Galaxy Fall 6-3 to FC Dallas

LA Galaxy 3, FC Dallas 6
Saturday, September 12, 2009
The Home Depot Center — Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
FCD – Dave van den Bergh 3 (Unassisted) 8’
FCD – Jeff Cunningham 11 (Atiba Harris 4) 25’
LA – Own Goal (Jair Benitez) 26’
LA – A.J. DeLaGarza 1 (Unassisted) 42’
FCD – Dax McCarty 2 (Jeff Cunningham 6) 71’
FCD – Atiba Harris 3 (Dax McCarty 3) 82’
FCD – David Ferreira 6 (Jeff Cunningham 7) 83’
FCD – Jeff Cunningham 12 (Brek Shea 4, Atiba Harris 5) 86’
LA – Edson Buddle 4 (David Beckham 2) 90’

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Gregg Berhalter (Yellow Card) 6’
FCD – David Ferreira (Yellow Card) 31’
FCD – Ugo Ihemelu (Yellow Card) 33’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts, A.J. DeLaGarza (Tony Sanneh 46’), Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunivant, Landon Donovan©, David Beckham, Stefani Miglioranzi, Eddie Lewis (Chris Klein 74’), Jovan Kirovski (Edson Buddle 69’), Mike Magee.

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Chris Birchall, Alan Gordon, Bryan Jordan.

FC Dallas: Dario Sala, Ugo Ihemelu, George John (Blake Wagner 89’), Pablo Ricchetti©, Jair Benitez, David Ferreira, Dax McCarty, Atiba Harris, Dave van den Bergh (Brek Shea 69’), Marvin Chavez (Daniel Hernandez 46’), Jeff Cunningham.

Subs Not Used: Ray Burse, Eric Avila, Bruno Guarda, Peri Marosevic,

Notes:
• With the loss, the Galaxy are now 9-5-11 on the season, leaving them with 38 points. LA remains in second place in the Western Conference, two points behind first place Houston, who are at Columbus on Sunday and one point ahead of third place Seattle, who won 2-1 at D.C. United earlier to night.
• Bruce Arena used the same starting 11 that beat Chivas USA 1-0. There was one change however as Edson Buddle joined the team on the bench for the first time since spraining his right foot in the friendly against AC Milan on July 19. He entered the game in the 69th minute, replacing Jovan Kirovski.
• This was the third consecutive game in which the Galaxy have used the same starting lineup.
• The Galaxy were without four players for tonight’s game, with Alecko Eskandarian, Sean Franklin, Dema Kovalenko and Julian Valentin all missing the game through injury. On Friday, Eskandarian was placed on the Disabled List with a head injury, meaning that he will now miss a minimum of the next six games.
• The Galaxy allowed two goals in the first half of a game for the first time this season and just the second time that they allowed two goals in any half this year. The only other time LA allowed two goals in a half this season was in the second half of the Galaxy’s 3-2 loss vs. Colorado on April 4.
• That game was also the only time that the Galaxy had allowed three goals or more in a game before tonight. LA is now 0-2-0 when allowing three goals or more in a game and 1-0-0 when scoring three goals or more in a game, beating New York 3-1 on July 16.
• The nine goals scored in tonight’s game tied the mark for the second most goals scored in a Galaxy game. LA also played a game that saw nine goals scored on August 18, 2007 (5-4 loss at New York) and June 4, 1998 (8-1 win at Dallas). On May 6, 1998, the Galaxy played in the highest scoring game in MLS history, a 7-4 win over Colorado.
• The Galaxy cut the Dallas lead to 2-1 in the 26th minute with an own goal for Jair Benitez. That was the first own goal scored in favor of the Galaxy this season and their first since October 12, 2008 when Ugo Ihemelu scored in the 70th minute of LA’s 3-2 win over the Colorado Rapids.
• DeLaGarza was replaced by Tony Sanneh to start the second half. He had played 914 consecutive minutes in MLS play.
• Edson Buddle scored his fourth goal of the season in the 90th minute, he is now alone in second place on the team in goals.
• David Beckham assisted on that goal for his second assist of the season.
• Chris Klein entered the game in the 74th minute, replacing Eddie Lewis, stretching his MLS record consecutive games played streak to 140.
• The six goals allowed by LA were a club record. They had never before allowed more than five goals in a game before today. The last time LA had allowed five goals in a game was on August 18, 2007 in a 5-4 at New York.
• Prior to the second half of tonight’s game, the Galaxy had never allowed four goals or more in a single half of an MLS regular season game.
• The attendance for today’s game was 18,148.
• The Galaxy host Toronto FC next weekend with kickoff at 7:30. The game can be seen live on FS West, starting at 7:30 and will be followed by a special postgame edition of Galaxy Live immediately following the game.
• For more about tonight’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.

