More than 93,000 fans were at the Rose Bowl tonight to see the Galaxy go toe-to-toe with the reigning European Champions, Barcelona. In the end, the Galaxy fell 2-1 but it would be safe to say that everybody went home happy.
LA Galaxy 1, FC Barcelona 2
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Rose Bowl – Pasadena Calif.
Scoring Summary:
FCB – Pedro Rodriguez (Unassisted) 11'
LA – David Beckham (Unassisted) 45’
FCB – Jeffren Suarez (Sergio Busquets) 67’
Misconduct Summary:
FCB – Toure Yaya (Yellow Card) 43’
LA – Alan Gordon (Yellow Card) 55’
Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Josh Saunders, A.J. DeLaGarza, Tony Sanneh (Gregg Berhalter 46’), Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunivant (Leonard Griffin 84’), Stefani Miglioranzi (Dema Kovalenko 66’), Chris Birchall (Chris Klein 46’), Eddie Lewis (Bryan Jordan 77’), Landon Donovan©, David Beckham (Mike Magee 88’), Jovan Kirovski (Alan Gordon 46’/Kyle Patterson 88’).
Subs Not Used: Kevin Guppy, Yohance Marshall, Tristan Bowen.
FC Barcelona: Jose Manuel Pinto (Victor Valdes 46’), Marc Muniesa (Carles Puyol 46’), Rafa Marquez (Adriano Henrique 30’/Gerard Pique 60’), Maxwell Andrade (Andreu Fontas 46’), Daniel Alves (Eric Abidal 46’), Seydou Keita (Victor Sanchez 46’), Toure Yaya (Xavi Hernandez 46’), Jonathan Dos Santos (Sergio Busquets 46’), Lionel Messi© (Jeffran Suarez 46’), Krkic Bojan (Eidur Gudjohnsen 46’), Pedro Rodriguez (Thierry Henry 46’).
Subs Not Used: None.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Record Crowd Sees Galaxy Fall 2-1
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19 comments:
Great night to watch one of the most effective, electric football teams in the world. It was a treat for all those who attended. I must give it to the Rose Bowl staff - especially the parking attendants... wow, they had their jobs down. It was a literal sea of Barcelona fans... but, as always glad to see the members from ACB, Riot Squad, and Galaxians in attendance. And, of course all of the "booing" for Beckham. I loved it how he managed to drive in LAG's only goal with a superb free-kick strike. That's the way to respond to all of the nagging, beer-clasping, clattering and yapping attendees who are trying to rile up everybody else. On the field, during the game, FC Barcelona did what we all knew it could do... possess the ball for great periods in the match, move the ball up & down and side-to-side, and choke off as much of LAG's attempts in play-making. There was no way that Landon, David, and Eddie alone could come up with creating ball-to-net chances against a world-class, fast, confident team like FC Barcelona.
However, I am very grateful that players like Omar, AJ, Bryan, Kyle, and Chris Brichall got the opportunity to play against talent like FCB's. Only true competition, hard work, and constant testing/assessing/correcting will go the distance in improving these players in decision-making and alertness. I could tell AJ, Todd, Omar, Chris B, Alan G, and Stefani were getting worn down.
But, great job ny our guys to hang in there, and stay in this game; and, a great recognition and effort should go to Landon, David, Eddie, and Stefani for trying to spear-head our attack. Valuable lessons to take away from tonight's game.
I think the booing of Beckham is superb imo, it shows the level of passion.It could have stopped after his beautiful goal, but at least he said afterwards that its all good.
Landon was superb, he and Becks are such a great duo, they always read each other so well.Just watching them on field, there is real understanding between these two.And to think some wanted to make them the worst enemies.
We played a good game against the best team in the world, our guys should be proud.
For once, I totally agree with Charles27. The game was a great display of soccer for LA. We played well, Barca played a great game and they showed our players how passing should be done. The Galaxy have held their own with both international friendlies and it was great to play at the Rose Bowl. Too bad we can't have that attendance at all games - what an electric atmosphere.
Great game gentlemen!
Great occasion. Amazing people love for Barca. This team is truly beloved by more cross section of the public than any other visiting team that I have ever seen. I am a die-hard Galaxy fan but I was in awe just like the team was in the first 20 minutes when we only got a couple of touches and they were like the globe-trotters. I told people around me don't be dishartened because they did the same to Man U in the finals except they did it to us with a bunch of young kids. So their future is secure.
As for the Galaxy, I'm done hating on Beckham. I'll take him for half a season any year. He single handedly rescued the team in the first half by being the only person who could actually complete a pass and get us out of trouble momentarily. He even worked along the back four at times. And the goal of course was incredible. Donovan had some rough touches early on but once he started running with the ball he was ON. He ended up having a great night.
He belongs in Europe with a big salary.
AJ had an excellent game again. Omar is steady, Donavent had to deal with a lot but overall was good except getting burned on the second goal.
Sanneh was just being Sanneh.
Birchall is garbage. Good to have Dema back. Stefani is settling in the middle but we really need a step up there. Dema paired with Becks should work better. Saunders made some great saves but his distribution needs a lot of work.
