Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Galaxy Fall 4-1 in First Leg of Champions League

LA Galaxy 1, Puerto Rico Islanders 4
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.

CONCACAF Champions League – Preliminary Round
First Leg

Scoring Summary:
PR – David Foley 1 (Unassisted) 26’
PR – Nicolas Addlery 1 (Scott Jones 1) 45’
PR – Josh Hansen 1 (Unassisted) 55’
PR – Nicolas Addlery 2 (Unasssisted) 81’
LA – Own Goal (Richard Martinez) 83’

Misconduct Summary:
PR – Noah Delgado (Yellow Card) 43’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Josh Saunders; A.J. DeLaGarza (Michael Stephens 39’), Leonardo, Gregg Berhalter (Tristan Bowen 64’), Eddie Lewis; Chris Birchall, Sean Franklin, Juninho, Landon Donovan©; Edson Buddle, Alan Gordon (Alex Cazumba 64’).

Subs Not Used: Donovan Ricketts, Omar Gonzalez, Dema Kovalenko, Jovan Kirovski.

Puerto Rico Islanders: Bill Gaudette; Scott Jones, Marco Velez, David Horst, Richard Martinez; Osei Telesford, Christopher Nurse, David Foley (Kendall Jagdeosingh 78’), Josh Hansen (Logan Emory 87’), Noah Delgado (Kevon Villaroel 72’); Nicolas Addlery.

Subs Not Used: Cody Laurenti, Alexis Rivera, Sandy Gbandi, Jonathan Fana.

Notes:
• With the loss, the Galaxy now trail the two-leg aggregate goal series 4-1.
• The return leg of the series will be played on Wednesday, August 4 at Juan Roman Loubriel Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico. That game will kick off at 5 p.m. (PT) and be shown live on Fox Soccer Channel.
• Because of the away goals rule in the series, the Galaxy must win in Puerto Rico by more than three goals in order to advance. They can also advance with a three-goal victory, but only if they score more than four goals in the match.
• If the second leg ends 4-1 in favor of the Galaxy, the series will go to 30 minutes of extra time.
• The winner of the series will be placed in Group D of the CONCACAF Champion’s League, along with Toluca of Mexico, Olimpia of Honduras and the winner of the Xelaju of Guatemala and FAS of El Salvador Preliminary Round series.
• Bruce Arena made five changes to the starting lineup he used against San Jose in Thursday’s 2-2 draw. Josh Saunders started in goal in place of Donovan Ricketts, while Chris Birchall, Gregg Berhalter, A.J. DeLaGarza and Eddie Lewis all returned to the starting lineup in place of Todd Dunivant, Omar Gonzalez, Dema Kovalenko and Michael Stephens.
• The 2-0 score at halftime was only the 10th time this season that the Galaxy had been held scoreless in the first 45 minutes of a match, in all competitions (24 games).
• The four goals given up by the Galaxy were the most the club has allowed in a single game in all competitions since losing 6-3 to FC Dallas at The Home Depot Center on Sep. 12, 2009.
• That defeat was also the last time that the Galaxy lost by three goals or more in a game.
• That loss to Dallas was also the last time the club lost at home, in all competitions, including international friendlies. During that stretch, which spanned 16 home games, LA went 13-0-3.
• After not allowing a goal in 656 consecutive minutes in MLS regular season, postseason and U.S. Open Cup play between April 4, 2009 and July 7, 2010, Galaxy goalkeeper Josh Saunders has now allowed six goals in his last 140 minutes. He allowed two goals in the second half of the 2-0 loss to Seattle in the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinals on July 7 and four goals tonight.
• The Galaxy outshot Puerto Rico 23-9 and had nine shots on goal compared to seven for the Islanders.
• Puerto Rico goalkeeper Bill Gaudette made seven saves to record the victory.
• The attendance for today’s game was 6,873.
• The Galaxy are back in action on Sunday, August 1 when they host the Chicago Fire at The Home Depot Center. That game kicks off at 4:30 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports en Espanol.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.

2 comments:

charlesj27 said...

Absolute EMBARASSMENT. Yes, Landon - use this word, it's what fits for the performance put out by the LA Galaxy, dear captain!!! EMBARASSMENT! It continues to baffle the mind why Bruce continues to give so many "pats-on-the-back", favors, and soft-corners for the older circa 2000 USMNT players on this team. Please, Bruce... Please, STOP!!! STOP fooling yourself into thinking that 33-39 year olds can still outperform in this already very improved, ultra-competitive league. Mianly, please stop fielding Alan Gordon and Eddie Lewis. Enough! Experiment OVER. DONE!!! Puerto Rico played with such tenacity, power, and crispness! They waited when tey needed to; they held when they needed to... they attacked ALWAYS! THROUGHOUT THE GAME - ALL 90 minutes - THEY ATTACKED! Please, Bruce - please take several pages from Barcelona and Arsenal. Attacking is a form of effective defense when carried out in repetitve motions.
I know at times I have said for the LA Galaxy players to spread the ball side-to-side and wide... but, NOT over and over and over again so that the other team can strip it away from us. No one (No coach) on this team/club is teaching these players how and when and correct, switching ways to attack. All I saw tonight was ball passed, then ball lobbed diagonally, and PR goal keeper eventually catching and re-taking posession.
I knew LA Galaxy and MLS were blwoing "perfumed" smoke up our noses with this "Champions League play is important and LA Galaxy has depth... LA Galaxy can go far.. because of the depth"... Absolute fodder!!!

Anonymous said...

Ouch...