Galaxy Extend Lead in the Race for Supporters Shield with 1-0 Win at PPL Park

LA Galaxy 1, Philadelphia Union 0
Thursday, October 7, 2010
PPL Park – Chester, Pa.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Edson Buddle 16 (David Beckham 1) 27’

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Michael Stephens (Yellow Card) 78’
LA – Jovan Kirovski (Yellow Card) 89’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts; Sean Franklin, A.J. DeLaGarza, Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunivant; Juninho (Bryan Jordan 86’), Chris Birchall, David Beckham (Jovan Kirovski 76’), Michael Stephens (Mike Magee 92+); Landon Donovan©, Edson Buddle.

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Leonardo, Alex Cazumba, Chris Klein.

Philadelphia Union: Brad Knighton; Sheanon Williams, Michael Orozco Fiscal, Danny Califf©, Jordan Harvey; Andrew Jacobson (Shea Salinas 73’), Stefani Miglioranzi, Justin Mapp (Roger Torres 82’), Fred (Kyle Nakazawa 14’); Danny Mwanga, Sebastien Le Toux.

Subs Not Used: Chris Seitz, Amobi Okugo, Nick Zimmerman, Jack McInerney.
Notes:
• With the win, the Galaxy remain in first place in the Western Conference and all of MLS with a 17-6-5 record for 56 points. They are now five points ahead of Real Salt Lake, who play their 28th game of the season on Saturday at New York.
• Given tonight’s result, the only teams that can still catch the Galaxy in the race for the Supporters Shield are Real Salt Lake (51 points with three games left), FC Dallas (49 points with three games left) and New York (47 points with three games left).
• The 17 wins for the Galaxy set a new club record for most wins in a season since the end of the shootout following the 1999 season.
• The Galaxy remain on pace to become the third team in MLS history to record 60 points in a season. With 56 points through 28 games, the Galaxy need either two wins or a win and a draw over their final two games of the year to reach that mark. Only the 1998 Galaxy and 2005 San Jose Earthquakes recorded 60 points in a season in the history of MLS.
• Bruce Arena used the same starting XI as he had used in the 2-1 win over Chivas USA on Sunday.
• The only changes for the Galaxy came on the bench, where Leonardo returned from a quad injury while Bryan Jordan and Chris Klein returned to the 18-man squad. They replaced Yohance Marshall, who is on international duty with Trinidad & Tobago, Eddie Lewis, who is suspended after being sent off against Chivas USA and Tristan Bowen, who made the trip to Philadelphia, but did not dress.
• The Galaxy were once again without Gregg Berhalter (neck strain) and Dema Kovalenko (right adductor strain) who missed their eighth and second straight game respectively.
• Edson Buddle gave the Galaxy the lead in the 27th minute with his MLS-best 16th goal of the season. That goal sets a new career-high for Buddle, who had never scored more than 15 goals in a season before this year.
• Buddle now has three goals and an assist in two games against the Union this season after scoring two and setting up one in LA’s 3-1 win over the Union at The Home Depot Center on May 1.
• The goal also put Buddle alone in seventh place in MLS history with 89 career goals, including 41 in a Galaxy uniform, good for the fourth most in club history.
• Buddle is now three goals ahead of Juan Pablo Angel, Dwayne DeRosario and Sebastien Le Toux in the race for the MLS Budweiser Golden Boot. All three of those players have 13 goals this season.
• David Beckham assisted on the goal, sending a corner kick into the box for Buddle to head home. The assist was Beckham’s first of the season and first in a Galaxy regular season game since a 2-0 win vs. Toronto FC on September 19, 2009.
• LA now have five goals direct from a corner kick this season, with Buddle scoring three of those. The Galaxy last scored directly from a corner kick on September 4 at Chicago, with Omar Gonzalez heading home a Landon Donovan corner in the first minute of second half stoppage time.
• The Galaxy are now a perfect 16-0-0 when scoring first, making them the only team in MLS not to drop a point when scoring the game’s opening goal.
• Donovan Ricketts made three saves for the win. This was his first clean sheet since a 1-0 win at New York on August 14. Ricketts remains on pace to record the lowest single season goals against average in club history.
• With the clean sheet, Ricketts tied Kevin Hartman’s club record for shutouts in a season with 11.
• This was the Galaxy’s 12th shutout in MLS play this season, tying the club record for most shutouts by the team in a single season, a record that they set in 2009.
• Philadelphia were the 11th different team to be shutout by the Galaxy this season.
• Landon Donovan played the 230th game of his MLS career, with 141 of those coming in a Galaxy uniform.
• Jovan Kirovski entered the game in the 76th minute, replacing David Beckham. This was his 20th appearance of the season and the 160th of his MLS career.
• Juninho was not booked in the game, meaning that he is eligible to play in the Galaxy’s next game at home against Colorado on October 16. He remains one caution away from a mandatory one game suspension for yellow card accumulation.
• Bryan Jordan replaced Juninho in the 86th minute of the game, making his first appearance since the 1-1 draw at Chicago on September 4.
• This was the Galaxy’s final road game of the season. They finish the year with an MLS-best 9-3-3 record on the road for 30 of their 56 points.
• This was also the Galaxy’s final game against an Eastern Conference opposition this season. They finish the year with an 8-4-4 record against the East.
• The attendance for today’s game was a sellout crowd of 18,779 at PPL Park, setting a new stadium record.
• The Galaxy are back in action on Saturday, October 16 when they host the Colorado Rapids in the penultimate game of the 2010 regular season That game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. (PT) and can be seen on tape delay on PrimeTicket starting with Galaxy Live at 8 p.m.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.

