Goal and Save of the Year Nominees Unveiled

Alecko Eskandarian and Landon Donovan and Eddie Lewis (sorry Eddie!) have each been nominated for the AT&T MLS Goal of the Year, while Donovan Ricketts and Josh Saunders have each been nominated for the Degree Men Save of the Year.

You can watch all of the nominees for both awards below and then make sure to click here to vote for your favorite goal and here to vote for your favorite save of the season.

The top 10 for each award will be unveiled on November 11, with the winner of each being announced on November 18.

AT&T Goal of the Year Nominees...


Degree Men Save of the Year Nominees...

No Plans Yet on Sunday; Let the Galaxy and The Original Winger Take Care of You

You all know that the Galaxy are back in action on Sunday afternoon when they host Chivas USA in second and deciding game of their Western Conference Semifinal Series at The Home Depot Center.

But what you might not know is that if you don't already have your tickets, you can let the Galaxy and our friends at The Original Winger take care of you.

Click here to see how you can win tickets to what will surely be the most important game of the year (so far) at The Home Depot Center.

Galaxy Players React to Game #1 Draw

We're at the halfway point of the playoff series between the Galaxy and Chivas USA following Sunday's 2-2 draw at The Home Depot Center.

We caught up with a number of the players after the game to get their thoughts on the game.

Awards Finalists Announced

MLS announced the finalists for all of their league awards this afternoon, with four members of the Galaxy making the shortlists for individual honors. Those four are...

• Donovan Ricketts - Goalkeeper of the Year (Winner to be announced on November 4)
• Bruce Arena - Coach of the Year (Winner to be announced on November 11)
• Omar Gonzalez - Rookie of the Year (Winner to be announced on November 12)
• Landon Donovan - Volkswagen Most Valuable Player (Winner to be announced on November 19)

This is the first year-end award nominations for both Gonzalez and Ricketts, who are each in their first year in MLS. Donovan was a finalist for the MLS MVP award last year, losing out to the Crew's Guillermo Barros Schelotto while Arena won the Coach of the Year award in 1997 and was a finalist a year later in 1998.

Additionally, Ricketts and Josh Saunders will each be nominated for the Save of the Year award after winning Save of the Week awards earlier this season, while Landon will be up for the Goal of the Year award after winning a Goal of the Week award earlier in the season. These awards will be decided via online voting at mlsnet.com.

To learn more about these awards and to see all of the awards finalists, head over to mlsnet.com.

Beckham Loan to AC Milan Completed

For the second straight season, Galaxy midfielder David Beckham will join AC Milan on loan, beginning in late December. He will remain with Milan for the second half of the Serie A season before re-joining the Galaxy when the transfer window re-opens in July.

Beckham, who played the first playoff game of his MLS career on Sunday, will remain with the Galaxy through the MLS Cup Playoffs and the club's postseason tour to Germany before being given a few weeks off

Head over to lagalaxy.com for all the details of the agreement.

Players and Coaches React to Game 1 Draw

Los Angeles Galaxy Head Coach Bruce Arena
On today’s game:
Well I thought it was a good game. Certainly a good game for the fans, good for television, I don’t know about for the coaches, but I thought it was a good game. We made a few mistakes that cost us and I am sure they would say the same. It was a good match, a pretty even match. It wasn’t going to be easy for either team and that was the case today. Certainly creates a heck of a second game in this playoff series.

On the two Chivas USA goals:
The first goal you have to give [Maicon] Santos some credit, it was an excellent finish. Could Omar [Gonzalez] maybe have done a little better on the play, sure, maybe Donovan [Ricketts] as well but you got to give their striker some credit that was an excellent finish. Second goal was not a good play. It wasn’t nerves it was simply a mistake. Hopefully by the 50th minute or whenever that was, nerves weren’t a factor. It was a mistake and hopefully [Omar] learns from it.

