Getting Ready For The Fire

The Galaxy's intensity at training was taken up a level on Wednesday. Guys like A.J. DeLaGarza and David Beckham, pictured above, continued to work their way back to match fitness by going through a number of 11 v 11 drills.

Beckham look good at training, and so did DeLaGarza, who went trained with the entire day with a brace over his right knee (see picture below).


Both teams will participate in a press conference on Thursday, so be sure to check back tomorrow for a recap of the presser as well as audio from other players talking about Friday's all-important match against the Chicago Fire at The Home Depot Center (8 p.m. PT, ESPN2). A win on Friday coupled with a D.C. United loss or tie on Saturday, and the Galaxy would clinch their first playoff berth since 2005.

Larry Morgan breaks down the math and talks to the guys about the possibility of clinching a spot in the 2009 MLS playoffs over the weekend.

Also, don't forget to check out Fox 11 at 10 p.m. tonight. Tony Sanneh will be featured in FOX 11's "Wednesday's Child" segment with Christine Devine.

Born to Run

Last week, Bruce Springsteen, one of the nation's most legendary songwriters and musicians celebrated his 60th birthday. Now, we know that our President of Business Operations, Tom Payne, is a big fan of the Boss, but it appears that after this morning's training session, that the coaching staff is as well.

Because at the end of today's practice, the players looked like they were born to run, doing a number of sprints of varying lengths to complete their workout.
In addition to the running, the players went through a traditional training session, playing some possession and small-sided games before heading inside for a lengthy meeting and video session.

In a welcome sight, David Beckham and Dema Kovalenko were both out on the field doing some work as they aim to get back to full fitness ahead of Friday night's game against the Fire. Additionally, A.J. DeLaGarza and Eddie Lewis, each of who entered the Columbus game carrying slight injuries, trained at full speed. In fact, Lewis scored the sessions' game-winning goal, beating Josh Saunders in extra time of the small-sided game. Lewis took a left-footed shot that settled in the side-netting to give his team the win, and the requisite high-fives that go along with it.
Lewis, Beckham and the rest of the team will train twice more this week before Friday night's game, a game that will go a long way in deciding the playoff hopes of both sides.

Birchall Chats with ESPN.com

Chris Birchall has started in each of the Galaxy's last two games and he earned the first start of his MLS career the first time that LA played the Fire. Most of you already know this.

He has helped the Galaxy to a 5-1-0 record in the six games that he has played in. Additionally, before Saturday's loss to Columbus, LA had allowed just one goal with the Trinidad and Tobago international on the field.

This afternoon, after training, he participated in a chat with fans at ESPN.com, answering 10-12 questions ahead of Friday night's game against the Fire. Click here to read a transcript of the chat and then head over to lagalaxy.com to pick up your tickets for Friday night's all-important game against the Fire, a game that can be seen live on ESPN2 starting at 8 p.m. (PT).

Locker Room Reactions

Here is what a number of players and coaches from both sides had to say following last night's 2-0 loss to the Crew.

LOS ANGELES HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
His overall thoughts on the match:
“The game had no rhythm; a lot of fouls were called, a lot of yellow cards. It was a sloppy game, but I think Columbus for 90 minutes was first to most of the plays all night. It was a scrappy game, and they basically won all of the match-ups all over the field. Give them credit, their effort was very good”

On his team’s effort:
“Even though the soccer wasn’t good, the competing and the mentality wasn’t what it needed to be either to position ourselves to win or get a point tonight. The goal we gave up in the 33rd minute was a big part of the game. We needed to be even at halftime to position ourselves to get a result.”

LOS ANGELES MIDFIELDER STEFANI MIGLIORANZI
On L.A.’s effort tonight:
“We fell short maybe in our effort a little bit today and you can’t do that against a team of the quality of the Crew. We expect effort in every game; sometimes the game doesn’t go your way or the ball isn’t bouncing the way you want it or you’re just a second too late into plays and we certainly played like that for long periods and like I said before, you can’t have that against a team the quality of the Crew.”

LOS ANGELES MIDFIELDER/FORWARD LANDON DONOVAN
On L.A.’s play tonight:
“We just had too many guys that couldn’t make simple plays, simple passes, simple traps, just simple soccer plays that we didn’t pull off tonight and that’s a bad combo.”

His overall thoughts on the match:
“I give them credit. They played hard and they played pretty well, but that’s a team we should beat and we know that and that’s frustrating.”

On L.A.’s lack of rhythm:
“There was no rhythm at all, all night. We had a bunch of fouls called against us that stopped the rhythm, we never had a chance to get going and we certainly didn’t play well enough to create a rhythm so it was a bad combo all around.”

LOS ANGELES FORWARD EDSON BUDDLE
His overall thoughts on the match:
“We expected a tough match; it’s not easy to win here. We wanted a better result, but unfortunately the ball didn’t bounce our way and as a team we could have played a lot better. I think the Crew did a good job of taking advantage of being at home and playing hard for 90 minutes.”

COLUMBUS HEAD COACH ROBERT WARZYCHA
His overall thoughts on the match:
“To be honest with you, I enjoyed the game; that was pretty good. I think that was one of the best performances this year by us, playing against a team that has played well, has a lot of former international players and a good coach. It’s not easy, so I think we performed very well. We were very good on both sides of the ball.”

On his team’s ability to close out the game:
“Today, I think the performance - especially at the end of the game - showed that the guys have some more trust between them and there was a lot of composure and they found out that possessing the ball is the best way to kill the game.”

On his team’s depth:
“We don’t have a reserve team; we have 23 players right now that can step up anytime on the field and win any game… everybody here on this club is contributing. We have a very deep squad, I can go with any player and as long as we are playing as a team, we can be very successful.”

COLUMBUS MIDFIELDER BRIAN CARROLL
His overall thoughts on the match:
“We’ll take it. I don’t care if it’s ugly, if it’s pretty, if it’s a normal game for us; if we win I’m happy. We strung some passes together towards the end of the game, kept good possession at that part of the match and just kept control of the game all the way through. For me, that was a step in the right direction for us.”

On the overall play of the team:
“Guys stepped up, we used a number of different players tonight and they all gave their good effort and did what they needed to do to for the team to win, and I thought we played pretty solid tonight. It was a good team effort and we came away with a win tonight and we’re happy.”

