Breaking Up The 'Monotony' Of Training

Fridays usually consist of light training sessions. Since all of the heavy lifting is done earlier in the week, training the day before the game usually consists of going over some on-the-field tactics, dead ball situations and fitness. Today, the guys did all of that and something else. Bruce and the coaching staff decided to mix things up a little by having the guys play a game of soccer handball.

Let the games begin.

While soccer handball does help build up communication and hand-eye coordination, the main things was having fun out on the field. Bruce told the media afterward, "I saw no reason for to go out there and kick each other. It was good. It breaks up the monotony of things." It sure did.

One team was an experience-filled squad (although we are not sure if soccer experience automatically translates into soccer handball success) comprised of guys like Landon, Eddie, Klein, Alan and Gregg. The other was led by Dema, Tony and Cobi, but also included Edson, Omar and Leo.

The game started out even and both teams were defending well. But as the game approached its midway point without either team having score, referee Dave Sarachan implemented a rule change in hopes of creating more scoring opportunities-- good call or conspiracy theory? You decide.

Dema and his team were first to take advantage of the rule change and went up 1-0. The goal was disputed by Alan and the others, but to no avail. Moments later, Dema struck again and his side was now up 2-0.

Chris Klein and his team answered quickly with a goal of their own to cut the deficit in half (see video below). But in the final minute of the match, young Tristan Bowen put things away with his only goal of the match.

As a result of their victory, the winners were first in line to receive water from the trainers.

Be sure to check back later today as we'll catch up with some of the guys before they depart to Oakland. We'll get you ready for Saturday game against San Jose with pics, audio and video.

Putting The Finishing Touches To Thursday

The guys are ready for this weekend's trip to Oakland, the first away game of the season at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Some of the guys that are coming back from injuries, surgeries and suspensions moved that much closer to being match fit on Thursday. Red cards to Alan and Gregg provides opens the door for other to see some action. Bruce and the coaching staff see the suspensions an opportunity to build depth within the team.

We caught up with Bruce and Stefani ahead of Saturday's game against the Earthquakes. Stefani breaks down San Jose a little bit for us while Bruce says playing at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum might be a good thing for the Galaxy.

Bruce...



Stefani...



Also, after a solid training session, Landon and Klein led a group of players that stayed on the field to work on finishing. Jovan was on fire, putting away almost every opportunity, as was Landon and Bryan. Edson, who's rehabbing hard so he can rejoin the guys on the field, was among those taking part in the drill, which would start at the top of the box, go wide to Klein and then back into the box. Occasionally, the ball would be send in from the middle of the field and the player would get two touches to put it away.

Halfway There

For the second straight day the entire squad was out on the field today as the preparations continued ahead of this weekend's game against San Jose. LA is 4-5-4 all-time in their first road game of the season, including a forgettable 4-0 loss at Colorado to open their road schedule last year.
The only player not to participate in the full session both today and on Tuesday was Leonard Griffin who continues to rehab from his recent sports hernia operation and is not eligible to return to game action until May 10 against Seattle. Even Gregg Berhalter and Alan Gordon, who are not available this weekend through suspension, have been going all out to help get the team ready to earn their first win of the season on Saturday.

Both sessions have featured mostly tactical work combined with the standard fitness and finishing that we see at the end of every practice, with Mike Magee coming out on top in a series of shooting drills from all across the 18. On Thursday the prep work for San Jose, who are led by former Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop and have four former LA players on their books, will step up even further as the match draws closer.
Larry Morgan from MLSnet.com was out to speak with Donovan Ricketts and Gregg Berhalter to talk with each, and those around them, about their debuts against Chivas USA. Ricketts (and his goalkeeper coach Ian Feuer) remained busy in media world on Wednesday as well, speaking with FS West for a future episode of Galaxy Live.The club will hold two more training sessions at home before heading north to San Jose on Friday ahead of Saturday's game. If you want to make the trip to San Jose (make that Oakland, with the game being played at Oakland Alameda Coliseum), you can purchase tickets here and be sure to join the Angel City Brigade and all the other Galaxy fans who will be in attendance.

Ricketts Named MLS Player of the Week

Donovan Ricketts was named the MLS Player of the Week on Monday after keeping a clean sheet in his MLS debut on Saturday night. Ricketts, who had missed the first two games of the season with a groin strain, made five saves in the game, becoming the third Galaxy goalkeeper to earn a clean sheet on his MLS debut.