On tonight’s result:
I think in our case we give up an early goal and fight back real hard and had the lead at half but Chivas played very well the first twenty minutes of the second half. I thought we were certainly at fault after we give up the second goal not converting some of the opportunities we created. We had a couple of advantages with Landon [Donovan] and Alan [Gordon] that didn’t end up in the back of the net that could have made a difference in the game. Overall I think it was a pretty close contest certainly there were opportunities for both teams to win the game, but neither team took advantage of those opportunities. I think the second game is still going to be a heck of a contest and we’ll see who comes out the better team next week.

On Beckham and Birchall switching positions in midfield:
It was just an observance of some of the things that they were doing on the field. We thought it was best to move David [Beckham] to that spot. Really they were shadowing David with Lahoud.

Galaxy Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts:
On the result:
“I think that the most important thing is that we didn’t lose. Next week is our home game so we just have to take advantage of that.”

Galaxy Defender Sean Franklin
On whether it was a fair result:
“Yes and no. No because we didn’t lose the game, but yes because we know that we didn’t play as well as we could have. We’ll work hard on some like our shape and we’ll get it right for our second game on Sunday.”

On allowing the first goal:
“We knew that they were going to come out flying and that the first 15-20 minutes was going to be important. And they got a goal pretty early, but we didn’t let that beat us, we fought back and got two goals in the first half, so it was okay.”

On the pace of the game:
“Everyone is pushing a little bit extra, but we’ll be fine for next week. We now have a whole week to prepare and get ready for our home game on Sunday.”

LA Galaxy forward Landon Donovan
On his overall thoughts on the game:
“I think we felt really good about were we we’re at going into halftime and then we started poorly in the second half, made a bad mistake and we let them back in the game. And that put some pressure on us. We we’re lucky not to get scored in that time. Toward the end, I thought we did good job of trying to get that third goal. It’s going to be a real home game next week and I think we are happy with were we are at.”
On the game’s physical nature:
“It’s normal. It’s normal for the playoffs and it’s normal for games versus them. I expect the same next weekend.”

On his goal:
“Very weird. He [Maicon Santos] popped it up and I just kind of got next to [Carey] Talley. [The ball] kind of bounced around. I just tried to get a toe on it and it went through Zach’s legs.”

On next weekend’s second game:
“If you told us before the year that we would have one game, a real home game against Chivas USA to advance to the Conference Finals, we’d take that in a heartbeat.”

LA Galaxy midfielder David Beckham
On his overall thoughts on the game:
“We’re kind of disappointed with the 2-2 draw and the fact that we start both halves really poorly and you get punished. That’s what happens when you reach these stages and you’re playing against a good team. I think overall it was a fair result in the end. We got some things to work on, but also there were some pluses out there. We go a goal down and then come back, that show’s the character in the team.”

On some of the game’s mistakes:
“That’s soccer sometimes. There’s certain games where there’s no errors, but today both teams made them. There’s nothing wrong with that because there are mistakes made in games and it’s about learning from them. And as a team, we will do that. It’s entertaining for the public, it’s not so entertaining for the managers and the players when mistakes happen and you don’t play as well as you can. But that’s life.”

LA Galaxy forward Mike Magee
On his goal:
“Landon Donovan did well to put the ball in a dangerous spot. Cuesta was going to clear it and I tried to put something in the way of it, luckily I did and got the ball in front of me and finished it.”

First Leg Finishes 2-2 at The Home Depot Center Setting Up Series Decider Next Weekend

LA Galaxy 2, Chivas USA 2
Sunday, November 1, 2009
The Home Depot Center — Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
CHV – Maicon Santos 1 (Sacha Kljestan 1) 4’
LA – Mike Magee 1 (Unassisted) 14’
LA – Landon Donovan 1 (Unassisted) 41’
CHV – Maykel Galindo 1 (Unassisted) 50’

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Chris Birchall (Yellow Card) 27’
CHV – Marcelo Saragosa (Yellow Card) 81’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts, Todd Dunivant, Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, Sean Franklin, Dema Kovalenko, Landon Donovan©, David Beckham, Chris Birchall (Chris Klein 77’), Mike Magee (Eddie Lewis 63’), Edson Buddle (Alan Gordon 69’).

