Video Time

Many of you had the chance to check out the Wall of Legends on Sunday afternoon or Monday night during the Season Ticket Holder event, but what you did not get to see was the unveiling ceremony that was held prior to Sunday's season finale.

Check out some highlights of the ceremony here...



Also, Major League Soccer has put together the following video to congratulate Landon Donovan for winning the Budweiser Golden Boot with an MLS-best 20 goals.



Lastly, don't forget to vote for Landon, David or Brandon in the Sierra Mist Goal of the Year voting here.

MLS Awards Finalists Announced

Major League Soccer announced the finalists for all of the league's year-end awards today, with a pair of Galaxy players highlighting the lists.


Landon Donovan, who has already won the Budweiser Golden Boot Award as the top goalscorer in MLS, was named a finalist for the Volkswagen Most Valuable Player award while Sean Franklin is a finalist for the Gatorade Rookie of the Year award. The finalists earned the most votes in polling of MLS players, general managers, coaches, referees and members of the media.


Additionally, three of the Galaxy’s MLS-best 55 goals this season have been named among the 35 finalists for the Sierra Mist Goal of the Year award. David Beckham, Landon Donovan and Brandon McDonald have all had goals nominated for the award. Donovan and McDonald each won the Goal of the Week award for their nominated goals, while Beckham’s 70-yard goal against Kansas City on May 24 was one of four goals that were added to the voting.

Fan voting, which determines the Goal of the Year award, begins today and runs through Nov. 5 when the original group of 35 is cut down to 10. That will be followed by another round of voting from Nov. 6 until Nov. 12 which will see the 10 semifinalists cut down to five finalists. Those five goals will then be voted on once again from Nov. 13 until Nov. 18, with the winner being announced on Wednesday, Nov. 19. Click here to place your vote for the Sierra Mist Goal of the Year Award.

Galaxy and AC Milan Issue Joint Statement [UPDATED]

An agreement has been reached between the LA Galaxy and AC Milan for the loan of Galaxy midfielder David Beckham effective in January 2009.

David Beckham remains under contract to the LA Galaxy of Major League Soccer and will return to the club for training and the start of the 2009 MLS season.

AC Milan and the LA Galaxy have additionally agreed to a technical partnership that will provide great benefit to both clubs.

Terms of the agreement will remain confidential.

Shortly after this statement was made public, Bruce Arena spoke to a collection of local and national media members via a conference call. Here is what he had to say...

Oceania All-Star Team Announced

The Oceania Football Confederation has named the 18-man squad that will comprise the Oceania All-Star Team that will take on the Galaxy in Auckland, New Zealand on December 6.

The team, which is coached by OFC technical director Jim Selby, is led by former France international Christian Karembeu who hails from New Caledonia. The team will also feature New Zealand internationals Jarrod Smith, who plays for Toronto FC and scored against the Galaxy in TFC's 3-2 win over LA on April 13, as well as Steven Old, who played against the Galaxy last season as a member of the Wellington Phoenix.

The full roster can be found below, with their national team listed in parenthesis.

Jacob Spoonley (New Zealand), Benjamin Longue (New Caledonia), David Muta (Papua New Guinea), Fedy Vava (Vanuatu), Nelson Sale (Solomon Islands), Ivan Vicelich (NZ), Pierre Wajoka (New Caledonia), Raimana Lee Fung Kuee (Tahiti), Judd Molea (Solomon Islands), Jarrod Smith (New Zealand), Peni Finau (Fiji), Osea Vakatalesau (Fiji), Francois Sakama (Vanuatu), Malakai Tiwa (Fiji), Alick Maemae (Solomon Islands), Henry Faarodo (Solomon Islands), Christian Karembeu (France/New Caledonia), Steven Old (New Zealand).

Head coach Jim Selby (Australia); assistant coaches Colin Tuaa (NZ), Patrick Jacquemet (Tahiti); manager Seamus Marten (NZ).

The photo above, which is courtesy of Photosport, features, from left to right, Ivan Vicelich, Alick Maemae, Nelson Sale and Jacob Spoonley.

Brisbane Match Postponed

The LA Galaxy announced today that the club has postponed its international friendly against the Queensland Roar that was scheduled to be played on Thursday, December 11 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia.

Here is a statement from Tom Payne, the club's newly promoted President of Business Operations, on the Postponement:

“We were not in a position to absolutely guarantee David Beckham’s availability for our game against the Queensland Roar on December 11.”

“To avoid disappointment for the many fans that were expected to travel to Brisbane from all parts of Australia for this event, it was decided to postpone this game before tickets went on sale to the general public. Those fans with tickets as a result of a priority pre-purchase this week will receive a full refund. We are very hopeful that we will be able to re-schedule the game in Brisbane in the near future and will make this a priority for our organization.”

“The game to be played on December 6 in Auckland, New Zealand against an Oceania All-Star Invitational Team will take place as scheduled against a full Galaxy squad."

Sunday Roundup

With the 2008 offseason officially underway today, we thought that we would wrap up a few items that were still out there.

Here are the press releases from yesterday's two pregame announcements, the retirement of Greg Vanney and the winners of the team's end of season awards.

Additionally, the Galaxy reserves wrapped up the season with a 2-0 loss to FC Dallas. You can read all about it here.

Also, if you want more quotes from yesterday's postgame press conferences, check them out here.

Lastly, the players wanted to thank the fans yesterday with their performance, as you can see by the following video, they really appreciate the effort that all the fans put in.



