Becks Suspension Clarified

As all of you know, David Beckham was booked in the first half of the 1-0 loss in Columbus on Saturday night. That was his fifth booking of the year, leading to a mandatory one game suspension from MLS.

Then, on Sunday it was announced that David was called in to the England squad for their upcoming World Cup Qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Belarus.

As a result, David will miss the home game against Colorado on the 12th as a result of National Team duty before serving his suspension for the trip to Houston on the 18th. He is eligible to be back in the lineup in the regular season finale against FC Dallas on the 26th.

Galaxy Fall 1-0 at Crew Stadium

LA Galaxy 0, Columbus Crew 1
October 4, 2008
Columbus Crew Stadium – Columbus, Ohio

Scoring Summary:
CLB – Alejandro Moreno 9 (Danny O’Rourke 3) 43’

Misconduct Summary:
CLB – Brian Carroll (Yellow Card) 9’
LA – Peter Vagenas (Yellow Card) 29’
LA – David Beckham (Yellow Card) 32’
LA – Bryan Jordan (Yellow Card) 83’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Josh Saunders, Chris Klein, Sean Franklin, Troy Roberts (Alan Gordon 81’), Greg Vanney, Joe Franchino (Bryan Jordan 69’), Peter Vagenas, Eddie Lewis, David Beckham©, Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle.

Subs Not Used: Josh Wicks, Ante Jazic, Julian Valentin, Mike Randolph, Brandon McDonald.

Columbus Crew: William Hesmer, Gino Padula, Andy Iro, Chad Marshall, Danny O’Rourke, Brian Carroll, Brad Evans, Eddie Gaven (Emmanuel Ekpo 69’), Robbie Rogers, Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Pat Noonan 61’), Alejandro Moreno.

Subs Not Used: Andy Gruenebaum, Ezra Hendrickson, Duncan Oughton, Stefani Miglioranzi, Jason Garey.

Notes:
- With the loss, the Galaxy are now 7-12-8 on the season, leaving them on 29 points and alone in seventh place in the Western Conference. The Galaxy are currently six points behind Real Salt Lake for the third and final guaranteed playoff spot in the Western Conference and five points behind FC Dallas and Colorado (who play later tonight) for fourth place.

- Head coach Bruce Arena made three changes to his starting lineup from the 3-1 loss at Chicago on August 25. Goalkeeper Josh Saunders and central midfielders Joe Franchino and Peter Vagenas were in the lineup, replacing Josh Wicks, Ante Jazic and Alan Gordon. Franchino and Vagenas each started in central midfield, with Greg Vanney moving to Jazic’s position of left back and Landon Donovan starting up front alongside Edson Buddle in lieu of Gordon.

- Josh Saunders made his MLS debut in goal for the Galaxy. An MLS veteran, Saunders spent two seasons (2003-04) with the San Jose Earthquakes, who drafted him in the third round of the 2003 MLS SuperDraft. He was with the Galaxy from 2005-06, winning an MLS Cup with the club before spending the last two years in the USL First Division with the Puerto Rico Islanders and Miami FC.

- Saunders is the third different goalkeeper to be used by the Galaxy this season, joining Steve Cronin and Josh Wicks. The only other time that the Galaxy have used three different goalkeepers in a season was in 1997 when Jorge Campos, David Kramer and Kevin Hartman each saw time in goal for the Galaxy.

- Joe Franchino started his first game since July 4, playing in central midfield for the opening 69 minutes before being replaced by Bryan Jordan.

- With his first half yellow card, David Beckham will be suspended for his next Galaxy game.

- Chris Klein started for the 112th consecutive game, extending his own MLS record. He is the only Galaxy player to appear in all 27 of the club’s games so far.

- With Alejandro Moreno’s goal in the 43rd minute have now allowed the first goal in eight of their last 10 games, including each of their last six away from The Home Depot Center. This year the Galaxy are 2-12-4 when allowing the first goal, while the Crew are 12-0-0 when scoring the first goal.

- The Galaxy were shutout for the sixth time this season, forcing three saves from Columbus goalkeeper William Hesmer. Despite the clean sheet, the Galaxy still lead MLS in goals scored with 50.

- With the loss, the Galaxy are now 1-6-4 all-time at Crew Stadium.