COLUMBUS DEFENDER ERIC BRUNNER
On the Crew’s mindset coming into the match:
“They’re [Los Angeles] a really good team, they’ve had some great results this year and only lost a handful of games this season and we knew they were going to come in tough. We just wanted to outwork them and just let the ball do the work on a fast pitch.”

COLUMBUS MIDFIELDER EDDIE GAVEN
On the Crew’s roster depth:
“I think it shows that we have a very deep team. I think every guy can come on the field and do their job and help this team win, so hopefully that’s going to help us as we keep on going through the season.”

On his game-winning goal:
“He [Emmanuel Ekpo] played a great ball and I just kind of jumped up, got my head on it and tried to play it to the back post and luckily it hit off the post and went in.”

Galaxy Fall 2-0 at Crew Stadium

LA Galaxy 0, Columbus Crew 2
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Columbus Crew Stadium — Columbus, Ohio

Scoring Summary:
CLB – Eddie Gaven 6 (Emmanuel Ekpo 6) 33’
CLB – Steven Lenhart 3 (Unassisted) 59’

Misconduct Summary:
CLB – Frankie Hejduck (Yellow Card) 28’
LA – Jovan Kirovski (Yellow Card) 56’
CLB – Eric Brunner (Yellow Card) 61’
CLB – Alejandro Moreno (Yellow Card) 69’
LA – Chris Birchall (Yellow Card) 71’
LA – Gregg Berhalter (Yellow Card) 73’
CLB – Steven Lenhart (Yellow Card) 75’
LA – Alan Gordon (Yellow Card) 93+

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts, A.J. DeLaGarza (Alan Gordon 54’), Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunivant (Eddie Lewis 62’), Stefani Miglioranzi (Jovan Kirovski 34’), Chris Birchall, Sean Franklin, Landon Donovan©, Brian Jordan, Edson Buddle.

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Yohance Marshall, Chris Klein, Mike Magee.

Columbus Crew: William Hesmer, Frankie Hejduk, Eric Brunner, Danny O’Rourke, Jed Zayner, Brian Carroll, Eddie Gaven, Jacob Burns (Adam Moffat 55’), Emmanuel Ekpo, Steven Lenhart (Andy Iro 93+), Emilio Renteria (Alejandro Moreno 69’).

Subs Not Used: Kenny Schoeni, Duncan Oughton, Robbie Rogers, Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

Notes:
• With the loss, the Galaxy are now 10-6-11 on the season, leaving them with 41 points. LA remains in second place in the Western Conference, two points behind first place Houston, who do not play this weekend and three points ahead of third place Seattle, lost 2-1 to New England at Gillette Stadium.
• Bruce Arena made two changes to the team that beat Toronto FC 2-0 last weekend at The Home Depot Center. A.J. DeLaGarza and Bryan Jordan return to the starting lineup, replacing David Beckham, who missed the game with inflammation of his right ankle, and Eddie Lewis who was on the bench but did not start after spraining his left ankle last weekend.
• In addition to Beckham, the Galaxy were also without Alecko Eskandarian, Dema Kovalenko and Julian Valentin, who all missed the game through injury.
• DeLaGarza returned to the lineup after missing last weekend’s win over Toronto FC with a bone bruise on his left knee.
• For Jordan, it was just his second start of the season and his first since the 1-1 draw with Columbus on May 17.
• Stefani Miglioranzi left the game in the 36th minute with a left groin injury and was replaced by Jovan Kirovski. This was the first time that Miglioranzi had left a game since halftime of the 2-0 loss to Seattle on August 15.
• Kirovski made his 20th appearance of the season in the game. It was the fifth time in his six years in MLS that he had appeared in 20 or more games.
• Alan Gordon also made his 20th appearance of the season for LA, replacing A.J. DeLaGarza in the 54th minute. This is the second straight season that Gordon has played 20 or more games.
• Chris Klein did not play in the game, snapping his MLS record consecutive games played streak at 141. This was the first time since June 4, 2005 that Klein did not play in a game for his team.
• With their yellow cards tonight, Gregg Berhalter, Alan Gordon and Jovan Kirovski are now on warning. If either of them gets a yellow card in any of the final three regular season games, they will be forced to serve a one-game suspension.
• The 23 fouls committed by the Galaxy tonight are the club’s most this year.
• Tonight’s loss was the Galaxy’s first of the season against an Eastern Conference opponent, dropping their record against the East to 7-1-5 with one game remaining against them.
• The first half goal by the Crew’s Eddie Gaven was the first goal given up by the Galaxy against an Eastern Conference team since the 83rd minute of the 2-1 win at New England on August 8. The Galaxy had gone 310 consecutive minutes without allowing a goal against the East.
• This was the first time since the season opening 2-2 draw with D.C. United that the Galaxy had allowed more than one goal in a game with an Eastern Conference team.
• The Galaxy were shutout for just the fifth time this season and second by an Eastern Conference team. However, LA is 2-1-1 after a shutout.
• The attendance for tonight’s game was a sell out crowd of 20,966.
• The Galaxy return to action on Friday, October 2 when they host the Chicago Fire at The Home Depot Center. That game kicks off at 8 p.m. and can be seen live on ESPN2.
• For more about tonight’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.

Time to Take on the Champs

It's a gray and rainy day here in the Ohio capital as the Galaxy look to move to the top of the MLS standings against the Columbus Crew. With 41 points, the Galaxy currently sit second in the Western Conference, two points behind Houston and also two points behind Eastern Conference leading Columbus, who are also still on 43 points. The Dynamo are not in action this weekend, meaning that the a win today would push the Galaxy to first place in the overall league standings for the first time this year.

Here is the lineup that Bruce Arena and Co. will put out on the field against the defending champs as they look for their second straight win.

-----------------Jordan-----------Buddle-----------------

Donovan------------------------------------------Franklin

-----------------Miglioranzi------Birchall------------------

Dunivant-------Berhalter---------Gonzalez-----DeLaGarza

---------------------------Ricketts-------------------------

Subs: Saunders, Marshall, Klein, Lewis, Magee, Kirovski, Gordon.

