Sunday, November 1, 2009

First Leg Finishes 2-2 at The Home Depot Center Setting Up Series Decider Next Weekend

LA Galaxy 2, Chivas USA 2
Sunday, November 1, 2009
The Home Depot Center — Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
CHV – Maicon Santos 1 (Sacha Kljestan 1) 4’
LA – Mike Magee 1 (Unassisted) 14’
LA – Landon Donovan 1 (Unassisted) 41’
CHV – Maykel Galindo 1 (Unassisted) 50’

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Chris Birchall (Yellow Card) 27’
CHV – Marcelo Saragosa (Yellow Card) 81’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts, Todd Dunivant, Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, Sean Franklin, Dema Kovalenko, Landon Donovan©, David Beckham, Chris Birchall (Chris Klein 77’), Mike Magee (Eddie Lewis 63’), Edson Buddle (Alan Gordon 69’).

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Yohance Marshall, A.J. DeLaGarza, Jovan Kirovski.

Chivas USA: Zach Thornton, Ante Jazic (Jorge Flores 79’), Jonathan Bornstein, Yamith Cuesta, Carey Talley©, Paulo Nagamura, Marcelo Saragosa, Michael Lahoud (Maykel Galindo 46’), Sacha Kljestan, Justin Braun, Maicon Santos (Jesus Padilla 77’).

Subs Not Used: Jon Conway, Shavar Thomas, Mariano Trujillo, Eduardo Lillingston.

Notes:
• With the draw, the Galaxy go into the second leg of the Western Conference Semifinal Series level at 2-2. The two-leg, aggregate goal series concludes next Sunday at The Home Depot Center. Unlike in similar competitions elsewhere in the world, away goals are not weighed extra in MLS meaning that if next weekend’s game is tied at the end of 90 minutes the series would go to 30 minutes (two 15-minute halves) of extra time. If the series was still tied after extra time, it would be settled by a penalty shootout.
• This was the first-ever postseason game between the Galaxy and Chivas USA.
• Bruce Arena used the same starting lineup that he had used in the Galaxy’s regular season finale against San Jose on October 24. The only change made to the Galaxy’s 18-man squad was the return of Alan Gordon to the substitute’s bench in place of Bryan Jordan. Gordon missed the win over the Earthquakes through suspension.
• The Galaxy were without Alecko Eskandarian, Stefani Miglioranzi and Julian Valentin, who all missed the game through injury.
• The Galaxy fell behind in the 4th minute, behind a goal from Maicon Santos. That goal was the first allowed by LA against Chivas USA this season.
• The goal was the fourth fastest goal in MLS postseason history and the fastest-ever allowed by LA in the playoffs.
• Mike Magee pulled the Galaxy even ten minutes later with his first-ever postseason goal. Magee had two goals in 23 regular season games in his first year with the Galaxy.
• Landon Donovan gave the Galaxy a 2-1 lead in the 41st minute with an unassisted goal. He now has 15 career postseason goals, which are the second most in MLS history behind Carlos Ruiz’s 16. In his Galaxy postseason career, Donovan has five goals in five games.
• This was the first time that the Galaxy allowed two or more goals at The Home Depot Centre since the 6-3 loss to FC Dallas on September 12.
• Prior to today’s game, the Galaxy had allowed just one game in three previous postseason contests at The Home Depot Center, with the Galaxy playing as the home team in all three of those.
• Despite allowing the two goals, Donovan Ricketts made two saves in his MLS postseason debut.
• Ricketts was one of six Galaxy players to make their postseason debut in this game. David Beckham, Gregg Berhalter, Chris Birchall, Sean Franklin and Omar Gonzalez all had not played in an MLS playoff game before today. Five other players, Edson Buddle, Chris Klein, Dema Kovalenko, Eddie Lewis and Mike Magee were making their first-ever postseason appearance as a member of the Galaxy.
• Only Landon Donovan, Todd Dunivant and Alan Gordon played in today’s game and had played postseason games for the Galaxy before today.
• Chris Birchall was the only Galaxy player to collect a yellow card in the game. If he is booked again in the second leg of the series, he would be suspended for the Western Conference Championship were the Galaxy to advance to that game.
• The Galaxy entered the game a perfect 11-0-0 when leading at the half.
• The Galaxy also entered the game 0-6-8 when allowing the game’s first goal. This was the first time that LA did not lose when falling behind 1-0 since July 25 at Kansas City, a game that finished 1-1.
• The attendance for today’s game was 25,218.
• The Galaxy are back in action at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 8 when they host Chivas USA in Game #2 of their Western Conference Semifinal Series. The Galaxy will be the home side for this game, which will be shown live on ESPN2.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Too many openings in the defense again. I was disappointed to see that second goal scored by Chivas. We have to play a better defense in the next game or it will be our last.

