Back in Business

The guys were back on the training field this afternoon under the watchful eye of Bruce Arena and the rest of the Galaxy coaching staff. We'll all find out tomorrow morning if Bruce has been named the MLS Coach of the Year, but it the time being, he continues to get the club ready for the Western Conference Championship against Houston.
It was a focused but relaxed session this afternoon, as the guys went through their normal start of the week routines. Dema and Gregg were each going 100% as is always the case for the pair in training. Kovalenko, who has never missed the MLS Cup Playoffs, is looking to get back to the MLS Cup for the first time since 2004, while Berhalter is looking to close out a dream first season in the league with a championship.Chris Birchall joined those two on the field today after missing a day of training in the middle of last week, as well as Sunday's game because of an illness. Chris Klein replaced him in the starting lineup on Sunday against Chivas USA e attempts to get back into the team for Friday night's game.

Speaking of Friday, the game against Houston will be just the second Friday night game of the year for the Galaxy, with the only other coming on October 2 when a first half goal from Landon Donovan was enough to see off the Chicago Fire 1-0. I think that it is safe to say that most Galaxy fans would welcome a similar result this time around, as would all the guys below.
We'll be back tomorrow with all the latest from training as well as a host of interviews with the guys as we move that much closer to Friday night.

Win Tickets to the Western Conference Championship at The Home Depot Center

Thanks to the great response that we got the first time around, we're pleased to announce that we have once again joined forces with The Original Winger to give a few lucky fans a chance to see Friday night's showdown against Houston in person at The Home Depot Center.

Click here to read all about this contest and how you can enter.

Also, stayed tuned to this site and Nick Green's 100 Percent Soccer for more news about another possible ticket giveaway with their readers.

[UPDATE] More Highlights and More Reactions

You all were in the crowd last night to provide the passion, energy and atmosphere.

We were on the field and in the locker room to provide the insight and get behind the scenes to the win.

Here is what the guys had to say.



También te presentamos este resumen del partido en español por parte de él periódico Hoy/We also want to share with with you this recap of the game done by Hoy Newspaper.

 

Look Back at Last Night's Win over Chivas USA

The team went through a light training session this morning at The Home Depot Center but will really ramp up their preparation tomorrow.

In case you missed any of the highlights from last night, be sure to watch them below. (Be sure to enjoy J.P. Dellacamera's final words)

Galaxy Players Talk After Series Win Over Chivas USA

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER QUOTE SHEET
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2008 -- LA GALAXY 1, CHIVAS USA 0

LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On the win:
That was a certainly a great win. It was a real battle. I think both teams should be commended; they played real hard. It was a game like most playoff games. It was going to come down to one or two plays, and certainly the referee showed a lot of courage. It was clearly a foul on [Mike] Magee, and [Landon] Donovan had to set up under pressure and convert a penalty kick. I think our guys played hard tonight and they deserved to win. I think Chivas deserves a lot of credit for a good tough performance. They certainly had a very good year. We respect what they brought to the series. It was outstanding and special for us because this franchise has not been where they want to be over the last couple of the years, and we are moving in the right direction. Our next game is certainly going to be a challenge. I think most people in MLS would tell you that Houston is the best team in Major League Soccer, and we have to go against them on Friday night. That will be equally, if not more, challenging than tonight’s game. We look forward to getting some rest and getting recovered, and having our guys ready to go on Friday against Houston.

On the play of Dema Kovalenko:
Obviously, this is our fifth game this year. We know each other very well. Dema was matched up against a player that is equally as aggressive in [Pablo] Nagamura and it was a real battle between those two in the center of midfield. If you know Dema, his performance tonight wasn’t a whole not out of character.

On the late goal and the play of his team:
Every game is different. I don’t care when the goal comes, it doesn’t matter. If you followed Chivas in the year, I think they led the league in shutouts. It’s not it was going to be a bunch of goals scored in this game.
It was pretty obvious from the start that it was going to be a tight contest, and it was probably going to be a 1-0 type of game. The game on Friday on Houston will present different problems. I can’t even look at tonight and say it has to get better against Houston. It’s going to be completely different circumstances. If we won 1-0 on Friday and the goal comes in the 95th minute, I’ll take it. Obviously, we had a few chances tonight. I think our passing could have been a little cleaner in the final third, hit a couple of better crosses, but for the most part defensively we were good. It was just the kind of game we anticipated it was going to be tonight. To be able to have the concentration and discipline we showed tonight for 95 minutes is a real plus, and we are going to have bring that on Friday night .You saw the Seattle/Houston series—they played 180 minutes without a goal, and a goal came extra time today. One would surmise that perhaps Friday will be a similar type of game.