Bryan Jordan makes his second start of the year and first since May 17, while A.J. DeLaGarza returns at right back, pushing Sean Franklin up to the right side of midfield.

Here is the lineup that the Crew and Robert Warzycha will counter with.

---------------Renteria-----------Lenhart--------------------

Ekpo---------------------Burns------------------------Gaven

--------------------------Carroll-------------------------------

Zayner-------O'Rourke-----------Brunner-------------Hejduk

----------------------------Hesmer---------------------------

Subs: Schoeni, Iro, Moffat, Oughton, Rogers, Barros Schelotto, Moreno.

This Week Inside the Galaxy - Episode 18

In this episode of This Week Inside the Galaxy, we look back at the win over Toronto FC, check out the third annual corporate partners appreciation event at Lucky Strike Lanes and ahead to the game against the Columbus Crew.

Enjoy all that and more, This Week Inside the Galaxy.


When you're done with the video, be sure to read Mark Rogondino's latest View from the Booth, Larry Morgan's preview of Saturday's game with Stefani Miglioranzi and Buddle’s thoughts on returning to face his old club as well as Craig Merz’ preview from the Crew perspective with comments from Bruce Arena.

In addition, check out the MLS preview, complete with all the stats and trends heading into the game with the Columbus Crew.

Counting Down the Hours in Columbus

Under the watchful eyes of Bruce, Dave and Cobi, the guys completed their final training session ahead of tomorrow's game against the Crew this afternoon, working out under grey skies at the Crew's training center just outside Columbus.

As we told you earlier today, David Beckham did not make the trip, but A.J. DeLaGarza, who missed the win over Toronto with a bone bruise on his left knee and Eddie Lewis, who left that game at halftime with an ankle injury, were each included in the travel squad.

Those two and the rest of the guys took part in a spirited 7v7 session, with two rotating players always being used "in the middle", playing for whichever side had the ball. That went on for about 30 minutes before they joined with the two goalkeepers, who were doing there work at the other end of the field, to go through some shadowplay and set pieces.

As always, finishing drills and horseshoes rounded out the day with plenty of banter going on through the whole squad with each goal and save. As we've told you all year, these are competitive guys, so everything somehow becomes a competition with bragging rights on the line.

Enjoy these images from today's session and be sure to check back later tonight for This Week Inside the Galaxy.

Meeting the Media

Bruce Arena, Landon Donovan and Stefani Miglioranzi all met with the media here in Columbus today ahead of tomorrow night's game.

Unfortunately, Bruce was forced to rule David Beckham out of Saturday's game through injury but he did say that he expects him to be ready for next Friday's game against Chicago.

Here is the entirity of what he had to say, as well as Landon and Stefani's responses.

Bruce...

Landon...

Stefani...

Galaxy to Open 2010 Season Mar. 27 at HDC

The LA Galaxy announced today that the club will open the 2010 Major League Soccer season, the 15th season of MLS, against the New England Revolution on Saturday, March 27 at The Home Depot Center. The match, which will kick off at 8 p.m. (PT), will be broadcast live nationally as the first Fox Soccer Channel/Fox Sports en Español match of the season.

In their past 14 home openers, the Galaxy boast an impressive record, compiling an impressive 9-4-1 record, including a 2-2 draw with D.C. United at The Home Depot Center to open the 2009 campaign.

Will you be there?

Click here for the complete list of 2010 MLS home openers

For more details or to purchase your 2010 Galaxy season seats click here.

Galaxy Host Sponors on the Lanes

Caption: Julian Valentin, Alecko Eskandarian, Gregg Berhalter and Josh Saunders smile for a group photo with representatives from Cartan Tours.

On Tuesday evening, the Galaxy hosted their third annual corporate partner appreciation event at Lucky Strike Lanes in Torrance, Calif. The event was a thank you for all of the club's partners continued support of the Galaxy and an opportunity to interact with the entire coaching staff and players in a relaxed and fun setting. In fact, the players rotated from lane to lane visiting and bowling with all of the sponsors. As you can see from the photos, it was a fun time for everyone.

Caption: Landon Donovan and Anheuser Busch’s Dan Walters both go for strikes.

Caption: Omar Gonzalez shows off his form on the lanes.

Also check out this recap from Grahame Jones on the LA Times' Fabulous Forum here.

Photos are courtsey of team photographer German Alegria.

Full Field Fun

The guys were back in training this morning but as opposed to heading out to their normal practice field, the guys did their work on the stadium field. As a result, Bruce and the rest of the coaches put the team through a number of full field games and exercises that allowed them to use a number of different formations and lineup options.
- A.J. DeLaGarza and Eddie Lewis each returned to the field as they continue to comeback from knee and ankle injuries respectively. Both players are listed as Questionable on the injury report and their availability for Saturday's game will be decided in the coming days.

- While they were on the field, Landon Donovan was given the day off to make his way to New York on behalf of Visa to help promote the launch of Financial Soccer, a new program that is designed to help all of us maintain a better budget. You can learn more about the program and play the game here.

While in New York, Landon did a made a couple of media appearances, first ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange along with Brian McBride (click here for video), chatting with The Dan Patrick Show (click here for audio) and popping up on ESPN's First Take.

- Before he left for New York, Landon and the rest of the players and coaches joined up with a number of the club's sponsors for a night of food, fun and bowling at Lucky Strike in Torrance. Be sure to tune in to this week's episode of This Week Inside the Galaxy to catch all the action.

- The team travels to Columbus tomorrow and will train there on Friday ahead of Saturday's game. But if you want to scout the Crew yourself from the comforts of home, you can watch them host Cruz Azul tonight at 5 p.m. in CONCACAF Champions League group match live on Fox Soccer Channel.

Up for Awards

The South goal at The Home Depot Center is getting some love this week, with Goal of the Week and Save of the Week nominees coming at that end of the stadium.

In the 31st minute, Donovan Ricketts was called upon to make this save (his only one of the game) off of Ali Gerba's close range shot.

Then, with the Galaxy still leading 1-0 late in the second half, Edson Buddle finished the game off with this goal following hard work from David Beckham to win the ball and get it to Landon Donovan, who was then able to direct the ball into the path of Buddle for a first-time finish, his fifth goal of the season and third career goal against TFC.