Bring on FC Dallas

The Galaxy look to make two wins in a row and stretch their unbeaten streak to four games tonight as they host FC Dallas.

Bruce Arena names an unchanged starting XI to the team that beat Chivas USA 1-0 on August 29. There is one change however as Edson Buddle takes a spot on the bench for the first time since his injury in mid-July.

Here is the complete Galaxy team...

--------------Magee--------Kirovski-------------

Lewis--------------Beckham-------------Donovan

-------------------Miglioranzi---------------------

Dunivant-----Berhalter-----Gonzlaez-----DeLaGarza

---------------------Ricketts-----------------------

Subs: Saunders, Sanneh, Birchall, Klein, Jordan, Gordon, Buddle.

And here is how the opposition FC Dallas will line up.

--------------Cunningham-------Chavez--------------

Van Den Bergh------------Ferreira------------Harris

-------------------------McCarty-------------------

Benitez--------Richetti----------John--------Ihemelu

--------------------------Sala----------------------

Subs: Burse, Hernandez, Wagner, Guarda, Avila, Shea, Marosevic.

This Week Inisde the Galaxy - Ready for FC Dallas

It was a short training day again for the Galaxy today as they prepare for their first game in two weeks against FC Dallas in Saturday night. LA did well the last time they had two weeks off between MLS games, beating New England 2-1 at Gillette Stadium, and will be looking for a similar result this time through.

All the talk in training was about just that, three points, as the team held their usual day before a game training session, complete with set pieces, shape and tactics. The full team then made their way downstairs for a video session to complete the Dallas prep work.

After training, the Galaxy made a roster move, adding Alecko Eskandarian to the Disabled List with his head injury. As a result, Eskandarian will be forced to miss at least the final six games of the regular season. He joins Sean Franklin and Julian Valentin on the Disabled List, though both of those players returned to full training earlier this month.

With Eskandarian now on the Disabled List, the Galaxy have one open roster spot on with which to add a player or it can be used to activate one of the other players currently on the Disabled List.

Dallas also made a couple roster moves today, signing U.S. National Team defender Heath Pearce and waiving Steve Purdy and releasing Alvaro Sanchez. Pearce joins former Galaxy stalwarts, Ugo Ihemelu and Daniel Hernandez who have each been acquired in the last two weeks by seventh place FCD, who currently sit 14 points behind the Galaxy in the Western Conference standings.

LA would like to make that a 17 point gulf between the two sides and a win tomorrow night will do just that, as well as move the Galaxy to the top of the overall MLS standings.

If you can't be out here for the game tomorrow, be sure to tune into FS West at 10 p.m. to see the game on tape delay, or follow along live on the radio at AM 570 (in English) or ESPN Deportes Radio (in Spanish).

And if you want to see what Mark Rogondino and Larry Morgan have to say about the game and who they Mark thinks will come away with the full three points.

Finally, take a look at the latest edition of This Week Inside the Galaxy.

Ready to Lace Em Up With FC Dallas

The Galaxy are less than 36 hours away from an all-important Western Conference showdown with FC Dallas and the training continued this afternoon at The Home Depot Center under a warm Southern California sun.
It was another day of small-sided game play with all of the players getting plenty of touches in small spaces under high pressure. Both David and Landon missed the session while returning from international duty but they are expected back tomorrow, with decisions to be made on their availability, as well as that of the injured players, prior to the game.