On the Galaxy’s defense:
It was very good. [Chivas] had nine shots, three in the second half, which is good. You know they are a good team—they come at you. Obviously, last week in the second half, Chivas broke us down a lot, got behind us. For the most part tonight, we were really solid in that aspect of our defending. It was a good performance. [Donovan] Ricketts wasn’t called on to a do a whole lot, which is a real positive.

On Landon Donovan’s performance:
I’ve known Landon since he was 17 years old, and actually even earlier than that. But his growth this year, to me, has been remarkable. He’s grown on the field as a player. He’s a more mature consistent player, but he’s role off the field with this team has been perhaps even better, remarkable. The things he did to help build this team to have the right kind of team chemistry, to be a leader and being in a year where things were not where we wanted them to be—Landon was consistently here everyday, and taking the responsibility of a captain. He’s been doing a fabulous job. It’s great that he had the game winner tonight, and hopefully he can get a couple more for us this year as well.

LA GALAXY FORWARD LANDON DONOVAN
On beating Chivas USA in the playoffs:
It’s huge. There may never be another opportunity to play them in the playoffs, so we have to think of the historic value of it too. So, you want to take advantage of these opportunities, obviously you are kind of living in the moment, but when you think of that from a historical perspective, that’s huge.

On his Penalty Kick:
There were a lot of thoughts in my head before taking it. My thought was to get to the ball and keep an eye on him [Zach Thornton], and if he moved really early, I was going to make my decision. My thought was actually to go to that side, but I saw him step the other way and start leaning that way, so I just closed it and put it in.
On celebrating in front of the fans:
We have some loyal fans and it’s been a rough couple of years. The expectations were high and they’ve been let down over the past few years so it was nice to reward them. We expect Friday night to be loud again; they certainly helped us tonight.

On the young teammates: (said in Spanish)
I really think the young players stepped up tonight. Everybody had a great game, especially Omar. In the first leg of the playoffs, they were a little nervous, but they come out big tonight.

On the Western Conference Championship against Houston Dynamo: (said in Spanish)
Houston is a team that has a lot of experience. Both of the games that we played during the regular season were really close, so I expect this game to be close as well. One play should define the course of the game.

LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER DAVID BECKHAM
On the match against Chivas USA:
It was never going to be a five or six goal thriller like in the past, but we knew it was going to be tough. We know whoever scored the first goal was likely to win the game because it was so tough between us two. We worked hard; we knew if we defended well then we would have the chances. We were always going to get chances with good players like Landon and especially Edson. We defended great tonight because after the last game we had to work on a few things and tonight our back four tonight was exceptional. When we defend like that, there is always a chance we are going to win.

On playing Houston on Friday in the Western Conference Championship:
You know Houston are a tough team. When we played them away, a few weeks back and they were a tough team to play against. They have some good players, some young players and also some experienced players. Its going to be a tough game again, but this stage of the season, this stage in the playoffs there are no easy teams. We proved that tonight against our rivals and we’re happy that we beat them.

On the team’s play so far this season:
We’re happy with tonight, but we still have not won anything. We’ve done well and deserve to be in the position we are, but we can’t get carried away because we want to go further. One more win and we’ll be in the final, but it’s a tough game first.

LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER MIKE MAGEE
On the team’s strategy:
We wanted to come into the game go into the first half and go forward and we expected more, but they kind of came at us. They were pretty active. At half time we collected ourselves and realized what was going on and said that we have to take it. This is not a team that was going to give it to us, so we started attacking with more numbers and we got more chances.

On the foul that lead to the penalty kick:
Landon played me a perfect ball, and I had anything but a perfect touch. My second touch was good, I got hit where no man wants to get hit. It took me a little bit to go down, but it was definitely painful and a penalty.

LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER DEMA KOVALENKO
On beating Chivas USA:
I’m so happy for this team. We worked hard all year to be here and we deserve it. They were a good team, but we are a better team and that’s why we are here. Nothing to take away from Chivas, but we deserve it more.

On playing in the Western Conference Championship:
[Houston is] a tough team, there are no easy games anymore. Everyone wants to be in the finals and it’s going to be the same type of game—fighting—but we are ready. We have good enough players. It’s another day, another game, there is a little bit more on the line, but we’re ready. We’ve been training and working all year for this. We’ll be ready.