You can vote for the Goal of the Week award online now by following this link, while the Save of the Week award voting will begin tomorrow at this site.

Players and Coaches React to win over Toronto

It was a much happier locker room this weekend compared to seven days ago. Here is what a number of the key names and faces had to say. Be sure to read the postgame recap here as well.

LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On the result:
We beat a good team tonight. It was a great response from last week’s fiasco. The effort by our guys, the concentration, the defending—was excellent. We created some opportunities as well in this game. This was one of those games that for 90 minutes we looked like a team as opposed to last week where there were very few minutes the entire match that we looked like a team. The response from other players from last week was fabulous. We had a number of excellent performances tonight. Certainly, the return of some of our players into our first eleven was great, notably Edson Buddle and Sean Franklin. I was surprised Sean was able to go 90 minutes. Chris Birchall played well. Beckham and Donovan were fabulous. It was a good effort. A really hard earned victory. As I said, Toronto is a good team. It’s certainly going to be a battle all the way to the end to make the playoffs.

On David Beckham’s performance:
David’s a real good player. There is no question about it. He’s a person with a lot of pride, along with that outstanding ability that he has. He did everything he could tonight to lead this team. I thought his performance was absolutely outstanding. You talk about a player that technically is quick, mentally is quick. He was fabulous tonight. He had a number of attacking opportunities, and he did the defending he needed to do. And the way he got out on the break in the second half was remarkable. David gave 100 percent tonight. No question about it, an excellent performance.

On Sean Franklin’s return:
I hoped to get 45 to 60 minutes out of him. But oddly enough, I think that Sean probably learned a lot from observing the last couple of months, from watching games. He played a very intelligent game tonight. I would have thought some of the runs he made going forward in the first half that his minutes were certainly going to be limited in the second half. I checked with him during halftime and he said he was fine. Sean worked his tail off these past four months. He got himself into the physical condition. Tonight, he was remarkable. He looked like a lot more mature player than I saw last year, and again, I think he is the kind of kid that he observed and learned something over the past four months, and it was evident tonight that he is going to be a player that is going to help us.

LA GALAXY DEFENDER OMAR GONZALEZ
On the win:
I think for the whole year we haven’t been good at home. But for this game, we just wanted to make sure that we started off strong because we haven’t done that, and we wanted to get the first goal, and not fall behind. And, I think we accomplished all of that today.

On rebounding from last week’s result:
Teams make mistakes, but the whole thing this week was basically ‘don’t let Dallas beat you twice’. We were just focused on defensively doing the right things, that’s what we did. This game wasn’t about sending any messages or anything, it was just about us getting things right again.

On the play of David Beckham:
David did awesome today. He put a lot of effort today defensively and offensively, he helped us with his goal and to set up Edson [Buddle]’s goal. It was just great stuff from him tonight.

LA GALAXY DEFENDER SEAN FRANKLIN
On returning to the field:
I felt good; I was excited to be back out there. I knew it wasn’t going to be perfect or how I’d like it, but I’m okay with my performance, I’m tired, but like I said, it’s nice to get back out there in the field again.
On playing the full 90 minutes:
We talked earlier about how many minutes I could give, and I said that I would good for a half or hopefully 60 minutes. Coach just said to let him know if I need to come off or if I was good I would stay in. I’m surprised I was able to go the full 90. I’m sure tomorrow that I’ll be dead tired.

On responding to last week’s result:
It is a great response. We talked about how we needed these three points, we couldn’t afford losing this game at home, so we went out, play hard and got a shutout. It’s a great rebound game from the 6-3 defeat.

LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER STEFANI MIGLIORANZI
On rebounding from the loss to FC Dallas:
“I think last week’s loss was a great wake up call. We had been in a great run before that, maybe were a little complacent, even though we prepared as well as we had during the rest of season, like I said before, it was very uncharacteristic. We were all disappointed, but it showed us we needed to work still.”

LA GALAXY GOALKEEPER DONOVAN RICKETTS
On the game:
Last week was just a minor set back. We didn’t think it about because you don’t get games like that every week. Tonight, we came in and played the way we know we can and got the three points.

On the clean sheet:
It always important, clean sheet or not—you always want to win and get the three points. That helps.

LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER DAVID BECKHAM
On tonight’s result:
It was a big night tonight, especially after last weekend. Tonight was a performance of the team. We worked hard all week, and the atmosphere was weird going into the game, I must admit. The players were quiet. We didn’t feel that comfortable at the start of the game. Once we got on the pitch, once we started playing, once we started passing the ball around, we calmed down. Tonight was an important performance.

On his performance:
Some games happen like this. Some times you have no shots in a game or no free kicks and sometimes you have 20 free kicks and shots. Tonight I had a few. I hit the post. I should have three goals tonight, to be honest. I’ve never scored a hat trick. If I was going to—tonight was the night. You know what—it was about the team’s performance tonight.

On Buddle and Franklin returning to the starting lineup:
It’s great to see Eddie (Buddle) back, Sean Franklin back. They are two talented players. Sean’s been out for a while. And for him to play 90 minutes, it was exceptional. Eddie is a player that puts himself in great areas to score goals. He’s strong, passionate; he’s a very good player.

LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER CHRIS BIRCHALL
On his first start at The Home Depot Center:
It was just nice to get to be involved and to get my first start at home. Bruce was trying to tighten up the midfield from last week where we conceded too many goals, and we were stretched in midfield. He gave me a specific role, which I felt I did quite well tonight, and we got a great result which we needed.

On playing with David Beckham:
I think with me playing it gives David the license to go forward and not really so determined to get back. It gives him license to take a bit of a risk because he knows he’s got me filling in behind.

LA GALAXY FORWARD EDSON BUDDLE
On his goal:
It was more of a team goal. It felt good. We pressured Toronto. David did a good job of hustling and laying it back, and I just opened myself up to give Landon some space, and when he got it he passed it to me, and I put into the back of the net.

On missing some chances:
You have to have short memory, especially as a striker. There are some chances I wish I had done better with, but the way we were playing keeping it in their half we created a lot of opportunities.

On his first start since coming back from injury:
I’ve been here before with injuries, and come back and earned my position. You just have to stay positive.

