Back on the Field

Following an important victory on the road that saw the Galaxy capture their first regular season win in New England since 1999, the LA Galaxy were in great spirits as the team went back on the practice field today with an eye on this weekend's crucial Western Conference match up game against Seattle Sounders FC. Well…we might be exaggerating a bit, but there is definitely a positive vibe and intense focus at training since Saturday's win at Gillette Stadium has allowed the Galaxy to push up in the Western Conference, moving up to the second place. But, no one is resting on their laurels so despite a few smiles it was all business today.
Now, let’s get serious...Looking ahead to Saturday’s match against the Sounders at The Home Depot Center, the team focused more on possession, combined with some small-sided games, and a few passing drills throughout the training session. As you may have noticed in the photo above, Donovan Ricketts was at training today and will not be with Jamaica for their friendly at Giants Stadium. Meanwhile teammates Landon Donovan (USA @ Mexico) and Chris Birchall (T&T vs. El Salvador) are with their respective national teams for tomorrow's World Cup Qualifying matches at the same time as David Beckham (England @ Holland) plays a friendly match.


With the big game this weekend, Bruce and Cobi closely monitoring the training session as the players worked hard through a tough 90-minute session on a warm day…

To cap off the training session, Bruce put the players through a little extra ‘fitness’ with a series of full field sprints.


After the intense practice, we caught up with Dema, Stefani and Jovan to get their thoughts on the team's recent form and this weekend's game...
Kovalenko…

Miglioranzi…

Kirovski…

The players finished the day with a team meeting and video session. But Cobi, Alan Gordon and Todd Dunivant stuck around to do some interviews with Fox Sports West for an upcoming pregame feature.

Donovan Up For Goal Of The Week

New England Revolution assistant coach Paul Mariner called it "the goal of the season." All we're asking is that you make it: Goal of the Week.

Vote for Landon's first half goal in Saturday's 2-1 win here.

Locker Room Reaction

Here is the official quote sheet form tonight's game...

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER QUOTE SHEET
SATURDAY, August 8, 2009 – LOS ANGELES GALAXY 2, NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION 1

LOS ANGELES GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA

On the team’s overall performance…
“I think this is a well-earned victory and I thought for 90 minutes we were the better team tonight. Very good performance in every part of the field tonight. From our backline, our frontrunners through our midfield, it was a real solid performance and we’re showing growth and maturity, too, and it’s good to see.”

On the importance of scoring the first goal…
“Well, as in any game, especially against a team like New England, who is generally a low-scoring team and a team that doesn’t give up too many goals, getting the first goal and making them have to chase the game and open themselves up a little was important in this game. And I thought although we gave up a goal at the end of the game, our second half was very good. I thought our team defended well, we created chances, got the ball forward, and we were smart in trying to manage this game in the right way. So overall, a very good performance by our team.”

LOS ANGELES GALAXY MIDFIELDER DAVID BECKHAM

On the result…
“A good win, an important win. Not won here in 10 years, so we’re very happy.”

On the Galaxy going unbeaten in the last six games…
“It’s important that we just carry on this roll. We’re in a good position now, so it’s just important that we continue.”

On going to England for the friendly…
“Looking forward to it. It’s always nice to meet back up with the players.”

LOS ANGELES GALAXY FORWARD JOVAN KIROVSKI

On his goal…
“The ball came in - I think Eddie (Lewis) played a ball in. Alan (Gordon) did great to fight for the ball and it just dropped out to me and I got a touch on it and hit it. Fortunately it went in.”

On the six-game unbeaten streak…
“It feels great. The team has worked very hard. We’re really organized and we’re looking forward. We’re looking to the next game.”

On the result…
“Another tough place to play, (and a) great result. I don’t think we’ve won here in 10 years, so it’s a big win for us and we’re looking to the next game.”

LOS ANGELES GALAXY FORWARD LANDON DONOVAN

On his goal…
“I’ve been encouraged, and I’ve been trying to shoot more and be more aggressive, and it certainly worked out tonight … it bounced up in the air and my initial thought was shot. My second thought was maybe bring it down and I thought maybe take a swing at it. At that point, I’m just trying to make real good contact and I hit it perfect … it was something out of nothing on that play, but we certainly deserved a goal. We were playing well up to that point and if it didn’t come then, it was going to come at some point.”

On his goals for the season…
“My personal goals are team goals, and that’s to get in the playoffs. And after that, we’ll figure it out after that. But we’re on our way.

On the team’s look at playoffs…
“New England was a team that has still has a couple games in hand ,and this was a big game to push clear of them. And what we’re trying to do is separate ourselves from the rest and tonight we did a good job - a big step towards that.”

NOTE: New England assistant coach Paul Mariner served as Revolution head coach this evening while head coach Steve Nicol served the first of his two-game suspension.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION ASSISTANT COACH PAUL MARINER

On the team’s struggle being offside tonight…
“Because we were pushing. You’ve got to remember, Shalrie (Joseph) hasn’t exactly played as a striker too often, but he had valiant efforts tonight. We almost got an equalizer, but not quite.”

On whether he was disappointed with the start…
“I thought the first half in particular, we were very bright. Even when we got a goal down, I thought we were still pushing. When Landon (Donovan) scores what could be the goal of the season, you always look at what you could have done better. We cleared the ball, but when you’re up against skill like that, you really have to applaud it. [Donovan] was fantastic. (Matt) Reis had no chance. We were very bright at halftime, the boys were very positive. We had to make the change because Edgaras is (Jankauskas’) carrying a couple of injuries. We didn’t want to blow him out of the water so we had to take care of him a little bit. Overall, we were very pleased first half.”