His best saves of the night came in the first half when he dove to his left to parry away a Paulo Nagamura drive and in the 40th minute when he blocked a Jesse Marsch effort with his leg from close range.

Prior to Ricketts, the only Galaxy goalkeepers ever to be named the MLS Player of the Week were Jorge Campos (Week 7, 1996) and Kevin Hartman (Week 22, 1999 and Week 27, 2002). In all of MLS history, goalkeepers have been named the league’s Player of the Week just 37 times, with Kasey Keller also taking the award earlier this season. Prior to Keller and Ricketts this season, the last goalkeeper to win the Player of the Week award was Joe Cannon who did so in Week 25 of the 2006 season.

Donovan spoke to reporters after Saturday's game and had this to say about the game and his performance.

Looking Back At The SuperClasico

Donovan Rickets and Gregg Berhalter were making their MLS debuts, but they weren't the only ones facing the Red-and-White for the first time. Everyone in the backline was playing in their first SuperClasico. A.J., Omar, Gregg, Eddie and Ricketts more than held their own as they helped snap a 20-game streak in which the club had allowed at least one goal. The 0-0 draw on Saturday was the Galaxy's first shutout in an MLS match since June 14, 2008 when they defeated San Jose 3-0 at Oakland Alameda Coliseum.

Here is some post-game audio from Saturday night:

Bruce Arena's Press Conference...


Gregg Berhalter...


Stefani Miglioranzi...


Sean Franklin...



ESPN.com's SuperClasico Highlights...



View more game highlights on LAGalaxy.com.

Locker Room Reaction

We'll have audio Monday, but for now, here is some of the postgame reaction from the Galaxy locker room to the 0-0 draw with Chivas USA.

LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On the game:
I think it was a fair result for both teams. There’s not much more to say than that. I think our team gave a good effort. They are getting better. New players contributed well tonight. I was pleased this week at training and tonight’s game. It’s encouraging.

On Donovan Ricketts’ contribution to the game:
Excellent. It’s the reason why we acquired him. He can be an outstanding goalkeeper in the league. Unfortunately he’s been sidelined with some injuries for the last six or seven weeks. But I think that when he gets into form he’s going to show that he’s a good addition to this team.

On all the cards given throughout the game:
They impacted the game. It was difficult for the players out there. Some bad tackles that went by; other plays that were called. It was a game that was difficult for the players to play. I think a lot of cards were merited. There was a play at the end of the first half that [Shavar] Thomas has a strangle hold on [Landon] Donovan. It would have been his second yellow card, and he was gone. It was too much of an act that I gave one to them, I’m going to give one to make it even. It was that become that right from the beginning. You knew it was going to happen. It was very obvious from the early part of the first half.

On Gregg Berhalter’s first MLS match:
I think he played well until right at the end. He got caught with square ball and [Alecko] Eskandarian was shrewd and picked him off. Again like the contribution we saw from Donovan Ricketts tonight, I think Gregg Berhalter contributed well to our team. It’s a real positive. The red card is not good, and we are going to miss him next week. It’s all part of it. It’s the first MLS games for Ricketts and Berhalter, and it’s good to get those games under your belt and move forward.

LA GALAXY DEFENDER GREGG BERHALTER
On the team’s performance:
If you take that one play away, I think it was a good performance by the team. We defended well. We had an opportunity to win the game. All in all, I think it was a decent performance. Obviously I’m disappointed with that one play, that one red card; it could have hurt the team. Luckily it didn’t .Next week, I’m not going to be playing and that’s disappointing as well.

LA GALAXY GOALKEEPER DONOVAN RICKETTS
On the difference between playing in England and MLS:
The English league plays more quick and never stops moving. This league is more technically and methodically. The build up is relatively slower than the English league, but not that much.

On Bruce Arena’s confidence in him:
Bruce put a lot of faith in me, so each game I try to repay him. That’s all I do. I just go and play from the heart.

LA GALAXY FORWARD LANDON DONOVAN
On the game:
Games change. I thought our effort was really good tonight. I thought we played really well. We deserved everything we got, until our red card. That kind of changed the game. We still played well. But after you are down two men, you try to get out of there with a point. At that point, I was proud of what we did out there.