On scoring against Toronto FC:
I always like scoring against my former team. It feels extra special when you do that. It’s nothing personally against those guys. And, next week we are going to play another one of my former teams.

LA GALAXY FORWARD LANDON DONOVAN
On the game:
It was about responding. If we want to be a good team it’s not acceptable to have weeks like last week, but if they happen, they happen, and you have to respond and do well. We did a good job of that tonight.

On David Beckham’s performance:
We needed a lot of guys to step up and be leaders tonight after last weekend. He was at the forefront of tonight; he was excellent all night.

On the team’s performance:
We have a lot of talented players on our team. And if you can get those parts right—hustle plays, working hard, concentrating and helping other guys, those plays—we are going to be a very good team. That was a combination of all that and it was nice to get rewarded for it.

On Edson Buddle’s return:
Edson’s a big help to us. With what he does away from the goal in holding the ball and being a handful, but when he’s in front of the goal he has the knack to find the back of the net. A lot of people will say that it was relatively easy, his goal tonight, but to take it well, take it first time to put it in the right spot. It’s a lot easier said than done, and he did well with it.

TORONTO FC HEAD COACH CHRIS CUMMINS
On the team’s performance:
I thought we had a go. I don’t think we lost the game on a lack of effort. I don’t think we penetrated enough, to be honest to you. Giving the early goal away obviously hurt us, and then to be fair to LA, they dropped off and were hard to break down. We had a lot of possession. We lacked a lot of quality, if you like, penetration when we got in the final third. We had a good go after half time. There was about ten, fifteen minutes that I thought we really took the game to them. We hit the bar, and maybe if that goes in, it’s a different game.

On Julian de Guzman:
Julian’s a good player. He lasted the 90 minutes, and you can see he is going to be an asset to the league. He’s going to be an asset to the club, and he’s definitely going to be an asset to the league. I thought he was excellent tonight. I thought he went and got the ball. He showed that quality that he’s got. He joined in when he had to. He receives it when he’s under pressure. I think he is going to be a fantastic signing for the club and the league.

TORONTO FC MIDFIELDER SAM CRONIN
On result:
We had a good amount of possession, but we never really penetrated or made anything dangerous. We just kept it in front of them, and we didn’t do a good job to break them down.

TORONTO FC MIDFIELDER CHAD BARRETT
On the team’s performance:
It’s to be expected. It was pretty much the same as the Chivas result here, so at least we had a chance on goal this time. We had most of the possession, but they scored the early goal and decided to sit back. We got past them a couple of times, but we couldn’t capitalize. They put a little dagger in the 85th minute and that was it.

Galaxy Win 10th Game of 2009; Beat TFC 2-0

LA Galaxy 2, Toronto FC 0
Saturday, September 19, 2009
The Home Depot Center — Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
LA – David Beckham 2 (Chris Birchall 1) 9’
LA – Edson Buddle 5 (Landon Donovan 6, David Beckham 3) 83’

Misconduct Summary:
TFC – Julian de Guzman (Yellow Card) 24’
TFC – Amado Guevara (Yellow Card) 64’
LA – David Beckham (Yellow Card) 64’
TFC – Nick Garcia (Yellow Card) 67’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts, Sean Franklin, Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunivant, Stefani Miglioranzi, Chris Birchall, Eddie Lewis (Chris Klein 46’), David Beckham (Jovan Kirovski 89’), Landon Donovan©, Edson Buddle (Alan Gordon 86’).

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Yohance Marshall, Bryan Jordan, Mike Magee.

Toronto FC: Stefan Frei, Marvell Wynee, Nana Attakora, Nick Garcia, Jim Brennan©, Julian de Guzman, Sam Cronin (Pablo Vitti 79’), Amado Guevara, Chad Barrett (O’Brian White 62’), Dwayne DeRosario, Ali Gerba (Lesly Fellinga 71’).

Subs Not Used: Brian Edwards, Emmanuel Gomez, Amadou Sanyang, Gabe Gala.

Notes:
• With the win, the Galaxy are now 10-5-11 on the season, giving them 41 points. LA remains in second place in the Western Conference, two points behind first place Houston, who defeated Real Salt Lake 3-2 earlier in the night and three points ahead of third place Seattle, who drew 0-0 with Chivas USA this afternoon.
• Bruce Arena made three changes to the team that lost 6-3 to FC Dallas last weekend. Chris Birchall, Edson Buddle and Sean Franklin all returned to the starting XI, replacing the injured A.J. DeLaGarza, as well as Jovan Kirovski and Mike Magee. Kirovski and Magee each began the came on the bench, while DeLaGarza missed the game through injury.
• This was the first time that DeLaGarza missed a game since May 17, when he was an unused substitute in the 1-1 home draw with Columbus.
• With DeLaGarza missing the match, the Galaxy are using a different back four for the first time since June 13 vs. Real Salt Lake. In the 12 league games between that day and today, the Galaxy had started Todd Dunivant, Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez and A.J. DeLaGarza in defense.
• In addition to DeLaGarza, the Galaxy were also without Alecko Eskandarian, Dema Kovalenko and Julian Valentin, who all missed the game through injury.
• For Franklin, it was his first appearance since May 17 against Columbus. He left that game at halftime after tearing his right hamstring tendon and undergoing surgery a few days later. He was placed on the Disabled List on May 29 and was activated on September 15, missing a total of 16 games. He returned to full training earlier this month.
• David Beckham scored his second goal of the season in the 8th minute to give LA a 1-0 lead. It was the Galaxy’s fourth goal this season in the opening 10 minutes of a game. LA is now 3-0-1 when scoring in the opening 10 minutes.
• Chris Birchall collected the first assist of his MLS career on that goal. He is the 14th different Galaxy player to tally an assist in a regular season game this year.
• Edson Buddle scored his fifth goal of the season in the 83rd minute. He has now scored in each of his games since returning from a right foot sprain. He also scored late in last weekend’s 6-3 loss to FC Dallas.
• Landon Donovan collected his sixth assist of the season on Buddle’s goal tonight, placing him in a tie with Mike Magee for the most assists on the team this season.
• Beckham also assisted on the goal, giving him three assists in eight MLS games this year.
• This was just the second time in Beckham’s MLS career that he has tallied both a goal and an assist in the same game.
• This was the 11th time this season that the Galaxy had gone in front 1-0. They are now 10-0-1 in those games.
• With the win, the Galaxy have now won 10 games this season. This is the 10th time in the Galaxy’s 14 seasons that they have won at least 10 games, but their first since 2006.
• Donovan Ricketts made one save for his sixth shutout of the season. This was the Galaxy’s ninth clean sheet in MLS play this year.
• The Galaxy became just the fourth team in MLS history to allow six goals in one game and then keep a clean sheet in the following contest. The feat was last achieved by Real Salt Lake in 2006 when they lost 6-0 to New York on August 26 and then beat LA 1-0 on August 30.
• This was the first time in three career home games against Toronto FC that Landon Donovan had failed to score. He now has three goals in three career home games against the Reds.
• Chris Klein entered the game at halftime, replacing Eddie Lewis, stretching his MLS record consecutive games played streak to 141.
• Lewis left the game with a left ankle sprain.
• The attendance for today’s game was 18,619.
• The Galaxy return to action next Saturday, September 26 when they travel east to Columbus to take on the defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew. That game kicks off at 4:30 p.m. and can be seen live on FS West, starting with ‘Galaxy Live’ at 4 p.m.
• For more about tonight’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.

