Intrasquad game, Terps Hoops and Europe

In the afternoon session, Bruce and Co. closed out the week by splitting the squad into two for a full field game of two 25-minute halves. The game ended in a 1-1 draw with goals being scored by Alan Gordon and rookie Josh Boateng (pictured above).

Notes
-First half ended 0-0. Gordo came closest to scoring, but an offside call waved off the play.

-In the second half, Boateng was on the receiving end of a cross from Bryan Jordan. The play started in the back with Dema Kovalenko sending the ball up top. Israel Sesay used his shoulder to pas the ball to Stefani Miglioranzi near midfield. Miglioranzi then gave it up to Mike Magee who spotted Jordan streaking down the right side. Jordan then lobbed the ball into the box for Boateng who headed in.

-Gordo tied it up with about 13 minutes left in the match. A very good through ball from Ely Allen and a perfectly timed run by Alan (pictured below), allowed him to slip behind the defense and beat the keeper on a one-on-one.
-After the match, Bruce said it was a good day and praised the guys for a strong week of preparations.

- Can you say ready for the PPC? Omar González and A.J. DeLaGarza will be traveling back to Maryland for the weekend. Maryland's Men's Soccer team is going to be honored at halftime of Saturday's Terrapins' men's basketball game against Miami for their national championship season.

Across the pond, Landon Donovan made his Bayern Munich Bundesliga debut earlier in the day. Last season's MLS-goal scoring champion came on in the 77th minute for Bastian Schweinsteiger and provided some nice crosses, but Bayern lost to Hamburg on a goal allowed right before halftime, 1-0. In Italy, David Beckham will look to keep two streaks alive this Sunday when AC Milan takes on Lazio. David has started the last three games for Milan and found the back of the net in the last two.

Friday Notes

The second week of training is now nearly in the books with a couple of noteworthy items to pass along.

Donovan Ricketts and Omar González each arrived in camp this week and have begun training with the club. Also arriving in LA this week was defender Yohance Marshall. A four-year starter at the University of South Florida, helping lead the Bulls to the Big East title in 2008, Marshall went undrafted in the SuperDraft but has now joined the Galaxy on trial as you can see below.

Additionally, Tristan Bowen had a big day today, celebrating his 18th birthday. While he said that he was disappointed that he missed out on the chance to vote in this latest election, he said he is looking forward to having that opportunity going forward.

Lastly, with these guys spending so much time together during preseason, there is bound to be more than a fair share of hi jinx as we found out last night. Turns out that Bryan Jordan pulled a prank on Brandon McDonald, taking all of his left cleats, leaving him with nothing but right cleats in his locker. In return, Jordan was greeted at his locker this morning by this site.

The ball is now in BJ's court.

Ricketts In Camp

Galaxy offseason-acquisition Donovan Ricketts trained for the first time with the club this morning. The Jamaican goalkeeper arrived in L.A. last night and got up at 5 a.m. this morning for his physical.

We caught up with 6-foot-4 keeper after the training session.

The Schedule is Here

The 2009 MLS Schedule is now available.

Click here to see the Galaxy's schedule

or here to see the entire MLS schedule.

Coming Tomorrow, 2009 MLS Schedule

Make sure to be in front of a computer tomorrow morning. Major League Soccer will release the entire 2009 regular season schedule tomorrow at 9 a.m. PT on MLSnet.com.

The announcement will include the national broadcast schedule for the 2009 season including times and dates for games broadcast by Major League Soccer’s national television partners ESPN2/ESPN Deportes, Fox Soccer Channel/Fox Sports en Español and TeleFutura.

Tuesday's Training Session Recap

The team looked good during today's training session, with a four goal-drill providing the majority of the highlights.

Steve Cronin, whose offseason was longer than most because of the season-ending injury he suffered last season in New England, was back to his old self and Bryan Jordan scored a nice goal. Omar González looked more comfortable in his second day with the team and Dema Kovalenko appeared to be everywhere, fighting to win what seemed to be every loose ball that got near him.

All-in-all, it was a solid day at work for the boys.

Here are today's pictures.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

We've had our first cut of the preseason and it is none other than rookie defender A.J. DeLaGarza. But it's not what you think.

The second round draft pick out of Maryland arrived at camp looking like this...
But after a week's worth of training, the Bryans Road, Md. native decided to chop the long locks in favor of a much shorter and cleaner look.
What do you think? Right move for the rookie or should he have kept his trademark tresses?

We'll talk with him tomorrow to see what led to the big change and ask how he found a good barber after just a few days in Southern California.