Galaxy Advance to Western Conference Championship with 1-0 Win Over Chivas USA

LA Galaxy 1, Chivas USA 0
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The Home Depot Center — Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Landon Donovan 2 (Penalty Kick) 73’

Misconduct Summary:
CHV – Carey Talley (Yellow Card) 38’
LA – Sean Franklin (Yellow Card) 60’
CHV – Zach Thornton (Yellow Card) 72’
CHV – Paulo Nagamura (Yellow Card) 78’
CHV – Yamith Cuesta (Yellow Card) 79’
CHV – Sacha Kljestan (Yellow Card) 94+

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts, Todd Dunivant, Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, Sean Franklin, Dema Kovalenko, Landon Donovan©, David Beckham (Alan Gordon 78’), Chris Klein (Jovan Kirovski 67’), Mike Magee (Eddie Lewis 86’), Edson Buddle.

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Yohance Marshall, A.J. DeLaGarza, Bryan Jordan.

Chivas USA: Zach Thornton, Jonathan Bornstein, Shavar Thomas, Yamith Cuesta, Carey Talley©, Paulo Nagamura, Michael Lahoud (Eduardo Lillingston 76’), Jesus Padilla (Maykel Galindo 60’), Sacha Kljestan, Justin Braun, Maicon Santos (Jorge Flores 84’).

Subs Not Used: Jon Conway, Ante Jazic, Mariano Trujillo, Marcelo Saragosa.

Notes:
• With the win, the Galaxy advance to the Western Conference Championship against the Houston Dynamo. The Galaxy won their Conference Semifinal Series over Chivas USA 3-2 on aggregate after a 2-2 draw in Game #1 and tonight’s 1-0 win.
• Bruce Arena made one change to the team that played to a 2-2 draw with Chivas USA in Game #1 of the series last weekend. Chris Klein was brought into the lineup in place of Chris Birchall who missed the game through illness. Klein was replaced on the bench by Bryan Jordan.
• In addition to Birchall, the Galaxy were without Alecko Eskandarian, Stefani Miglioranzi and Julian Valentin, who all missed the game through injury.
• Birchall was the only Galaxy player to enter tonight’s game with a yellow card, meaning that nobody will be suspended for the Conference Championship against Houston.
• Landon Donovan scored the game’s only goal with a penalty kick in the 73rd minute. That was his second goal of the postseason, leaving him tied with the Columbus Crew’s Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Real Salt Lake’s Robbie Findley as the leading goalscorer in the 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs.
• That goal was the 16th of Donovan’s postseason career, tying him with Carlos Ruiz for the most goals in the history of the MLS Cup Playoffs. Donovan has 16 goals in 20 career playoff games, including six postseason goals in six games as a member of the Galaxy.
• Donovan’s penalty kick was the Galaxy’s first penalty kick since the 2-2 draw at Real Salt Lake on May 6. That was the Galaxy’s seventh game of the season, meaning that they went the final 23 games of the regular season and the first posteason game without earning a penalty kick.
• Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts made two saves for his first-ever postseason win and postseason shutout.
• This was the seventh game this season that the Galaxy won by a 1-0 scoreline, with all seven coming at The Home Depot Center. This was the third 1-0 win of the year over Chivas USA.
• The attendance for today’s game was a sellout crowd of 27,000, making it the biggest postseason crowd for a non-MLS Cup Final in the history of The Home Depot Center.
• The Galaxy are back in action at 8 p.m. on Friday, November 13 when they host the Houston Dynamo in the Western Conference Championship. That game will be shown live on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.
• The Galaxy were 1-0-1 against the Dynamo this season, winning 1-0 at The Home Depot Center on June 28 behind a goal from Todd Dunivant and playing to a 0-0 draw at Robertson Stadium in Houston on October 18.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.

Battle for Los Angeles - Act II

We are set to go at The Home Depot Center as the fans continue to pour through the turnstiles.

It's winner take all this evening and a date with the Houston Dynamo awaits the winner. The Dynamo were 1-0 winners over Seattle in extra time earlier today, meaning that if LA is victorious, they will host Houston on Friday, November 13 at 8 p.m.

Bruce will make just one change to the squad from last week with Chris Klein stepping in on the right side of midfield in place of Chris Birchall who misses out through illness. Bryan Jordan is added to the bench, replacing Klein.

Here's the full Galaxy team...

-----------Buddle---------Magee-----------

Donovan--------Beckham-------------Klein

-----------------Kovalenko-----------------

Dunivant---Berhalter----Gonzalez---Franklin

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

Subs: Saunders, DeLaGarza, Marshall, Lewis, Gordon, Jordan, Kirovski

There are changes for Chivas USA as well, with Preki making two changes and electing to send out this team...

-------------Braun------Santos---------------

Kljestan------------Padilla-------------Lahoud

-------------------Nagamura------------------

Bornstein----Thomas-----Cuesta--------Talley

--------------------Thornton------------------

Subs: Conway, Jazic, Trujillo, Flores, Saragosa, Galindo, Lillingston