One player who is not injured is Gregg Berhalter, who has played every minute of the Galaxy's last 10 games, dating back to June 28, and helping LA to a 7-1-2 record in that time.
Donovan Ricketts is also healthy and enters the game having not allowed a goal since early in the second half of the 2-0 loss to Seattle on August 15. He has faced 34 shots in that time, helping to compile a run of 306 straight minutes without allowing a goal, a run that is 85 minutes shy of a 391 minute shutout streak that the Galaxy goalkeepers put together earlier this year.But as good the Galaxy defense has been , most of the questions that Bruce had to answer today were about the return of the two international stars, the production of Mike Magee in hist first season with the Galaxy and the club's home form. In regards to the club's home record, which is 4-3-4 this season, Bruce was not as worried as the question askers were, pointing out that he has only had his full complement of stars on the field for one home game this season; with that game, against Chivas USA on August 29, ending 1-0 in favor of the Galaxy.

Finally, it was pointed out that a win on Saturday would see the Galaxy jump to the top of the MLS standings for the first time this season and in the pole position to win the Supporters Shield, to which he had this to say.


When you're done with that, be sure to head over to lagalaxy.com to read all the latest stories from Larry Morgan, who has a look at the Galaxy's incredible turn around from a year ago, the impact of A.J. DeLaGarza and a preview of Saturday's game, so be sure not to miss any of it.

Galaxy Futboleros Behind the Scenes at The Jay Leno Show

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Random Notes

While the team is out on the training field getting ready for Saturday's game against FC Dallas, we thought we would pass on a few off field notes from the past couple of days.

• A big congratulations to Danish tennis star Caroline Wozniacki for reaching the semifinal of the U.S. Open. In case you forgot, the Open's #9 seed came out to training last month while playing at the LA Women's Tennis Championship here at the HDC. She defeated young American Melanie Oudin last night and will now face Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in the semifinals to try and earn a berth in her first major Final. Click here to see a more detailed look at Caroline's visit.
• Last week the Galaxy Youth Academy teams were out at training to get a look at how the first team does things and give the players an inside look into what life is like as a professional. However, one player who was not there was Eric Gonzalez, the team's U-16 captain from last season. But we think he had a good reason. Yesterday, it was announced that Gonzalez was one of 40 players selected to the fall roster of the U.S. Soccer Under-17 National Team's residency program in Bradenton, Fla. The Corona, Calif. native is now in contention for a spot at the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria.
• In other National Team news, both Landon Donovan and David Beckham helped their teams win important World Cup Qualifiers on Wednesday. Beckham played the final 10 minutes of England's 5-1 win over Croatia that sealed their trip to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Closer to home, Donovan assisted on Ricardo Clark's game-winning goal as the U.S. beat Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 in Port of Spain to move one step closer to a sixth straight World Cup appearance. Both Beckham and Donovan are expected to be ready to go on Saturday against FC Dallas.
• Speaking of the game against FC Dallas, they have added two familiar players in the last two weeks, acquiring former Galaxy players Daniel Hernandez and Ugo Ihemelu. Both are expected to be available for selection in Saturday's game.
• In Tuesday's Weekly Update we told you about Bryan Jordan's appearance for Time Warner Cable in Baldwin Park. However, that appearance has now been cancelled.
• Finally, for all of you Twitter followers out there, be sure to head over to Alecko's Twitter page and find out how you can win some tickets to Saturday's game.

That's it for now, but we'll be back with more later from today's training.

Back to Work

After a weekend off, the Galaxy were back at work this morning, preparing for Saturday's all-important showdown with FC Dallas. A win could see the Galaxy move all the way to top of the MLS standings while also creating some additional distance between themselves and the rest of the Western Conference.

With that goal in mind, Bruce and the rest of the coaches put the team through a spirited session that saw short 5v5 games, with nearly the full squad,
including Julian, Sean and Edson
whose practice winning goal set off quite the celebration to end the session.
But that goal alone wasn't enough to get him, or any of the rest of the guys out of a bit of running to complete the day.Finally, in case you missed it, here is a bit of Todd's appearance last night on Fox Football Fone In.