Final Road Test on Tap at PPL Park

The Galaxy's final road game of the 2010 MLS regular season is upon us as the Galaxy look to solidify their position at the top of the MLS standings. The Galaxy enter tonight's game two points ahead of second place Real Salt Lake with three games to go on the season and are in search of their first Supporters Shield title since 2002.

Bruce Arena has named an unchanged starting XI for tonight's game, with Landon Donovan again partnering Edson Buddle and David Beckham playing just behind those two. There is still no return for Gregg Berhalter, so A.J. DeLaGarza will once again partner Omar Gonzalez in central defense.

The only changes for LA are on the bench, where Leonardo, Bryan Jordan and Chris Klein return in place of Yohance Marshall, who is with the Trinidad & Tobago National Team for a game against Jamaica on Sunday, Eddie Lewis, who is suspended and Tristan Bowen, who joined the team in Philadelphia but will not dress.

Here is the complete team and formation for the Galaxy...

---------------Donovan-----------Buddle--------------

Stephens---------------Beckham---------------Birchall

------------------------Juninho-------------------------

Dunivant------Gonzalez-------DeLaGarza------Franklin

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

Subs: Saunders, Leonardo, Cazumba, Klein, Jordan, Kirovski, Magee

And here is how the host Philadelphia Union will line up for head coach Peter Nowak...

----------------Le Toux---------Mwanga----------------

Mapp------------------------------------------------Fred

----------------Miglioranzi-------Jacobson----------------

Harvey--------Califf----------Orozco Fiscal--------Williams

-----------------------Knighton----------------------------

Subs: Seitz, Okugo, Nakazawa, Salinas, Torres, Zimmerman, McInerney

Prepping for Philly

On a night that history was made by one Philadelphia team, the Galaxy spent their afternoon preparring for another Philadelphia team, the Union.

In the shadow of the famous Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania, the Galaxy went through a 90 minute training session this afternoon ahead of Thursday night's game.

After training just once in LA before heading East, Wednesday's session was slighly longer and more intense than the typical day before a game session. All of the normal training elements were there, games of 6v2 and possession, a bit of fitness and finishing, as well as both attacking and defensive set pieces.

