Galaxy Shutout By Toronto FC, 2-0

LA Galaxy 0, Toronto FC 2
May 31, 2008
BMO Field – Toronto, Canada

Scoring Summary:
TFC – Julius James 1 (Rohan Ricketts 1) 49’
TFC – Jeff Cunningham 2 (Jarrod Smith 1) 65

Misconduct Summary:
TFC – Maurice Edu (caution; Professional Foul) 37’
TFC – Kevin Harmse (caution; Dissent) 54’
TFC – Jeff Cunningham (caution; Delaying a Restart) 65

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Steve Cronin, Greg Vanney, Troy Roberts, Sean Franklin, Chris Klein©, Alvaro Pires, Brandon McDonald, Joe Franchino, Alan Gordon, Mike Randolph (Carlos Ruiz 67’), Edson Buddle.

Subs Not Used: Josh Wicks, Landon Donovan, Bryan Jordan, Josh Tudela, Julian Valentin, Peter Vagenas.

Toronto FC: Brian Edwards, Marco Velez, Jim Brennan©, Marvell Wynne, Olivier Tebily (Julius James 18’), Kevin Harmse, Maurice Edu, Rohan Ricketts, Todd Dunivant, Jarrod Smith (Nana Attakora-Gyan 87’), Jeff Cunningham.

Subs Not Used: David Monsalve, Pat Phelan, Tyler Rosenlund, Andrea Lombardo and Gabe Gala.

Notes:
• With the loss, the Galaxy’s record stands at 4-4-2 on the season, keeping them at 14 points and in first place in the Western Conference standings for the time being with the rest of this weekend’s matches yet to be played.
•For only the second time this season, the potent Galaxy offense has been shutout for the first time since an opening day loss to Colorado. It snaps an eight game scoring streak for the club.
•ALL-TIME (4 meetings): TFC 2 wins, 6 goals …Galaxy 1 win, 4 goals …Ties 1
AT TORONTO: (2 meeting): TFC 1 wins, 2 goals …Galaxy 0 win, 0 goals …Ties 1
• This is the second of two meetings between the clubs this season, as the Galaxy make their lone trip to Canada and BMO Field.
• The teams played to a scoreless draw in Ontario in their first-ever meeting last year, with the Galaxy winning 2-1 on Victoria Street in the penultimate weekend of the season.
• When the teams first met, it was the first MLS game with David Beckham on the LA Galaxy roster (he did not play). They played to a scoreless draw -- for TFC, the fourth game in their 10-match run without a goal in setting an all-time MLS goalless record. For LA, it was the first of three successive shutouts, which came to an end in Beckham's first start in a wild 5-4 loss to New York.
• Coaches record: John Carver v LA: P2 W2 L0 D0 … Ruud Gullit vs. TOR: P2 W0 L2 D0
• Chris Klein made the 95th consecutive start of his MLS career, surpassing Kevin Hartman for the most consecutive starts in MLS history. The last time that Klein did not start an MLS game for his club was on June 4, 2005 when he missed a game through injury as a member of the Kansas City Wizards. Hartman had originally set the record as a member of the Galaxy when he started 93 consecutive games from August 21, 2002 until September 10, 2005.
• Carlos Ruiz made his second appearance off the bench this season as a second half substitute, replacing Mike Randolph in the 67th minute. It was Ruiz’s second MLS appearance since being injured in stoppage time of the season opening defeat to Colorado on March 29.
• The attendance for tonight’s game was 20,096.
• The Galaxy are back in action on Saturday, June 7 when they host the Colorado Rapids at The Home Depot Center. The match will kick off at 7:30 p.m. FSN West will broadcast the match live beginning with Galaxy Live at 7:00 p.m. Fans can also tune in live over the airwaves on 1330 KWKW (Spanish) and AM 570 (English).

Live from BMO Field

Here we are at BMO Field and the lineups are in with Ruud sending out a new look starting XI tonight against Toronto FC. Here is what we'll see from the Galaxy tonight.

--------------------Buddle--------------------

---Randolph------McDonald--------Gordon---

-----------Franchino------Pires---------------

Vanney----Franklin-----Roberts----Klein© --

-------------------Cronin--------------------

Subs: Wicks, Donovan, Jordan, Ruiz, Tudela,Valentin and Vagenas.

Sounds of Toronto

For those of you up early and looking for something to get you prepared for this afternoon's game against Toronto FC, which can be seen live on FSN West, here is a little audio from yesterday's training session. Let's listen in as the Toronto media chat with Ruud, Edson and Landon.
Head Coach Ruud Gullit –
On status of Donovan, Missing Beckham, and last meeting vs. TFC…

On Edson Buddle and the return of Carlos Ruiz…

Forward Edson Buddle
On his recent form...

