Galaxy Win Second Straight, Defeat New England 1-0

LA Galaxy 1, New England Revolution 0
Saturday, July 4, 2009
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Alecko Eskandarian 2 (Todd Dunivant 1) 8’

Misconduct Summary:
NE – Kenny Mansally (Yellow Card) 50’
NE – Wells Thompson (Yellow Card) 61’
NE – Pat Phelan (Yellow Card) 65’
LA – Gregg Berhalter (Yellow Card) 72’
LA – Bryan Jordan (Yellow Card) 87’
NE – Matt Reis (Yellow Card) 87’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Josh Saunders, A.J. DeLaGarza, Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunnivant, Stefani Miglioranzi, Jovan Kirovski, Eddie Lewis© (Chris Klein 64’), Mike Magee (Tony Sanneh 78’), Edson Buddle, Alecko Eskandarian (Bryan Jordan 67’).

Subs Not Used: Kevin Guppy, Leonard Griffin, Dema Kovalenko, Kyle Patterson.

New England Revolution: Matt Reis, Amaechi Igwe, Darrius Barnes, Kevin Alston, Wells Thompson (Nico Colaluca 83’), Jeff Larentowicz©, Pat Phelan, Kenny Mansally, Sainey Nyassi, Michael Videira, Kheli Dube (Edgaras Jankauskas 61’).

Subs Not Used: Brad Knighton, Bobby Shuttleworth, Gabriel Badilla, Chris Tierney, Stephane Assengue.

Notes:
• With the win the Galaxy are now 4-3-9 on the season, giving them 21 points. LA is now tied for fourth place in the Western Conference, even on points with Colorado, who lost 2-1 to Chicago earlier in the day. Both teams are one point ahead of Real Salt Lake, who is now in sixth place with 20 points.
• Bruce Arena made two changes to the team that defeated Houston 1-0 at home last weekend. Josh Saunders and Alecko Eskandarian were in the starting XI in place of Alan Gordon and Donovan Ricketts. Ricketts missed the game while with the Jamaican National Team at the CONCACAF Gold Cup and Gordon was originally in the starting lineup, but was removed after suffering a left calf strain in pregame warmups.
• With Eskandarian stepping into the lineup in lieu of the injured Gordon, Kyle Patterson was added to the substitute’s bench.
• Landon Donovan missed the game while recovering from an illness. Donovan had not trained with the club since returning from the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa on Tuesday.
• The Galaxy were also without Sean Franklin and Julian Valentin who missed the game through injury.
• Josh Saunders was making his first start in an MLS game since the 3-2 home loss to Colorado on April 4.
• With Ricketts away on international duty and Saunders getting the start, the Galaxy called up MLS League Pool Goalkeeper Kevin Guppy for the game. It is the third time in the last four games that Guppy has served as the Galaxy backup goalkeeper.
• After being acquired by the Galaxy on Wednesday, Alecko Eskandarian made his Galaxy debut in the game, starting up front alongside Edson Buddle. Eskandarian is the 10th different player to make his Galaxy debut this season.
• Eskandarian’s goal in the 8th minute was the first goal scored by a Galaxy player on his debut since Edson Buddle on June 17, 2007. Buddle scored the Galaxy’s second goal in a 3-2 home win over Real Salt Lake.
• That goal was the third fastest scored by LA this season. Only Landon Donovan (3rd minute @ FCD on 5/23) and Aland Gordon (5th minute @ TFC on 6/6) scored earlier in a game than Eskandarian.
• Todd Dunivant assisted on Eskandarian’s goal for his first assist of the season. It was his first assist in MLS since August 26, 2006 when he was a member of the New York Red Bulls. Dunivant’s last assist with the Galaxy came on June 3, 2006 in a 2-1 loss at Houston.
• Josh Saunders earned his first win of the season and kept the first clean sheet of his MLS career. Saunders is now 1-1-1 on the season and 2-3-1 in his MLS career.
• Saunders made four saves in the game to earn the victory.
• Chris Klein entered the game in the 64th minute, stretching his MLS record consecutive games played streak to 131.
• With the win, the Galaxy have now won two consecutive games for the first time this season and the first time in Bruce Arena’s tenure as Galaxy head coach. Prior to the last two games, the last time that the Galaxy had won two straight games was on June 7 and June 14, 2008 when they defeated Colorado 3-2 at home and beat San Jose 3-0 on the road.
• The Galaxy have now won two straight games at home for the first time since May 24 and June 7, 2008 when they defeated Kansas City 3-1 and Colorado 3-2.
• All three of the Galaxy’s wins at home this year have come by identical 1-0 scorelines.
• The win snapped a nine-game winless streak against the Revolution in the regular season. Prior to tonight’s game the Galaxy had last beaten New England in the regular season on April 3, 2004. LA had been 0-6-3 against New England in the regular season since that game.
• The attendance for today’s game was 20,609.
• The Galaxy are back in action on Saturday, July 11 in the second installment of the Honda SuperClasico against Chivas USA, with Chivas USA serving as the home team for this game. The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. and can be seen live on Fox Soccer Channel.
• For more about this afternoon’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.