Time to Take on TFC

We're ready to go here at The Home Depot Center as the Galaxy look to rebound from last week's defeat and move three points clear of Seattle for second place in the Western Conference.

Here is the team that Brce Arena will put on the field as the Galaxy look for their 10th win of the season.

----------Donovan--------Buddle------------

Lewis-------------Beckham-----------Birchall

------------------Miglioranzi-----------------

Dunivant---Berhalter-----Gonzalez-----Franklin

-------------------Ricketts---------------------

Subs: Saunders, Marshall, Klein, Jordan, Kirovski, Magee, Gordon.

Toronto FC is also in search of their 10th win of the season and send this lineup onto the field tonight.

---------------------Gerba----------------------

------------------DeRosario---------------------

Barrett----Guevara-------DeGuzman-----Cronin

Brennan---Garcia---------Attakora------Wynne

--------------------Frei-------------------------

Subs: Edwards, Fellinga, Gomez, Gala, Sanyang, Vitti, White.

Ready to Take on TFC

Picture Time

The players are ready for Saturday night.

Are you?

Galaxy Doin' Work

The team was back on the field this morning for another short but intense training session under a hot SoCal skies.

Nearly the full team was on the field this morning with the game against Toronto FC less than 48 hours away. Bruce led the team through a number of small-sided drills, before breaking the team up into two teams of 11 for some full field work.

We caught up with Bruce and some of the guys after training and here is what they had to say.

Bruce...

David...

Eddie...

Todd...

Sean...

UPDATED: Online chat with Landon on ESPNDeportes.com

LA Galaxy captain Landon Donovan took part in an online chat with ESPNDeportes.com today. To read a transcript of the chat click here. Be sure to have your Spanish to English dictionary nearby, as the chat was in Spanish.

On Monday, Landon was with ESPN Deportes Radio's National Morning Show, Raza Deportiva. He talked about the Galaxy needing to bounce back from Saturday's 6-3 loss to FC Dallas, the club's playoff aspirations and whether or not it matters if the USMNT's qualifies to the World Cup in first place in the region-- Landon says it doesn't, listen to the interview to find out why.

On the Field Again

On Thursday, the Galaxy opened up training with a full field scrimmage. It was a chance for the players to get in a good run will working on their positioning and tactics on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. A number of players rotated through the lineups for each team as the coaching staff worked the players pretty hard. A number of goals were scored from the run of play as well as from set pieces, including cornerkicks and freekicks. Here are a few photos from the last few days of training.

In addition to the players, there were also a number of special guests in attendance. The ten winners, plus a guest, of Chipotle's Burritos with the Boys competition were invited out to training to watch the team practice up close and have the chance to meet many of the players. Following practice, the ten winners and their guests were also treated to lunch, provided by Chipotle, in one of the suites here at The Home Depot Center with Gregg Berhalter and Eddie Lewis.

Teeing Off, Time Off and Toronto

It's been a few days since we checked in over here as we all continue to lick our wounds from Saturday's loss and prepare to get back on track starting with Saturday night's game against Toronto FC.

For those of you who are masochists, you can relive the result both here and here and get reaction from the locker room here.

The players were off on Sunday and then made their way down to Fullerton on Monday for the Galaxy Foundation’s annual Day on the Links Golf Tournament. All the players and coaches were on hand

The off the field work continued in Orange County on Tuesday morning as David joined forces with KIIS FM, Ryan Seacrest, Shakira and a host of other celebrities to visit young patients at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County, brightening up their days, passing out some Galaxy gear and making more than a few families Galaxy fans for life we’re sure. Listen to David's interview with Ryan Seacrest here.

The time away from the field seemed to do wonders for all the guys as they returned to the training field on Tuesday morning full of focus and determination to correct the wrongs from Dallas. Larry Morgan caught up with a number of the guys to see how they have gone about putting that result behind them and concentrating on the task at hand, a massively important six-pointer against Toronto FC, who will have their new Designated Player, Julian de Guzman, available for selection for the first time.

Bruce Arena’s squad are 3-0-4 this season when playing against a Designated Player, beating Juan Pablo Angel and the Red Bulls twice, as well as Cuauhtemoc Blanco and the Fire once. They played to a draw with Luciano Emilio and D.C. United twice, Guillermo Barros Schelotto and the Crew once and Freddie Ljungberg and the Sounders once. The Galaxy did lose 2-0 to Seattle on August 15, but Ljungberg did not play in that game because of an illness.

Tuesday also saw a return of sorts as Sean Franklin was activated from the Disabled List, making him available for selection on Saturday. He remains on the club's injury report as Doubtful, but he continues to train at full speed as he gets closer and closer to match fitness. His return gives Bruce yet another option at right back should A.J. DeLaGarza not be able to go on Saturday night.

After scoring the first goal of his MLS career, A.J. was forced to leave Saturday's game at halftime with a bone bruise on his knee and is now listed as Questionable on the injury report. Be sure to check back at lagalaxy.com later in the day for a full look at the options at right back ahead of Saturday's game.

