United. That game can be seen live on Fox Soccer Channel starting at 4:30 p.m. (PT).
• For more about tonight’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great win guys keep it up, david who?

Anonymous said...

We caught a demoralized Chicago napping and stole 3 points.

Very laughable herbalife "Galaxy" fans section. Anything for national TV audience. Sad that Chicago can't sell out a 20,000 seat stadium on their own.

Now let's go after a tired DC and come home sitting pretty in the standings.

charlesj27 said...

Great work, LA Galaxy team. Good to see some LA Galaxy supporters and jerseys out at Toyota Park. I really hope Sir Don is still okay, and not badly knocked. How / when did Dema pick up this new injury (ie: right heel)? I hope this is not going side-line him again. Please, NO! Chris Birchall and Tony Sanneh - boy - more work during training, guys. Very impressed again with AJ, Omar, and Landon. Mike, Jovan, and Todd have stepped it up a bit now. Good! Now, onto the next game against an original, old foe... I hope for another good, strong showing from our team. Great collective effort from our team, again. Nice!

Anonymous said...

That's what I'm talking about! Let's go G's! There's still 24 points out there for grabs. So, let's go get them! Next, let's take down our nation's capital!

GalaxyTRUfan said...

Great,well played game on the pitch. Hats off to Magee for keeping the pressure on up top, well deserved goal. LD will win the golden boot award,awesome finish on his goal. Defense was sterdy,my fav AJ played like he's capable of,seattles game as I stated,the WHOLE TEAM looked tired,so hats off to the defense,total team effort ...

Anonymous said...

I say, Gordon who!
Great line up. Great game!!!!

Anonymous said...

charles27, you're improving too. Keep it up, I mean down to a minimum.

Anonymous said...

Oh Meg, where are you?
Come out and play. These guys are boring me. I'll be Nicole if you want to trash talk!

MEG said...

Hi Anonymous, I am still here. Worried about Nicole she must be devastated after the red card and the suspensiom but he is back tomorrow. I would be happy to support her through this extremely difficult time for her. I did comment on Charles' vast experience of 3 years watching football and the odd pick up game qualifying him as the next big Real signing but it didn't get published. Agree, all this nice stuff is sooooooo boring!

Anonymous said...

Meg,

The bond between me and David is beyond fan and a soccer player. Thank you for your sincere offer of support but I must face this alone.

Yes, I suffer with every tackle on his legs or elbow to his perfect face. I wince with every twist of his ankle or stubbed toe on the foresaken field-turfs around this damned league. You mortals cannot comprehend such connections or such sufferings.

I pitty you, I pitty you, I pitty you.

Nicole Beckham

PS - I couldn't watch the game against Chicago without him. I'm sorry but I just coudn't.

charlesj27 said...

Meg,
Good to hear from you. Honest. I guess my verbose, boring, repetitious, drone-like, "outta my @$$" comments invites the "forth-rightedness" in folks. And, I know you meant it as a 'jab' - but, even I know that 3 years worth of watching football doesn't amount to mountain's worth of beans. Next big Real signing, huh? Believe me, I know my own abilities - I am certainly not all that. Never in my posts did I ever claim to be all that; that's just how countless others have perceived it / conjured it up to be.
Oops, I think I ticked off Anonymous again - I went over my word limit!

Anonymous said...

"I guess my verbose, boring, repetitious, drone-like, "outta my @$$" comments ..."

Nobody comments outta his @$$ like that c27. Yours is a calculated, methodical and surgical attack on the Galaxy by a scorned AYSO coaching failure. You're determined to take Bruce's job before the end of the season. I say give it up and go after the Red Bulls coaching vacancy.