Let's not talk about Alan and Jovan anymore. We need to get Buddle healthy fast. Let's turn Jordan loose from the start of games now. He has earned enough confidence to be effective for longer periods now. Double up the speed threat by using him and Landon. Arena has a lot options now and we should be in the playoffs easily.
To other MLS teams: WORRY!
Watched the game today. LA, Please stop booing Beckham! Hating on Beckham just makes these LA soccer fans seem like they don't really like or understand this game. David is the best player on this team and is the only reason many of us would consider watching LA play. Grow Up LA! You're gonna stink if he leaves for good.
The booing of Beckham is not superb at all! If anything, it shows the level of ignorance of the US fans! And I bet most of them did it last night JUST for the sake of doing it and jumping on the bandwagon without having the real paasion behind it!
Even the LARS keep it quiet last night coz THEY CAN SEE that Becks was on of the best players on the field last night and trying so hard to safe LA Galaxy's face from losing miserably to Barca! Instead..those Galaxy hardcore fans cheering up for the team, and that's the way it should be. Boo the opposing players as loud as you want, but NEVER boo your own players!
to Craij,
Beckham was never booed because of his bad playing. In fact he is being booed because he is a good player and we want him year for the whole season. I think LA fans booing will subside once the league play starts and also most of booing at the Barca game was because of his Madrid days from non-Galaxy fans.
And also, stay away if Beckham is the only reason you watch the galaxy play. We want real fans to support the MLS teams so we can progress to the days that all 100,000 fans are home team fans. You stick with tabloids if you're so enamored with celebrities. I hate all Non-MLS "soccer" fans in this country.
Craij - first of all, it wasn't the LA Galaxy fans that booed Beckham. IT WAS THE BARCA FANS - of which there were many more than LA fans.
Second - David Beckham is not the best player on the team. Not by a long shot. He wasn't the best player on the field for us last night. He played out of position for most of the time. He parks himself about a yard in front of our defenders and then launches the long ball that doesn't reach its target. He needs to get his butt up the field and contribute on a more regular basis.
It, for the most part, was NOT the LA fans that were booing Beckham. I was sitting right next to the riot squad and aside from a 4 or 5 people there wasn't any booing coming out of the Riot Squad.
The boos were coming from the Barca fans. Those who know football already know why. Beckham played for Real Madrid prior to the Galaxy which makes him an enemy to all Barca fans.
Nicole, You obviously don't have a clue about football and your jealousy is so obvious. He is taken and if he wasn't you don't have a chance.
Really LOL to Nicole! He played OUT OF POSITIONS for the whole game??! Are you sure you're watching the same match last night? If you think that he is not on of the best players for LAG last night, and worse, you think he was playing out of position, than clearly you DON'T understand the game AS A WHOLE, from the start to finish.
Yes..his original position was in central attacking midfield, but that's not what a player should only do! Him being in front of the back four a lot of the time was because it has a lot to do with the lack of abilities of the other players beside himself, Landon, Omar and Lewis to past the ball better. And when the ball reached the back four, those players seemed lost on what they supposed to do with the ball. You cannot do that when playing a team like Barca.
There's a lot of explanation of this in BigSoccer.com. Please go and see what the fans there - being at the game in person or watching it on tv - said. You'll understand and find that you are obviously on the wrong side here!
The booing is still disgraceful but hey, consider the source. Great job by Becks and the rest of the team this weekend.
Jealous of what? I'm not jealous.
And I understand plenty about football. When Becks was dangerous, he was further up the field. There's nothing wrong with him staying back some of the time, but if you'll notice, as he gets tired, he hangs back deeper and deeper.
If you'd get off your mancrush and open your mind, you'll see David isn't perfect. I'm not saying he's bad at all. But he isn't the magnificent God that you make him out to be.
Nicole,
Becks was trying to resue a team who could not get a snif of the ball for the first 20 minutes or most of the game for that matter. Remember, the BIG problem with US players is lack of technical control under pressure. You see that from the national team all way down to clubs and youths. if you watch the replay of the game you'll see the lack of control even from Landon in the initial stages. So all that was left was for some one to try and complete a pass to relieve pressure. The only one capable of that was Beckham and he went all over the field to try and help. Granted Beckham is not a true midfield general with silky smooth control like any of Barcas players but at least he knows how to quickly gain control and get a decent pass off before anyone closes him down. that's always been his game and so it will always remian to be.
To me, Beckham put in a real big effort but the question is will he play that hard in the league games or does he just bring his A game to occasions like this.
Nicole "Jealous of what? I'm not jealous".
Haha, just admit it.
"If you'd get off your mancrush and open your mind, you'll see David isn't perfect."
Not sure what a mancrush is but I am female through and through and grew up on real football 24/7.
Just read the other comments to you and try to learn the game before you make a fool of yourself again which such misinformed comments.
I get ya, Anon. I can live with that explanation.
i love it when girls fight each other. Let's hear some more.
that last comment is hysterical!
I want to see Meg and Nicole settle this on the main card at Ceasars! I'll put my money on Mega Nut Meg.
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