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Yohance Marshall, A.J. DeLaGarza, Jovan Kirovski.

Chivas USA: Zach Thornton, Ante Jazic (Jorge Flores 79’), Jonathan Bornstein, Yamith Cuesta, Carey Talley©, Paulo Nagamura, Marcelo Saragosa, Michael Lahoud (Maykel Galindo 46’), Sacha Kljestan, Justin Braun, Maicon Santos (Jesus Padilla 77’).

Subs Not Used: Jon Conway, Shavar Thomas, Mariano Trujillo, Eduardo Lillingston.

Notes:
• With the draw, the Galaxy go into the second leg of the Western Conference Semifinal Series level at 2-2. The two-leg, aggregate goal series concludes next Sunday at The Home Depot Center. Unlike in similar competitions elsewhere in the world, away goals are not weighed extra in MLS meaning that if next weekend’s game is tied at the end of 90 minutes the series would go to 30 minutes (two 15-minute halves) of extra time. If the series was still tied after extra time, it would be settled by a penalty shootout.
• This was the first-ever postseason game between the Galaxy and Chivas USA.
• Bruce Arena used the same starting lineup that he had used in the Galaxy’s regular season finale against San Jose on October 24. The only change made to the Galaxy’s 18-man squad was the return of Alan Gordon to the substitute’s bench in place of Bryan Jordan. Gordon missed the win over the Earthquakes through suspension.
• The Galaxy were without Alecko Eskandarian, Stefani Miglioranzi and Julian Valentin, who all missed the game through injury.
• The Galaxy fell behind in the 4th minute, behind a goal from Maicon Santos. That goal was the first allowed by LA against Chivas USA this season.
• The goal was the fourth fastest goal in MLS postseason history and the fastest-ever allowed by LA in the playoffs.
• Mike Magee pulled the Galaxy even ten minutes later with his first-ever postseason goal. Magee had two goals in 23 regular season games in his first year with the Galaxy.
• Landon Donovan gave the Galaxy a 2-1 lead in the 41st minute with an unassisted goal. He now has 15 career postseason goals, which are the second most in MLS history behind Carlos Ruiz’s 16. In his Galaxy postseason career, Donovan has five goals in five games.
• This was the first time that the Galaxy allowed two or more goals at The Home Depot Centre since the 6-3 loss to FC Dallas on September 12.
• Prior to today’s game, the Galaxy had allowed just one game in three previous postseason contests at The Home Depot Center, with the Galaxy playing as the home team in all three of those.
• Despite allowing the two goals, Donovan Ricketts made two saves in his MLS postseason debut.
• Ricketts was one of six Galaxy players to make their postseason debut in this game. David Beckham, Gregg Berhalter, Chris Birchall, Sean Franklin and Omar Gonzalez all had not played in an MLS playoff game before today. Five other players, Edson Buddle, Chris Klein, Dema Kovalenko, Eddie Lewis and Mike Magee were making their first-ever postseason appearance as a member of the Galaxy.
• Only Landon Donovan, Todd Dunivant and Alan Gordon played in today’s game and had played postseason games for the Galaxy before today.
• Chris Birchall was the only Galaxy player to collect a yellow card in the game. If he is booked again in the second leg of the series, he would be suspended for the Western Conference Championship were the Galaxy to advance to that game.
• The Galaxy entered the game a perfect 11-0-0 when leading at the half.
• The Galaxy also entered the game 0-6-8 when allowing the game’s first goal. This was the first time that LA did not lose when falling behind 1-0 since July 25 at Kansas City, a game that finished 1-1.
• The attendance for today’s game was 25,218.
• The Galaxy are back in action at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 8 when they host Chivas USA in Game #2 of their Western Conference Semifinal Series. The Galaxy will be the home side for this game, which will be shown live on ESPN2.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.