Galaxy 1, Revolution 2

LA Galaxy 1, New England Revolution 2
July 4, 2008
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
NE – Adam Cristman 5 (Unassisted) 33’
NE – Adam Cristman 6 (Steve Ralston 4) 37’
LA – David Beckham 5 (Unassisted) 66’

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Alvaro Pires (Yellow Card) 82’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Steve Cronin, Chris Klein, Sean Franklin, Abel Xavier, Ante Jazic, Alvaro Pires, Joe Franchino (Carlos Ruiz 84’), Mike Randolph, David Beckham©, Edson Buddle, Alan Gordon (Landon Donovan 46’).

Subs Not Used: Vito Higgins, Greg Vanney, Troy Roberts, Josh Tudela, Ely Allen.

New England Revolution: Matt Reis, Chris Albright, Michael Parkhurst, Jay Heaps, Jeff Larentowicz, Shalrie Joseph, Mauricio Castro, Sainey Nyassi (Pat Phelan 70’), Steve Ralston©, Kheli Dube (Taylor Twellman 60’), Adam Cristman (Amaechi Igwe 79’).

Subs Not Used: Doug Warren, Chase Hilgenbrinck, Chris Tierney, Kenny Mansally.

Notes:
· With the loss, the Galaxy fall to 6-6-3 on the season leaving them with 21 points. They remain in first place in the Western Conference standings, one point ahead of the Houston Dynamo and Real Salt Lake.
· Ruud Gullit made two changes to his team that lost 4-1 at D.C. United last weekend. Ely Allen and Landon Donovan were not in the staring lineup, though each was available off the bench. They were replaced in the starting lineup by Alan Gordon and Joe Franchino.
· Landon Donovan did not start the game after missing the last two days of training with the flu. He entered the game at halftime, replacing Alan Gordon.
· With this start, Chris Klein made his 100th consecutive start, the longest streak in MLS history. The last time Klein missed a game was back on June 4, 2005 as a member of the Kansas City Wizards.
· This is the first time this season that the Galaxy have allowed two first half goals. The last time LA allowed two goals in the opening 45 minutes was on August 26, 2007 in a 3-0 loss at Colorado. The last time the Galaxy allowed two first half goals at home was on April 12, 2007 in the Galaxy’s 2007 home opener when they lost 2-1 to FC Dallas.
· David Beckham scored his fifth goal of the season for the Galaxy. It was his first goal since May 24 when he scored the final goal of the Galaxy’s 3-1 win over Kansas City.
· Adam Cristman scored twice for the Revolution tonight, making him the second player to score multiple goals against the Galaxy in 2008. The only other player to do so was Luciano Emilio of D.C. United who scored twice in their 4-1 win over LA last weekend.
· The attendance for tonight’s game was 27,000, which is the fifth sellout for the Galaxy this season.
· The Galaxy are back in action on Thursday, July 10, when they host Chivas USA in the second installment of the Honda SuperClasico. The match will kick off at 8 p.m. at The Home Depot Center and can be seen live on ESPN2. The match will also be available live on the radio in Spanish on KWKW 1330 ESPN Deportes.

The Teams are in at The HDC

The lineups are in and the players are preparing to take the field as the Galaxy host the Revolution tonight in Carson.

Here is the team that Ruud is sending out, with a few changes from what we saw on Sunday in D.C.

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

--------------------Gordon-------------------

Randolph----------------------------Beckham

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

Jazic------Franklin--------Xavier--------Klein

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

Subs: Higgins, Vanney, Roberts, Tudela, Allen, Donovan and Ruiz.

Charles Alamo, Josh Wicks, Peter Vagenas and Brandon McDonald all miss the game through injury, while Landon will be forced to come off the bench as continues to recover from the flu that has kept him out of training the last two days.

This Week Inside the Galaxy - Episode Ten

Happy Fourth of July! to everyone from The LA Galaxy blog.

It is only fitting to begin this day of independence with another ground breaking episode of This Week Inside The Galaxy.

This week, we take a look back at the loss in Washington D.C. from a Rookie perspective with Julian Valentin, who like many of you watched the game at home on TV.