Finally, in a welcome piece of Galaxy related news, MLS announced today the format for the 2010 season, including the fact that the league will take a two week break during group play at the World Cup in South Africa. You can read all the details about the upcoming season and its schedule here.

Galaxy Fall 6-3 to FC Dallas

LA Galaxy 3, FC Dallas 6
Saturday, September 12, 2009
The Home Depot Center — Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
FCD – Dave van den Bergh 3 (Unassisted) 8’
FCD – Jeff Cunningham 11 (Atiba Harris 4) 25’
LA – Own Goal (Jair Benitez) 26’
LA – A.J. DeLaGarza 1 (Unassisted) 42’
FCD – Dax McCarty 2 (Jeff Cunningham 6) 71’
FCD – Atiba Harris 3 (Dax McCarty 3) 82’
FCD – David Ferreira 6 (Jeff Cunningham 7) 83’
FCD – Jeff Cunningham 12 (Brek Shea 4, Atiba Harris 5) 86’
LA – Edson Buddle 4 (David Beckham 2) 90’

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Gregg Berhalter (Yellow Card) 6’
FCD – David Ferreira (Yellow Card) 31’
FCD – Ugo Ihemelu (Yellow Card) 33’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts, A.J. DeLaGarza (Tony Sanneh 46’), Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunivant, Landon Donovan©, David Beckham, Stefani Miglioranzi, Eddie Lewis (Chris Klein 74’), Jovan Kirovski (Edson Buddle 69’), Mike Magee.

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Chris Birchall, Alan Gordon, Bryan Jordan.

FC Dallas: Dario Sala, Ugo Ihemelu, George John (Blake Wagner 89’), Pablo Ricchetti©, Jair Benitez, David Ferreira, Dax McCarty, Atiba Harris, Dave van den Bergh (Brek Shea 69’), Marvin Chavez (Daniel Hernandez 46’), Jeff Cunningham.

Subs Not Used: Ray Burse, Eric Avila, Bruno Guarda, Peri Marosevic,

Notes:
• With the loss, the Galaxy are now 9-5-11 on the season, leaving them with 38 points. LA remains in second place in the Western Conference, two points behind first place Houston, who are at Columbus on Sunday and one point ahead of third place Seattle, who won 2-1 at D.C. United earlier to night.
• Bruce Arena used the same starting 11 that beat Chivas USA 1-0. There was one change however as Edson Buddle joined the team on the bench for the first time since spraining his right foot in the friendly against AC Milan on July 19. He entered the game in the 69th minute, replacing Jovan Kirovski.
• This was the third consecutive game in which the Galaxy have used the same starting lineup.
• The Galaxy were without four players for tonight’s game, with Alecko Eskandarian, Sean Franklin, Dema Kovalenko and Julian Valentin all missing the game through injury. On Friday, Eskandarian was placed on the Disabled List with a head injury, meaning that he will now miss a minimum of the next six games.
• The Galaxy allowed two goals in the first half of a game for the first time this season and just the second time that they allowed two goals in any half this year. The only other time LA allowed two goals in a half this season was in the second half of the Galaxy’s 3-2 loss vs. Colorado on April 4.
• That game was also the only time that the Galaxy had allowed three goals or more in a game before tonight. LA is now 0-2-0 when allowing three goals or more in a game and 1-0-0 when scoring three goals or more in a game, beating New York 3-1 on July 16.
• The nine goals scored in tonight’s game tied the mark for the second most goals scored in a Galaxy game. LA also played a game that saw nine goals scored on August 18, 2007 (5-4 loss at New York) and June 4, 1998 (8-1 win at Dallas). On May 6, 1998, the Galaxy played in the highest scoring game in MLS history, a 7-4 win over Colorado.
• The Galaxy cut the Dallas lead to 2-1 in the 26th minute with an own goal for Jair Benitez. That was the first own goal scored in favor of the Galaxy this season and their first since October 12, 2008 when Ugo Ihemelu scored in the 70th minute of LA’s 3-2 win over the Colorado Rapids.
• DeLaGarza was replaced by Tony Sanneh to start the second half. He had played 914 consecutive minutes in MLS play.
• Edson Buddle scored his fourth goal of the season in the 90th minute, he is now alone in second place on the team in goals.
• David Beckham assisted on that goal for his second assist of the season.
• Chris Klein entered the game in the 74th minute, replacing Eddie Lewis, stretching his MLS record consecutive games played streak to 140.
• The six goals allowed by LA were a club record. They had never before allowed more than five goals in a game before today. The last time LA had allowed five goals in a game was on August 18, 2007 in a 5-4 at New York.
• Prior to the second half of tonight’s game, the Galaxy had never allowed four goals or more in a single half of an MLS regular season game.
• The attendance for today’s game was 18,148.
• The Galaxy host Toronto FC next weekend with kickoff at 7:30. The game can be seen live on FS West, starting at 7:30 and will be followed by a special postgame edition of Galaxy Live immediately following the game.
• For more about tonight’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.

Bring on FC Dallas

The Galaxy look to make two wins in a row and stretch their unbeaten streak to four games tonight as they host FC Dallas.

Bruce Arena names an unchanged starting XI to the team that beat Chivas USA 1-0 on August 29. There is one change however as Edson Buddle takes a spot on the bench for the first time since his injury in mid-July.

Here is the complete Galaxy team...

--------------Magee--------Kirovski-------------

Lewis--------------Beckham-------------Donovan

-------------------Miglioranzi---------------------

Dunivant-----Berhalter-----Gonzlaez-----DeLaGarza

---------------------Ricketts-----------------------

Subs: Saunders, Sanneh, Birchall, Klein, Jordan, Gordon, Buddle.

And here is how the opposition FC Dallas will line up.

--------------Cunningham-------Chavez--------------

Van Den Bergh------------Ferreira------------Harris

-------------------------McCarty-------------------

Benitez--------Richetti----------John--------Ihemelu

--------------------------Sala----------------------

Subs: Burse, Hernandez, Wagner, Guarda, Avila, Shea, Marosevic.