Here are a number of photos from yesterday's training session and be sure to watch the latest episode of This Week Inside the Galaxy to hear what Landon, Edson and Bruce have to say about the game against the Union, which can be seen live on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes starting at 5 p.m.

Dave Sarachan led the team out for their warmup.

Chris and David set the pace...

... while Juninho raced out to a lead over the rest of his group.

The team then played two games of 6v2, with the young guys in one game...

...and the veterans, along with Michael Stephens, in the other.

After the 6v2, Sean stopped for a quick drink.

In the game of possession, all eyes were on A.J. as he tried to get rid of the ball.

As the session neared its end, David whipped in a corner kick...

...which Omar tried to get on the end of.

Once training was done, A.J. attempted to put a penalty past Sean.

While Landon was successful in putting this spot kick past a much better goalkeeper in Josh...

... before posing for a photo with a number of Penn athletes on his way to the team bus.

And if you want to check out some more images from the session, click here to see a slideshow of shots from the Daily Pennslyvanian.

This Week Inside the Galaxy - Philadelphia Preview

With the Galaxy taking on the Philadelphia Union tonight at PPL Park, we're bringing you a special early edition of This Week Inside the Galaxy. Here what Bruce, Landon and Edson had to say about moving on from the SuperClasico win and getting prepared to take to the Union.

You can watch the video below, and be sure to check out the latest from Larry Morgan, examining the team's quick turnaround from Sunday's win to tonight's game.

Dunivant and Klein To Appear On HGTV's Design School

Be sure to check out Friday's episode of HGTV's Design School as it will feature two of our very own players: Todd Dunivant and Chris Klein, pictured above with two of the cast members from the show.

The episode, which also has cameos by players from the LA Lakers, will will center on students working to put together custom designed chairs for the athletes.

Design School airs Fridays at 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET on HGTV (Check local listings).

After the show, be sure to check back here on this blog to see photos of the finished products.

Yohance Marshall Gets T&T Call Up

The Galaxy will be without defender Yohance Marshall for Thursday night’s game against the Union after the 24-year-old was called into the Trinidad and Tobago National Team for their upcoming friendly against Jamaica on October 10. Marshall was on the bench for the Galaxy on Sunday against Chivas USA, but did not play after starting each of the two previous games, including his MLS debut against D.C. United on September 18.

Marshall, who has played for Trinidad at the U-17, U-20 and U-21 level as well as in a number of qualifiers ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, has never played in a full international for his country and could make his full debut on Sunday when the Soca Warriors travel to Kingston, Jamaica to take on the Reggae Boyz. If he is capped in that game, he will become the second Galaxy player to earn his first cap this year, joining Omar Gonzalez, who made his U.S. debut against Brazil on August 10.

Marshall is the only Galaxy player that has been called in for national team duty during the current international window, with the club’s other internationals being allowed to remain with the club this week.

Galaxy Pick up the Pace

The emphasis of Monday's training session at The Home Depot Center was quickness off the ball and crisp, one-touch passes as the squad looks to Thursday's matchup with the Philadelphia Union at PPL Park.

The Galaxy began their only day of training in Los Angeles under grey skies and a light drizzle but the weather did little to impede a competitive and fast-paced training session that saw plenty of scoring and aggressive play.


The team held a series of four-on-four games that saw both Alex Cazumba and Tristan Bowen use their quickness to create scoring chances for their teammates. Another welcome sight at today's training session was the aggresive play and veteran leadership of defender Gregg Berhalter.


While most of the starting eleven did not take part in yesterday's training session, you can still hear what Edson Buddle, Landon Donavan and Head Coach Bruce Arena had to say about Sunday's 2-1 win against Chivas USA and this week's game against the Philadelphia Union.

Edson...

Landon...

Bruce...

The Galaxy departed for Philadelphia this morning and look to sweep the season series after defeating the Union 3-1 at The Home Depot Center on May 1. This is the club's last road trip of the regular season, the Galaxy finish the season with two games at home-- Colorado Rapids on October 16 and FC Dallas on October 24.