Anonymous said...

That was U G L Y.

Galaxy looked like they've never played together. Donovan was TERRIBLE at decissive moments. Beckham's long game was HORRIBLE.

Landon should NOT line up in he middle with Beckham when playing against a team with decent control like the Goats people.

Bruce did not play this game like an away game with a more cautious start to get his young and nervous defenders midfield support. We are lucky if their confidence is not totally shattered. Gonzales and Franklin looked terrified for most of the game.

Let's hope they can rebound and play better at our home game.

Sincerely,

THE Anon

PS - kudos to both sides' fans for making a great showing at the stadium. can't wait for the next one.

charlesj27 said...

As I was not able to watch this important Play-Off "SuperClassico" against our cross-hall rival, I cannot say how any of the individual players really performed. Still, it's hard to believe that our team/players were unprepared or even scared of the Chivas team. I think that the coaches and the players rather chose to guage and study at how their offense got created during plays. YES, it's not the time to study during play-offs - but, I believe that David, Donovan, and the forwards knew what they they needed to do to catch when they had to. I think since there are more and more MLS teams coming into the conference table in coming years... the organizations/clubs have to more and more take a studying or "posturing" role at times. I sorta think that's why Kenin Payne got into that much flak with MLS League officials. I think ALL of the clubs' officials know by now how this league is structured to work. Guys, keep thinking of league growth, business profitability, and sales, sales, sales. There are still several tough, grueling games left. Let's just keep hoping for NO INURIES, and LEAST amount of red-cards!!! I believe that HC Bruce and HA Dave have seen this and more plenty of times during their coaching careers. It takes a good three years to completely build an effective team around "star/hi-profile" players.

MEG said...

Charles take your medication. You didn't watch the game but you give us an analysis. You have really lost it this time. The coaches and players used the firstplay off game to study???? I didn't see much studying going on there( yes I was there!!!) a lot of standing and watching, well maybe that was the plan Charles. I agree "The Anon, Donovan was terrible. I think Charles told him the clocks were going back and he had an extra hour in bed and he heard an extra day or maybe Charles got it wrong. Please don't say Becks was horrible. He looked as gorgeous as ever just a few passes were a little off and some I thought he was playing that other game they have the nerve to call football but I didn't see much anticipation from anybody especially the USA's "best" player.

GalaxyTRUfan said...

I have no faults with Sean, but is there a reason why AJ isn't playing next to Omar? You would think they would consider these 2 have played solidely for 22 games next to each other and have had great sucess. Is AJ Injured?When the defense was having problems marking,I was sure AJ would of been subbed in,But they put in old man lewis...

Anonymous said...

MEG,

I love to have seen you make runs BEHIND the net anticipating the cutesy pie's many "little off" crosses. Maybe you'd run into one of the goal posts and wake up from this delusion you've been stuck in. A knock on the old nuggin should do you some good.

GalaxyTUEfan,

I'm kinda with you on the AJ vs Sean. Offensively, Sean seems to be more at ease but AJ's tenacity on defense wins the day for me. I remember the many balls he cleared of the line during the season and he is definitely quicker in recovery than Sean. Also all the time he played with Omar here and in college is important. Gutsy call by Bruce but I would have stayed with AJ. He is not injurred and sits on the bench.

Sincerely,

THE Anon

GalaxyTRUfan said...

Thx anon for the AJ upate,I am confused why he wasn't at least subbed-in,I feel he earned that spot,no disrespect to Sean,at least to finish the season out & playoffs. I hear he didn't even get a nomination for rookie of the year,even tho Omar is a runaway favorite to win. Thx again for the update

charlesj27 said...

MEG,
Honest, my meds have been regularly consumed... (well, at least the ones I chose to take) :-)
Appreciate your take and response... I'm eager to see how our guys will play when it's an LAG home-playoff game against the goats. IMO, I do not believe we're as secured, confident, and fluid as Columbus Crew or Seattle Sounders FC. Really, we continue to WIN games through David & Landon; and, more so, we continue to stay in games because of our stronger def-mids, full-backs, and our spectacular GK. Again, it's IMO. Still, it would be awesome to see our LAG go all the way to the finals. That's a LOT to expect from our players' current tenure level. We shall see, that's what makes playoffs so inviting!