Galaxy 1, D.C. United 4

LA Galaxy 1, D.C. United 4
June 29, 2008
RFK Stadium – Washington D.C.

Scoring Summary:
DC – Jaime Moreno 6 (Penalty Kick) 5’
LA – Edson Buddle 10 (Landon Donovan 7) 26’
DC – Luciano Emilio 9 (Mark Burch 2, Jaime Moreno 7) 37’
DC – Marcelo Gallardo 4 (Luciano Emilio 2, Gonzalo Martinez 1) 60’
DC – Luciano Emilio 10 (Fred 3, Marcelo Gallardo 3) 68’

Misconduct Summary:
DC – Marcelo Gallardo (Yellow Card) 42’
LA – Landon Donovan (Yellow Card) 42’
LA – Josh Tudela (Yellow Card) 51’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Steve Cronin, Chris Klein, Sean Franklin, Abel Xavier, Mike Randolph, Alvaro Pires (Alan Gordon 64’), Ante Jazic (Joe Franchino 61’), David Beckham©, Ely Allen (Josh Tudela 46+), Edson Buddle, Landon Donovan.

Subs Not Used: Vito Higgins, Greg Vanney, Troy Roberts, Brandon McDonald.

D.C. United: Zach Wells, Brian Namoff, Devon McTavish, Gonzalo Peralta, Gonzalo Martinez, Clyde Simms, Santino Quaranta (Mark Burch 27’), Fred (Rod Dyachenko 77’), Marcelo Gallardo, Luciano Emilio, Jaime Moreno© (Ben Olsen 75’).

Subs Not Used: Jose Carvallo, Ryan Cordeiro, Quavas Kirk, Francis Doe.

Notes:
· With the loss, the Galaxy fall to 6-5-3 on the season for 21 points. They remain in first place in the Western Conference standings, two points ahead of the Houston Dynamo and Real Salt Lake.
· Ruud Gullit made no changes to his team, using the same starting XI as he used in the 3-3 draw with Columbus last weekend. It is the first time since the second and third games (on April 3 and April 13) of the year that Gullit has been able to use the same lineup in consecutive games.
· Jaime Moreno’s penalty kick goal in the 5th minute was the earliest goal allowed by the Galaxy this season, coming one minute earlier than Fabian Espindola’s goal for Real Salt Lake in the 2-2 draw with the Galaxy at Rice-Eccles Stadium on May 3.
· Edson Buddle’s goal in the 26th minute was his 10th of the season. He has now scored in four straight games and has recorded double figures in goals for the third time in his career, but the first time since 2004. He is now one goal off of tying his career-high of 11 set that same season.
· Buddle now joins Landon Donovan with double figures in goals this season. The last time that the Galaxy had two or more players each score 10 or more goals in the same season was in 2005 when Donovan scored 12 goals to lead the club, while Herculez Gomez added 11. The only other time that the Galaxy more than one player scored 10 or more goals in a season was in 1998 when Cobi Jones, Welton and Mauricio Cienfuegos all scored more than 10.
· With his assist on Buddle’s goal, Landon Donovan is now tied for the MLS in assists with seven.
· The four goals allowed by the Galaxy ties the club’s season-high for this year, which was set in the season opener against Colorado, a 4-0 Galaxy defeat.
· The attendance for tonight’s game was 35,979, meaning that all but one of the Galaxy’s road games this season have been played in front of more than 20,000 fans.
· The Galaxy are back in action on Friday, July 4, when they host the New England Revolution at The Home Depot Center. The match will kick off at 7:30 p.m. and can be seen live on FSN Prime Ticket. The match will also be available live on the radio starting at 9 a.m. on AM 570 (English) and KWKW 1330 ESPN Deportes. Fans attending the game will also have a chance to see the club’s annual Fireworks Extravaganza, which is powered by KDAY 93.5 FM.

Kick Off at RFK

We're underway at RFK on a hot and humid day that some would call sweltering.

Here's the lineup, which sees no changes from last weekend.

------------Buddle-----Donovan----------

Jazic-------Pires-------Allen---------Beckham

Randolph---Franklin---Xavier-----Klein

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

Subs: Higgins, Roberts, Vanney, McDonald, Tudela, Franchino and Gordon.

By the way, you'll see it duing the broadcast, but the ABC crew asked five players for their picks to win today's Euro 2008 Final. David, Landon and Abel all said Spain, while Cronin and Klein went with the Germans.

Early Mornings in D.C.

We're through with our breakfast/pregame meal and the guys are now beginning their final preparations ahead of today's game. Today's meal saw one of the biggest food spreads we've seen in a while, as there were both breakfast and lunch options because of the early kick-off.

The game will kick-off at approximately 12:15 today so there will be a short pregame show before the first whistle. In advance of the pregame show, ABC's John Harkes sat down with Becks here at the hotel for a short interview. You'll also see the third member of the broadcast team, Allen Hopkins, catch up with Landon Donovan pregame to catch his thoughts on the game.

In other interview news, David sat down with Steven Goff of The Washington Post for a story that ran in today's paper. Click here to see the story.

Off to the stadium and we'll have more from there in a bit.

This Week Inside the Galaxy - Episode Nine

Another week brings another episode of This Week Inside The Galaxy.

This week, we take a look back at the draw with the Crew and look forward to Sunday's game with D.C. United.

Also, we look at the family dynamic that will be on display behind the scenes this weekend between D.C. United President Kevin Payne and his younger brother Tom Payne, the Galaxy's Assistant General Manager.

Lastly, we look back to February's Open Tryout and the emergence of Vito Higgins, who has served as the Galaxy's backup goalkeeper the last two weeks and is expected to fill that role once again on Sunday.

Check it out.

Ready for D.C.

The temperature is finally dropping here at the HDC, but the humidity has picked up. Luckily, the humidity will help the players prepare for the conditions they will be playing in on Sunday at DC, where its supposed to hit the high 80s.

With Ruud meeting up with the team in DC, we took this opportunity to catch up with assistant coach Trevor James to talk about the upcoming match. We also spoke to Landon, Abel, Edson and Mike. Here's what they had to say -

Trevor on the D.C. offense


Landon on playing D.C. United at RFK


Abel on preparing for Sunday's game


Edson on playing with Landon and David


Mike on the home crowd at RFK


Don't forget to catch the game against D.C. on ABC at 9 a.m. - right before the Euro 2008 Final. And, if you still haven't gotten your soccer fix, head over to the HDC and watch the Rios take on Ventura County Fusion at 5 p.m.

It's Julian's World and We're Just Living In It

For those of you who have not seen it yet, Julian Valentin, our rookie defender from Wake Forest, is writing a weekly blog for the American Soccer Reader, which you can check out by following this link.

He is joined by fellow Demon Deacon Wells Thompson of New England and the Red Bulls' Hunter Freeman on the site, so be sure to check it out and tell him what you think.

In other news, the grounds crew has been doing routine maintenance on our usual training field this week, meaning that Ruud has been putting the squad through their paces on one of the U.S. Soccer fields.

Also, Paul Bravo left the country earlier this week for a scouting excursion to Africa. He'll be sending us an email in the next day or so, which we will be sure to pass along to you, giving you some inside info into what he's seen.

Ruud also headed out the other day, flying back to Holland for a quick trip to see his family and tend to some personal business. The club was off today and will have one session on Thursday before flying to D.C. on Friday, meaning that Cobi and Trevor will be in charge of one session before rejoining the club on the East Coast.

As always, more to come.

Edson Up For Award Again

Another week, another Goal of the Week nomination for Edson Buddle.

Check it out here and be sure to vote for Edson.