This Week Inisde the Galaxy - Ready for FC Dallas

It was a short training day again for the Galaxy today as they prepare for their first game in two weeks against FC Dallas in Saturday night. LA did well the last time they had two weeks off between MLS games, beating New England 2-1 at Gillette Stadium, and will be looking for a similar result this time through.

All the talk in training was about just that, three points, as the team held their usual day before a game training session, complete with set pieces, shape and tactics. The full team then made their way downstairs for a video session to complete the Dallas prep work.

After training, the Galaxy made a roster move, adding Alecko Eskandarian to the Disabled List with his head injury. As a result, Eskandarian will be forced to miss at least the final six games of the regular season. He joins Sean Franklin and Julian Valentin on the Disabled List, though both of those players returned to full training earlier this month.

With Eskandarian now on the Disabled List, the Galaxy have one open roster spot on with which to add a player or it can be used to activate one of the other players currently on the Disabled List.

Dallas also made a couple roster moves today, signing U.S. National Team defender Heath Pearce and waiving Steve Purdy and releasing Alvaro Sanchez. Pearce joins former Galaxy stalwarts, Ugo Ihemelu and Daniel Hernandez who have each been acquired in the last two weeks by seventh place FCD, who currently sit 14 points behind the Galaxy in the Western Conference standings.

LA would like to make that a 17 point gulf between the two sides and a win tomorrow night will do just that, as well as move the Galaxy to the top of the overall MLS standings.

If you can't be out here for the game tomorrow, be sure to tune into FS West at 10 p.m. to see the game on tape delay, or follow along live on the radio at AM 570 (in English) or ESPN Deportes Radio (in Spanish).

And if you want to see what Mark Rogondino and Larry Morgan have to say about the game and who they Mark thinks will come away with the full three points.

Finally, take a look at the latest edition of This Week Inside the Galaxy.

Ready to Lace Em Up With FC Dallas

The Galaxy are less than 36 hours away from an all-important Western Conference showdown with FC Dallas and the training continued this afternoon at The Home Depot Center under a warm Southern California sun.
It was another day of small-sided game play with all of the players getting plenty of touches in small spaces under high pressure. Both David and Landon missed the session while returning from international duty but they are expected back tomorrow, with decisions to be made on their availability, as well as that of the injured players, prior to the game.

One player who is not injured is Gregg Berhalter, who has played every minute of the Galaxy's last 10 games, dating back to June 28, and helping LA to a 7-1-2 record in that time.
Donovan Ricketts is also healthy and enters the game having not allowed a goal since early in the second half of the 2-0 loss to Seattle on August 15. He has faced 34 shots in that time, helping to compile a run of 306 straight minutes without allowing a goal, a run that is 85 minutes shy of a 391 minute shutout streak that the Galaxy goalkeepers put together earlier this year.But as good the Galaxy defense has been , most of the questions that Bruce had to answer today were about the return of the two international stars, the production of Mike Magee in hist first season with the Galaxy and the club's home form. In regards to the club's home record, which is 4-3-4 this season, Bruce was not as worried as the question askers were, pointing out that he has only had his full complement of stars on the field for one home game this season; with that game, against Chivas USA on August 29, ending 1-0 in favor of the Galaxy.

Finally, it was pointed out that a win on Saturday would see the Galaxy jump to the top of the MLS standings for the first time this season and in the pole position to win the Supporters Shield, to which he had this to say.


When you're done with that, be sure to head over to lagalaxy.com to read all the latest stories from Larry Morgan, who has a look at the Galaxy's incredible turn around from a year ago, the impact of A.J. DeLaGarza and a preview of Saturday's game, so be sure not to miss any of it.

Galaxy Futboleros Behind the Scenes at The Jay Leno Show

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Random Notes

While the team is out on the training field getting ready for Saturday's game against FC Dallas, we thought we would pass on a few off field notes from the past couple of days.

• A big congratulations to Danish tennis star Caroline Wozniacki for reaching the semifinal of the U.S. Open. In case you forgot, the Open's #9 seed came out to training last month while playing at the LA Women's Tennis Championship here at the HDC. She defeated young American Melanie Oudin last night and will now face Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in the semifinals to try and earn a berth in her first major Final. Click here to see a more detailed look at Caroline's visit.
• Last week the Galaxy Youth Academy teams were out at training to get a look at how the first team does things and give the players an inside look into what life is like as a professional. However, one player who was not there was Eric Gonzalez, the team's U-16 captain from last season. But we think he had a good reason. Yesterday, it was announced that Gonzalez was one of 40 players selected to the fall roster of the U.S. Soccer Under-17 National Team's residency program in Bradenton, Fla. The Corona, Calif. native is now in contention for a spot at the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria.
• In other National Team news, both Landon Donovan and David Beckham helped their teams win important World Cup Qualifiers on Wednesday. Beckham played the final 10 minutes of England's 5-1 win over Croatia that sealed their trip to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Closer to home, Donovan assisted on Ricardo Clark's game-winning goal as the U.S. beat Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 in Port of Spain to move one step closer to a sixth straight World Cup appearance. Both Beckham and Donovan are expected to be ready to go on Saturday against FC Dallas.
• Speaking of the game against FC Dallas, they have added two familiar players in the last two weeks, acquiring former Galaxy players Daniel Hernandez and Ugo Ihemelu. Both are expected to be available for selection in Saturday's game.
• In Tuesday's Weekly Update we told you about Bryan Jordan's appearance for Time Warner Cable in Baldwin Park. However, that appearance has now been cancelled.
• Finally, for all of you Twitter followers out there, be sure to head over to Alecko's Twitter page and find out how you can win some tickets to Saturday's game.

That's it for now, but we'll be back with more later from today's training.

Back to Work

After a weekend off, the Galaxy were back at work this morning, preparing for Saturday's all-important showdown with FC Dallas. A win could see the Galaxy move all the way to top of the MLS standings while also creating some additional distance between themselves and the rest of the Western Conference.

With that goal in mind, Bruce and the rest of the coaches put the team through a spirited session that saw short 5v5 games, with nearly the full squad,
including Julian, Sean and Edson
whose practice winning goal set off quite the celebration to end the session.
But that goal alone wasn't enough to get him, or any of the rest of the guys out of a bit of running to complete the day.Finally, in case you missed it, here is a bit of Todd's appearance last night on Fox Football Fone In.