On Donovan Ricketts:
Yeah, he was great tonight. He didn’t have a ton to do, but two maybe one distance shots and a couple big saves he made really helped us. It’s too bad we couldn’t score on the other end.

SuperClasico Ends in Scoreless Draw

LA Galaxy 0, Chivas USA 0
April 11, 2009
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
None

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Stefani Miglioranzi (Yellow Card) 15’
CHV – Paulo Nagamura (Yellow Card) 25’
LA – Eddie Lewis (Yellow Card) 26’
CHV – Sacha Kljestan (Yellow Card) 33’
CHV – Shavar Thomas (Yellow Card) 36’
CHV – Paulo Nagamura (Red Card/2nd Yellow) 45’
LA – Alan Gordon (Yellow Card) 68’
LA – Alan Gordon (Red Card/2nd Yellow) 71’
LA – Gregg Berhalter (Red Card) 79’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts, Eddie Lewis, Gregg Berhalter (Sent Off 79’), Omar Gonzalez, A.J. DeLaGarza (Bryan Jordan 61’), Josh Tudela, Stefani Miglioranzi (Jovan Kirovski 58’), Sean Franklin, Chris Klein (Tony Sanneh 81’), Alan Gordon (Sent Off 71’), Landon Donovan©.

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Yohance Marshall, Kyle Patterson, Mike Magee.

Chivas USA: Zach Thornton, Jonathan Bornstein, Carey Talley, Shavar Thomas, Mariano Trujillo (Chukwudi Chijindu 87’), Jesse Marsch©, Paulo Nagamura (Sent Off 45’), Gerson Mayen (Bojan Stepanovic 46’), Sacha Kljestan, Atiba Harris, Eduardo Lillingston (Alecko Eskandarian 46’).

Subs Not Used: Lance Parker, Jim Curtin, Michael Lahoud, Jorge Flores.

Notes:
· With the draw, the Galaxy are now 0-1-2 on the season, leaving them with two points. They remain tied for sixth place in the Western Conference with Houston, eight points behind the leaders Chivas USA, who have 10 points from four games this year.
· Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena made four changes to his lineup from the 3-2 loss to Colorado last weekend. Gregg Berhalter and Donovan Ricketts each made their MLS debuts and first starts in the game while A.J. DeLaGarza was brought back into the starting lineup. They replaced Josh Saunders, Tony Sanneh and Kyle Patterson, all of who were on the bench. Additionally, Stefani Miglioranzi had his first start of the season in place of Dema Kovalenko who was suspended.
· In addition to Kovalenko, the Galaxy were also without Edson Buddle, Todd Dunivant and Leonard Griffin who missed the game through injury.
· This was just the second scoreless draw in the history of the Honda SuperClasico. The first came on July 15, 2006 in the third game of the series, which the Galaxy went on to win.
· The shutout was the Galaxy’s first in an MLS match since June 14, 2008 when they defeated San Jose 3-0 at Oakland Alameda Coliseum. Since then, the Galaxy had allowed at least one goal in 20 straight league matches.
· Ricketts joins Joe Cannon and Kevin Hartman as the only three goalkeepers in Galaxy history to earn a clean sheet in their first ever start for the club. Hartman beat Kansas City on May 25, 1997 while Joe Cannon was in goal for a 0-0 draw with Houston on April 8, 2007.
· Alan Gordon was sent off in the 71st minute after receiving his second yellow card. That card made this the second SuperClasico in the history of the series to see a player sent off from each side, following Paulo Nagamura’s first half red card for Chivas USA.
· Eight minutes later, Gregg Berhalter was sent off, leaving the Galaxy to play with nine men. Berhalter was making his MLS debut in the game and became just the seventh player in league history to be shown a red card in his MLS debut.
· This was the first time in Galaxy history that the club had two players sent off in the same game. Coming into this game the Galaxy had received 40 red cards in the club’s history, but never two in the same game.
· The attendance for today’s game was 23,317.
· The Galaxy are back in action next Saturday night when they play their first road game of 2009, traveling north to play the San Jose Earthquakes. That game will be played at Oakland Alameda Coliseum and will be shown live on FS West beginning at 7:30 p.m.
· For more about this afternoon’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.