On his hat-trick and scoring touch…

Forward Landon Donovan
On Wembley, Spain and playing on turf…

On missing key players and injuries…

Cold And Rainy...Toronto in May

It is a cold and rainy day in Toronto. The Galaxy trained at BMO Field this afternoon in preparation for tomorrow's match against Torono FC. Conditions are expected to be the same overnight and tomorrow so the players tried to adjust to the slick conditions and bounce (...read skip) of the ball on the pitch.

It was a good session with a little bit of everything from 5v2 to warmups with Neville to a small sided game with full goals to finishing drills before wrapping up with a cool down and stretch. Here are a few snap shots.

As long time Galaxy fans will remember, Carlos Ruiz has a habit of finding his way between the goal posts at the end of training with a pair of 'keeper gloves on his hands. Today, he enlisted roommate Alvaro Pires to join him in goal.

Friday Wrap

While the team prepares for Saturday's game in Toronto, we thought that we'd pass along some news from here in LA.

• The Galaxy are helping to organize a bus trip to San Jose for the game between the two sides on Saturday, June 14. For just $65, Galaxy fans will receive a round trip bus ticket, one match ticket and food at a special "Galaxy Travel Package Tailgate" which will be held at McAfee Coliseum. The buses will depart The Home Depot Center at 9 a.m., and will arrive in Oakland at 4 p.m. The match kicks off at 7 p.m. and the buses will depart Oakland at 10:30 p.m., arriving back at The Home Depot Center at 5:30 a.m., less than 12 hours prior to the start of the first World Cup qualifier of the year as the U.S. faces Barbados at the HDC (2 p.m. kickoff). So if you're up for a great weekend of soccer throughout California, click here to get your tickets for the Galaxy Away Game Travel Package and click here to order tickets for the U.S. game against Barbados.
• AEG CEO Tim Leiweke was named "Sports Executive of the Year" by the Sports Business Journal and Sports Business Daily at an awards ceremony in New York City on Thursday night. At the same awards show, Major League Soccer was named the Professional Sports League of the Year.
• There is a new Rollin' with Rogo posted on lagalaxy.com. Check it out here. Here is another preview of the game from MLSnet.com.
• As we told you yesterday, Landon flew to Toronto on Thursday to be evaluated by the Galaxy's medical staff and his availability would be determined before Saturday's game. This morning U.S. Soccer announced their roster for the friendly against Spain in Santander on June 4, with Landon included in that squad, with a decision on whether or not he will fly to Spain to be decided this weekend after Saturday's game.

On Our Way to Toronto

The team is safely checked in at LAX and waiting for our Air Canada flight to Toronto. It is always a good flight with your own in-seat video screen with movies and TV shows. You even get a few indie Canadian movies to put you in the right frame of mind, eh. Here are a few notes to get you up to speed before our flight...

• Landon Donovan will be joining the Galaxy in Toronto later today. Armando Rivas, the Galaxy's Head Athletic Trainer has been in touch with Dr. Bert Mandelbaum, who is with the National Team in Spain (he is also the Galaxy's team doctor), as well as U.S. National Team Athletic Trainer Ivan Pierra, formerly of the Galaxy, regarding the status of Landon's injury. We hope to have him available for Saturday, but won't know until he is evaluated by Rivas and his staff on Friday.


• Ely Allen, who suffered a concussion in Tuesday night's U.S. Open Cup match against Colorado, will remain in Los Angeles. His status will continued to be monitored and he will be evaluated next week to determine his availability for next weekend's game against Colorado.


• Ante Jazic will be missing our second and final trip to Canada of the season, the first being our friendly in Edmonton which marked his return from injury. Instead, he will be in Seattle with the Canadian National Team for their match against Brazil on Saturday. We wish Ante all the best in containing the Brazilian offense. He will also remain with Canada for their friendly against Panama on June 4 in Fort Lauderdale before re-joining the Galaxy.


• David Beckham remains with the England National Team following their 2-0 win over the USA. Beckham and the rest of the English squad flew to Trinidad & Tobago today ahead of their match there on Sunday.


• We would also like to wish Galaxy goalkeeper Steve Cronin a belated happy 25th birthday.

Well, we will check back in with more tomorrow from Toronto.

Beckham Off

The Galaxy's involvement in today's match is over as Becks has been replaced by David Bentley at halftime. He provided the cross for John Terry's first half goal and was dangerous on a couple of other occasions, but could not help England create more than a solitary goal.

Prior to the game, David was given a commemorative gold cap by Sir Bobby Charlton, honoring Becks for reaching the 100 cap plateau in March.