Despite some heated debate over the team’s The Dark Knight screening, we got a few reviews from some of the players and their thoughts on bonding off the field.

Also, we recap the Top 10 Goals - Month of June, highlighted by some spectacular finishing from Edson Buddle and Landon Donovan. Congrats to Ely Allen on his first career MLS goal.

On the verge of his 100th Consecutive MLS start, TWIG speaks with Chris Klein and some of his teammates about the impressive milestone.

Lastly, we look ahead to tonight’s match against the Revolution and get some insight into the East’s top team from former captain and long-time Rev Joey Franchino(One of us!), who has returned home to his roots in SoCal.

Enjoy!

Sounds of Summer

With the Galaxy's annual Fourth of July game and Fireworks show on the horizon, David, Ruud and Steve took a minute to speak to the media about the upcoming game against the New England Revolution.

David on Klein's 100th straight appearance and his first Fourth of July


Ruud on tomorrow's game, playing in humidity and the upcoming Olympics


Steve on the home crowd

You're the best... around!

Landon and David are in the race for the 2008 ESPY Award, "Best MLS Player". Neither players are strangers to the ESPY Awards as Landon won the award in 2006 and 2007, while David walked away with the "Best Male Soccer Player" in 2004. The teammates are up against the Red Bull's Juan Pablo Angel, Chicago's Cuauhtemoc Blanco, D.C.'s Luciano Emilio and the Revolution's Matt Reis.

You can vote here for Landon or David. You can also vote on your phone at http://www.espys.mobi/. Just remember to vote before July 12 by 8:59 p.m. Then you catch the 16th Annual ESPY Awards, co-presented by HUMMER and Under Armour, will be hosted by Justin Timberlake and will take place at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. The awards show will be televised on Sunday, July 20 at 6 p.m. PT on ESPN/ESPN HD.

Bonus...name the classic 80's movie theme song referenced above? No prize, but quizzes are fun!

Galaxy Screen "The Dark Knight"

On Monday night, Galaxy coaches and players with their wives, girlfriends and friends were treated to a private screening of the new Batman flick The Dark Knight. Along with a select group of Hollywood actors, musicians and industry big wigs (including director Christopher Nolan and Hans Zimmer, who provided the original score for the film and introduced the picture at the beginning of the night), the Galaxy watched the screening at the IMAX Theatre at Universal Studios City Walk, courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.

The plot: In "The Dark Knight,” Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as the Joker.”

In the words of Julian Valentin after the screening…Amazing!

It truly lived up to the hype featuring a truly dark and gritty version of Batman, The Dark Knight kept us on the edge of our seat. Christian Bale reprised his role of the Batman while Heath Ledger was phenomenal as the Joker.

I am sure a few guys will be coming into the trainer’s room with stiff necks, but I’m sure all would agree that it was well worth the any pain to see it in an IMAX theater.

Following a tough defeat over the weekend, you would think that they wouldn't want to see one another but the guys, who have become a pretty close group, jumped at the chance to be one of the first to see this flick. Everyone enjoyed the chance to do something away from the field and talk about something other than soccer, and catch up with everyone’s significant others.

If you haven’t done it yet, you should go check out the trailer at http://thedarkknight.warnerbros.com/. We highly recommend that you go check it out when it opens on July 18.

Keep an eye out here later in the week, as we hope to have some feed back from the players with their thoughts on the film in the next episode of This Week Inside the Galaxy.

Edson on "From the Pitch" Tonight

Fresh off scoring in his fourth straight game (tying a career-long scoring streak in the process) Edson will be a guest on former National Team and Colorado Rapids defender Marcelo Balboa's weekly radio show, "From the Pitch" tonight at 7:05 p.m. (PT). Follow this link to hear what the league's second leading scorer has to say.

Also, you can't vote for Edson (because he's not on the ballot) but you can vote for many of your other favorite Galaxy players for the 2008 MLS All-Star Game in Toronto. Voting closes on Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. (ET) so be sure to go to lagalaxy.com to vote to send all your favorite players to Toronto.