Landon to Train Abroad; Franklin Gets the Call

Two big pieces of news have been announced today as Landon Donovan will train in Germany with Bayern Munich for 10 days and Sean Franklin has been called in to the U.S. National Team for a four day training camp in Denver.

Here is the press release regarding Landon.

And here is the one regarding Sean, who will find out on Thursday if he is the first Galaxy player ever to be named Rookie of the Year.

Good luck to both guys!

Rios Sweep SuperClasico

All Galaxy fans know that games against Chivas USA are battles from the start to the finish. No matter where the teams sit in the standings and what players are on the field, it is going to be a 90 minute battle each and every time...

And usually the Galaxy come out on top!

That was the case yesterday as the Galaxy Rios U-16's and the U-18's won their first-ever meetings with Chivas USA.

The U-16's were able to stretch their lead atop the league with a 1-0 win, improving their record to 6-3-0 on the season.

Following that game, the U-18's put together one of their best games of the season en route to a clinical 3-0 win over first place Chivas USA. The U-18's are now 4-5-0 on the season and have won two of their last three.

We'll catch up with the coaches and a few of the players when they return to trainig this week.

Two Cut, One Remains in Goal of the Year Voting

Major League Soccer today announced the 10 semifinalists for the Sierra Mist Goal of the Year award. There were three Galaxy goals in the original list of 35, but following a week of online voting, only one of the three advanced to the next round.

The good news is that David Beckham's 70-yard goal against Kansas City on May 24 made it through to the final 10. Unfortunately, we saw Landon Donovan's diving header against Houston and Brandon McDonald's long range rocket against Colorado eliminated from the voting.

So do your part to give David the Goal of the Year award by voting as much as you can here.

Bruce Arena Nominated for the National Soccer Hall of Fame

On Tuesday we had the pleasure of telling you that Galaxy legends Mauricio Cienfuegos and Robin Fraser had been nominated on the Player Ballot for the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Today, it was announced that our General Manager and Head Coach Bruce Arena is one of 15 people named to the Hall of Fame's Builder Ballot. Builder candidates were selected from a list of over 50 eligible candidates by vote of the Builder’s Screening Committee, a 16-member committee made up of selected Hall of Famers.

Arena, who is the ninth winningest coach in MLS history despite coaching less than five years in the league, won two MLS Cup titles (1996-97) with D.C. United before becoming the U.S. National Team head coach after the 1998 MLS season when he helped United reach the MLS Cup, as well as becoming the first MLS team to win the CONCACAF Champions Cup and the Interamerican Cup.

Arena is also the all-time winningest coach in U.S. National Team history, leading the U.S. to the FIFA World Cup twice, including an historic quarterfinal berth in 2002 in Japan/Korea. Arena took over as head coach in November 1998 and was in charge for nearly eight years, collecting a 71-30-29 all-time record, while leading the U.S. to the CONCACAF Gold Cup title in 2002 and 2005, the 2000 Nike U.S. Cup championship, as well as a third place finish in the 1999 Confederations Cup in Mexico.

More information about each of the Builder candidates is on the Hall of Fame and Museum’s web site, http://www.soccerhall.org/.

The Ballot will be submitted to all Hall of Famers and a select group of soccer administrators for their vote. The builder candidate who receives the most votes, as long as the total represents at least 50% of the ballots cast, will be elected to the Hall of Fame. In 2008, University of North Carolina coach and former U.S. Women's National Team coach Anson Dorrance was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Thank You Greg Vanney

As you all already know, Greg Vanney retired from professional soccer after the season finale against FC Dallas last month. A Galaxy original, join us in looking back over his fantastic career and congratulating him for all that he accomplished in the game.

Mauricio Cienfuegos and Robin Fraser on the National Soccer Hall of Fame Ballot

The National Soccer Hall of Fame today unveiled the ballot for the 2009 Induction Class, with a pair of Galaxy greats headlining the nominees.

Mauricio Cienfuegos and Robin Fraser, who were each with the Galaxy in the early days of the club, are each up for nomination. Ranking third and seventh in club history in games played with 206 and 129 games respectively, Cienfuegos and Fraser were integral members of the spine of the early Galaxy squads.

Cien played eight years with the club (1996-2003) before retiring and remains a fan favorite, as illustrated by his inclusion on the Galaxy's Wall of Legends. He helped the club to the 2000 CONCACAF Champions Cup, the 2001 U.S. Open Cup and the 2002 MLS Cup.

Fraser played for the Galaxy from 1996-2000, helping the team reach a pair of MLS Cup Finals before being traded to the Colorado Rapids prior to the start of the 2001 season. He played for the Rapids until 2004 when he joined the Columbus Crew before retiring after the end of the 2005 season. He is now an assistant coach with Real Salt Lake.

To read more about the 2009 National Soccer Hall of Fame nominations, click here.

Voting opens on November 3 and runs until December 3, with the inductees being unveiled on January 15 at the NSCAA Convention in St. Louis and live on Fox Soccer Channel.

Election Day [with Rios Update]

It is a fairly quiet news day here in Carson so we thought that we would pass along a few small items.

First, with David's loan deal to Milan finalized, here is what he had to say about the club that he will be joining for a short time this winter and how it will help him and the Galaxy.


We also caught up with the coaches of the Galaxy Rios U-16 and U-18 teams ahead of their trip to Washington last weekend to talk about the steps that the teams have taken since the start of the year.

The U-16 coach is Steve Myles, who is also currently the Assistant Director of Coaching at The David Beckham Academy and a former coach at Sheffield United, as well as with the San Jose CyberRays of the WUSA. Here is what he had to say about his team.



The U-18 coach is Warren Barton (seen above at a recent game), a former England international who now lives in Southern California and works for Fox Soccer Channel. Barton, who spent most of his career in the Premier League with Wimbledon and Newcastle, was capped three times by England. Here is what he had to say about his team and the progress that they have made since the start of the season.



If you want to catch the Rios in action this weekend, they are playing on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. (U-16) and 2:30 p.m. (U-18) against Chivas USA on University Field #1 at The Home Depot Center. This is the first installment of the SuperClasico in Development Academy play, so come on out and help cheer the Galaxy on to victory.

Lastly, we don't typically get political on this site, but make sure that you get out and vote today.