We'll be back with more throughout the week as we look back at the Wall of Legends unveiling, Landon capturing the Golden Boot and much more while also looking ahead to the upcoming games in New Zealand and Australia.

Season Ends With 2-2 Draw; Landon Wins Golden Boot

LA Galaxy 2, FC Dallas 2
October 26, 2008
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Edson Buddle 15 (David Beckham 10, Eddie Lewis 2) 21’
FCD – Drew Moor 2 (Adrian Serioux 4) 34’
FCD – Victor Sikora 1 (Duilio Davino 1) 39’
LA – Landon Donovan 20 (Penalty Kick) 79’

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Edson Buddle (Yellow Card) 4’
FCD – Aaron Pitchkolan (Yellow Card) 28’
LA – Alvaro Pires (Red Card) 40’
LA – David Beckham (Yellow Card) 42’
FCD – Adrian Serioux (Yellow Card) 42’
FCD – Aaron Pitchkolan (Red Card, Second Yellow) 49’
FCD – Dario Sala (Yellow Card) 92+

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Josh Wicks, Mike Randolph, Sean Franklin, Julian Valentin (Bryan Jordan 54’), Chris Klein, Alvaro Pires, Eddie Lewis, David Beckham©, Landon Donovan, Alan Gordon (Brandon McDonald 46’, Greg Vanney 93+), Edson Buddle.

Subs Not Used: Steve Cronin, Ante Jazic, Troy Roberts, Josh Tudela

FC Dallas: Dario Sala, Drew Moor, Duilio Davino, Aaron Pitchkolan, Blake Wagner, Adrian Serioux (Michael Dello-Russo 67’), Bobby Rhine© (Chase Wileman 58’), Bruno Guarda, Victor Sikora (Andre Rocha 64’), Kenny Cooper, Jeff Cunningham.

Subs Not Used: Ray Burse, Eric Avila, Jamie Watson, Dominic Oduro.

Notes:
· With the draw, the Galaxy finish the season 8-13-9 leaving them in sixth place in the Western Conference with 33 points. The Galaxy finish ahead of San Jose, who were also 8-13-9, on a tiebreaker as a result of their better record in head-to-head matches.
· Bruce Arena made six changes to the starting XI from last weekend’s 3-0 loss at Houston. Josh Wicks, Julian Valentin, Mike Randolph, Alvaro Pires, David Beckham and Alan Gordon were brought into the lineup, replacing Josh Saunders, Troy Roberts, Greg Vanney, Brandon McDonald, Bryan Jordan and Joe Franchino.
· With his 79th minute penalty kick, Landon Donovan became just the third 20-goal scorer in Galaxy history, joining Eduardo Hurtado (21 goals in 1996) and Carlos Ruiz (24 goals in 2002).
· Donovan’s goal also insured him the 2008 Budweiser Golden Boot as the top goalscorer in MLS. He entered the game one goal ahead of FC Dallas forward Kenny Cooper, who did not score on the day. Donovan joins Carlos Ruiz as the only MLS top goalscorer in Galaxy history. Ruiz had an MLS best 24 goals in 2002 and was then the joint-top-scorer in 2003 with 15 goals.
· Edson Buddle’s goal in the 21st minute was his career-best 15th of the season, with four of those goals coming against FC Dallas. Buddle and Landon Donovan became the first teammates in MLS history since 2001 to each score 15+ goals in a season. Back then it was Diego Serna and Alex Pineda Chacon of the Miami Fusion who accomplished the feat. Prior to today, Cobi Jones and Welton were the only Galaxy players to each score 15 goals in a season, tallying 19 and 17 respectively in 1998.
· David Beckham’s assist on Edson Buddle’s goal was his 10th of the season. He is now the sixth different player in club history to record 10 or more assists in a season, joining Mauricio Cienfuegos (1996-1999) Landon Donovan (2005 and 2007), Simon Elliott (2001-02), Cobi Jones (1998, 2001-02) and Martin Machon (1998).
· The game marked the final game in the MLS career of defender Greg Vanney, who announced prior to the game that he will retire at the end of this season. Vanney finishes his 10-year MLS career with 270 career regular season games played, with 193 of those games coming as a member of the Galaxy. This season in played in 25 games, making 24 starts.
· Alvaro Pires was sent off in the 40th minute of the game for a foul on Victor Sikora. It was the first red card to a Galaxy player since Alan Gordon was sent off in the 3-2 home win over Colorado on June 7.
· FC Dallas defender Aaron Pitchkolan was also sent off in the game. It was the first time since that June 7 game against Colorado that both the Galaxy and their opposition had a player sent off. On that day, it was Alan Gordon and Facundo Erpen who were each sent off just before halftime.
· Mike Randolph played his 20th game of the season, setting a new career-high for games played. It was also his 15th start of the year, tying a career-high that was set in 2007.
· The Galaxy finished the season 6-0-5 when scoring the first goal of the year compared to 2-13-4 when allowing the first goal of the game.
· The Galaxy will enter the season with the No. 3 pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft. The only other time that the Galaxy picked third or better in a SuperDraft (or College Draft as it was formerly called) was in 2004 when the club selected forward Joseph Ngwenya.
· The attendance for tonight’s game was a sellout of 27,000. The Galaxy finished the season with eight consecutive sellouts and 11 in 15 regular season home games in 2008.
· The Galaxy finished the season with an average crowd of 26,009, which is their highest since 1996 when the club played at the Rose Bowl. The 26,009 average attendance marked a 96.3% capacity for Galaxy home games this season.
· For more about tonight’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.