The Galaxy Lineup Is In

There are three changes to the starting 11 that played on Saturday in Seoul. Ely Allen, Michael Gavin and Brandon McDonald are brought in as Ruud sends the team out in a 4-4-2.

Cronin is back in goal with Gavin, Vanney, Xavier and Klein across the back. Ely and Becks are on the wings with Brandon and Alvaro Pires in central midfield and Fish up front and Gordo in behind him.

Blackberry Blogging

The posts have been a bit sporadic so far in China but we promise to have a good explanation.

We can't see our own site.

Since entering China on Sunday night, we have been unable to view this blog or any others in the blogger family. While we can still perform some administrative functions and Youtube works (hence) the videos, it is significantly more difficult to post this way compared to traditional methods.

With that said, four quick notes to pass along...

As most of you already know, we waived Celestine, Kyle and Kelly on Monday. None of the three were picked up in today's waiver draft.

Michael Gavin and Brandon McDonald have each been offered developmental contracts. Upon talking to them on this trip, we've also discovered that they know each other from back in their younger days growing up in Arizona and are now roommates on this trip.

Gavin and Julian Valentin have been working on their running forms/styles with Chris Neville. Nev had Troy video tape each of them running so they could see the things that he was trying to correct. It will be interesting to see the way that the new work will help them as the season goes on.

Lastly, we're a bit late but Happy Birthday Landon, who turned 26 on Tuesday. His was the third birthday since we left LA, following Julian's 21st on 2/23 and Ante's on 2/27. Galaxy PR extrordinaire Sahar also celebrated a birthday on Tuesday and she's been holding down the fort since we hit the road so we would be remiss not to also mention her.

Shanghai Days

The LA Galaxy have spent the last two days in Shanghai preparing for Wednesday night's match against Shanghai Hong Kong United at Shanghai Stadium. Defenders Chris Klein and Troy Roberts checkin with an update on the progress of preseason training.

Shanghai Press Conference

Here is a preview of Wednesday night's match against Shanghai Hong Kong United, which is an All-Star team made up of players from first division clubs in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Participating in the press conference were Ruud Gullit, David Beckham and Steve Cronin.

Post-Game Recap

Here is a great post-game recap from the Galaxy's 2-1 loss to FC Seoul on penalty kicks. Find out head coach Ruud Gullit's evaluation of the match, learn David Beckham's thoughts on playing with Carlos Ruiz and Bryan Jordan, and when and where Alan Gordon came up with his "Crane" goal celebration. Enjoy!

The Galaxy Are Heading to China

Following yesterday's match in Seoul, the Galaxy enjoyed a relaxing night in Seoul before packing everything up and boarding the buses heading out to Incheon Airport. The team flies to Shanghai in a few hours for the second leg of Asia Tour 2008, so we're just hanging out in the Asiana Air Lounge.

All the players have different ways of unwinding after a game, but last night, most of the boys congregated in an area that we dubbed Club 27. The 27th floor of the Lotte Hotel, that the Galaxy have called home for the past couple of days, had a series of computers with free internet and assorted snacks available to all hotel guests, with a private area set aside for Galaxy players and staff. So rather than pay the $20 a day to get internet service in their room, the guys made their way up to 27, with nearly half the team up their at once at times.

We left them to their own devices, but judging by the volume of the laughter that was created on occasion, the guys were having a good time.

A few of the staff who were not up on 27 encountered some transportation issues upon trying to return to the hotel later in the evening. The group (who will go nameless) jumped in a cab and asked to go to the Lotte Hotel, only to be taken to the Lotte World Hotel which is more than 10 minutes away from the intended destination. Unfortunately, this fact was only discovered after exiting the cab, paying for it and seeing it race off into the night.

A couple other notes from Seoul...

• Because of the cold, the equipment crew of Raul and Jose busted out the stadium coats and winter hats for the first (and hopefully) only time this season. It was so cold at kickoff yesterday afternoon that the players all wore their yellow warm-up tops in the team photo (seen at the top of the last post).


• We have a new face with us in camp on this trip, but it's not a name that most fans would recognize. Dr. David Chang, a colleague of club doctor Dr. Mandelbaum, is with the club here in Asia to lend a hand and assist with any medical issues that may (but hopefully don't) arise.


• Loyal blog readers saw the video of the adidas store appearance in Seoul on Thursday, but what you probably did not see is that as the crowd dispersed outside the store, the players in attendance were given the opportunity to grab some new gear off the racks as an added thank you for stopping by. Not surprisingly most of the guys (and perhaps a blog staffer or two) took the store up on the offer and are now carrying slightly heavier bags.

Here's another look at the adidas in store.

• Lastly, the number of the tour so far is undoubtedly 22. A bunch of the young guys, such as Wicks, McDonald, Franklin, Jordan, Randolph, Tudela, Valentin and a few others have been playing the card game on the bus to and from the stadium every day. The staff is always right at the front of the bus, with the rookies close behind, so we've seen them playing plenty and let us say that Brandon is good (we think) and we still don't understand the rules.

Talk to you all in China.

LA Falls to FC Seoul, 2-1, on PKs

Due to some technical difficulties with the wireless system at Seoul World Cup stadium, we were unable to provide the promised updates during the game. Below is a quick summary from the game:

The LA Galaxy fell to FC Seoul on Saturday, March 1 losing 2-1 on penalties after playing to a 1-1 draw in regulation in the Motorola Cup at Seoul World Cup Stadium in the first game of the Galaxy’s Asia Tour 2008 presented by Herbalife.

The Galaxy took the lead in the 22nd minute when Alan Gordon, who played in center midfield, beat the offsides trap to get on the end of a David Beckham freekick. Gordon beat Kim Ho Jun with a right-footed shot for a 1-0 advantage. Carlos Ruiz was fouled in the center of the field about 35 yards from goal, setting up a freekick opportunity for Beckham. Rather than go for goal, the Galaxy captain deftly clipped the ball over the defense for Gordon who ran onto the pass and took it down with his chest before hitting a right-footed shot past the Korean keeper.

Despite being in Korea, Gordon went with a classic martial arts celebration "The Crane" that was made famous in the "Karate Kid" movie.

FC Seoul equalized ten minutes later when Jung Jo Gook scored from the penalty spot. Gook stepped up and sent his kick straight down the middle, beating Steve Cronin to level the score at 1-1. In the penalty shootout, LA dropped a 2-1 decision as the FC Seoul keeper made four saves, while Cronin denied two PKs of his own.

For the complete game report go lagalaxy.com.