- The attendance for tonight’s game was a sellout crowd of 22,685, the biggest crowd for a game at Crew Stadium this season.

- For more about tonight’s game, please visit http://www.lagalaxy.com/.

- The Galaxy are back in action at home on Sunday, October 12, when they host the Colorado Rapids at The Home Depot Center. The match will kick off at 5 p.m. The match will be available live on the radio on KTLK 1150 AM (English) and KWKW 1330 ESPN Deportes (Spanish). FSN West will also carry the game on tape delay, with ‘Galaxy Live’ airing at 8 p.m. and the game starting at 8:30 p.m.

Saunders, Galaxy Ready To Go at Crew Stadium

Goalkeeper Josh Saunders, pictured, who was acquired on loan from Miami FC on Sept. 12, will make his MLS debut tonight when the Galaxy take on Columbus at sold out Crew Stadium.

Saunders, 27, was with the Galaxy in 2005 and Earthquakes in 2003, but did not play in an official league game. To learn more about Josh click here.

Inserting Saunders into the starting XI wasn't the only change head coach Bruce Arena made to the lineup. Joe Franchino, who is making his first start since July 4, and Peter Vagenas are also back in the starting XI.

Here's who the Galaxy will go with against the Crew.

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

Lewis---------------Vagenas----------Beckham

---------------------Franchino-------------------

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

----------------------Saunders--------------------

Subs: Wicks, Jazic, Valentin, Randolph, McDonald, Jordan and Gordon

Center of Attention

The Columbus Dispatch gave tonight's game between the Galaxy and Crew center page of its sports section. On top of a story that ran on said front page, a sidebar and info box ran inside.

The game is expected to be a sellout, despite going head to head with Ohio State football. The Buckeyes are in Wisconsin tonight to take on the Badgers at 5 p.m while the Galaxy and Crew kickoff at 4:37 p.m.

Game is being televised locally on FSN Prime Ticket. Play-by-play man Jim Watson and analyst Mark Rogondino kickoff their pregame show at 4 p.m. Radio broadcast will be provided in English by Joe Tutino on 1150 AM and and in Spanish by Celso Gaspar and Edu Villamar on 1330 AM ESPN Deportes Radio .

Final Preparations

On Friday afternoon, the Galaxy took the field at Obetz Training Center in Columbus, OH looking to finalize their preparations for a crucial match against the top team in MLS. Following last week’s loss in Chicago, Bruce Arena put the players through a more intense training session and the players looked very sharp.

At the end of training, the players played a very spirited game of horseshoes with the winners being veteran midfielder Peter Vagenas and forward Alan Gordon. Feeling the victory, Pete prompted a reporter to ask David about the result which quickly ended the interview session with a laugh as he knew who had supplied the question.

Below are a few sound bites from today’s media access…

Bruce provides his analysis of the crew and touches on his favorite Columbus Crew Stadium memory…


David looks forward the hostile away environment expected at Crew Stadium…


Landon wants to make his case for MVP race in tomorrow’s game…


Edson reminisced with local media about his days in Columbus…


Here are a few photos from training…

Below are our two Horseshoes winners, Gordon and Vagenas...





Donovan at work...


Roberts very intense...

Heading to the Heartland

The squad is on its way to Columbus today with one task on its mind, victory against the Crew. LA was in a similar position last year when the club went to Crew Stadium, and despite allowing a 2nd minute goal to Alejandro Moreno, Troy Roberts and Kyle Martino scored three minutes apart in the first half for a 2-1 Galaxy win.

The guys think it can happen again and have put in the work this week in training to ensure that it does.

Read about the game here and check out the video below...

Off to Columbus

The club will leave for Columbus tomorrow morning so we caught up with a number of the guys to take a look at what the state of the team was before Saturday's all-important game.

Bruce Arena says the Crew is dangerous with or without midfielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto...


MVP candidate Landon Donovan is ready for the Crew, reaching the playoffs won't be easy, but nothing is impossible...


David Beckham says that the team is focused on the task at hand...


Eddie Lewis talks about taking it one-game at a time, but be sure to listen all the way through as he gives a little dig to U.S. National Team teammate Frankie Hejduk, who is suspended for the game, thus eliminating the many one-on-one battles that would have been expected between the two...