On what he told the team at halftime…
“Well we changed it. We had to put Shalrie (Joseph) up top and take Edgaras (Jankauskas) out. With Sainey(Nyassi) out there, we thought we could get some pace going on the other side and try and threaten their fullbacks a little bit. We just wanted to play the game in their half. We didn’t want to give them too much defensively. We wanted to get the ball out, clear the ball out. Then you give a goal up – a poor goal from our point of view – in the 50th minute. The thing is, the boys played fantastically well tonight, but we just didn’t get a break when we needed it. I’m sure when we look at the DVD, we’ll be a little bit sad about the goals that we gave away. You can’t give a team like that a two goal start. They’ve got quality all over the field: Landon (Donovan) is a constant threat and [Beckham] with his passing.”

On sending the fullbacks forward more than usual…
“Well as you all know, it’s best if you cross the ball from as deep as possible to the byline. We’ve got tons of pace outside and we thought we could run the ball outside and have Kevin (Alston) going in the four. When we were playing the four, we thought we could get to the byline and get balls in to Shalrie (Joseph) to attack, with Kheli (Dube) and Jeff (Larentowicz) coming in late. We thought we pressed the game pretty well and are pretty delighted with the players efforts. We just needed a little bit of luck in front of the goal, but we really didn’t have it. Like I said, you can’t give a team LA that a two-goal start.”

On starting Ralston on the right side…
“Production. We feel that he is the master of the assist. You give Stevie Ralston time and space on the ball and he’ll hurt you. We thought that he could get balls in the box for Edgaras (Jankauskas). To certain degree, it happened, and then there were his set pieces … We changed it, we put [Ralston] in the middle and Sainey (Nyassi) outside for some pace and then went to the 3-5-2 late on after about 65 minutes when we felt we had to push even more. When we put Pat (Phelan) on and pushed [Ralston] even further up the field. We could have gotten the equalizer, but we didn’t, so the players are bitterly disappointed as we are.”

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER STEVE RALSTON

On getting the uncommon start at right wing...
“(The coaches) told me yesterday I could be playing any of three positions, so just to be ready. When I got in here right before the game, they told me I was playing out wide right. It’s fine, it’s been a while, but I played 12 years out there, and I kind of enjoyed it, too. I liked being out there again.

On switching to the 3-5-2 alignment when down one goal...
“At that point in the game, they are trying to protect the lead, and they’re just getting behind the ball, so we are going to have a lot of the ball and putting them under pressure. We have to be able to score first; I don’t think we’ve scored first in a long time. We are always coming from behind, and we can’t afford to do that against good teams. You’re not going to always be able to come back, and it cost us tonight.”

On how he approached his successful penalty kick...
“I tried to skip the stutter step and see if he would go early, and he didn’t. So if he is going to stay, it’s going to more difficult for him to get to the corner. Luckily, I was able to get it wide enough.”

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER KENNY MANSALLY

On the slow starts the attack has had …
“Our team, in the first half, we had a lack of communication, so we conceded an early goal. You could see in the second half we all came all out and at least we got one goal. We were a little unlucky, but we need to do better.”

On the foul that led to the penalty kick...
“I almost beat him, so he could see it was going to be a one-on-one with the goalie, so he just grabbed me. There was nothing he could do, so we got a PK, got a goal, and we had to keep going. We were just a little unlucky; I got a lot of shots on goal ...”

On not coming away with any points against Los Angeles...
“These guys, they have a lot of experienced and big players who have been around. We are disappointed we couldn’t get a point out of it, but maybe next time.”

On the benefits of not playing for 12 days...
“I think the bye week will give us some more legs because we have been playing game after game. We get four days off and that will help us to keep going.”

The Streak is Over - Galaxy Win 2-1 at New England

LA Galaxy 2, New England Revolution 1
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Gillette Stadium – Foxborough Mass.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Landon Donovan 9 (Unassisted) 21’
LA – Jovan Kirovski 2 (Alan Gordon 3, Eddie Lewis 4) 52’
NE – Steve Ralston 6 (Penalty Kick) 83’

Misconduct Summary:
NE – Kenny Mansally (Yellow Card) 74’
LA – Eddie Lewis (Yellow Card) 77’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts, A.J. DeLaGarza, Omar Gonzalez, Gregg Berhalter, Todd Dunivant, Stefani Miglioranzi, Eddie Lewis (Chris Klein 80’), David Beckham (Chris Birchall 87’), Landon Donovan©, Jovan Kirovski, Alan Gordon (Bryan Jordan 92+).

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Tony Sanneh, Dema Kovalenko, Mike Magee.

New England Revolution: Matt Reis, Kevin Alston, Darrius Barnes, Emmanuel Osei (Pat Phelan 67’), Jay Heaps, Shalrie Joseph, Jeff Larentowicz, Steve Ralston©, Kenny Mansally, Kheli Dube (Wells Thompson 78’), Edgaras Jankauskas (Sainey Nyassi 46’).

Subs Not Used: Brad Knighton, Amaechi Igwe, Mauricio Castro, Michael Videira.

Notes:
• With the win, the Galaxy are now 7-3-10 on the season, giving them 31 points. LA is now alone in second place in the Western Conference, four points behind first place Houston, one point ahead of third place Colorado, who defeated Chivas USA 4-0 and two points ahead of fourth place Seattle who lost 1-0 at Real Salt Lake.
• Bruce Arena made one change to the team that drew the Kansas City Wizards 1-1 in their last league game two weeks ago. Jovan Kirovski returned to the lineup in place of Mike Magee who returned to the bench .
• The Galaxy were without four players, with Edson Buddle, Alecko Eskandarian, Sean Franklin, and Julian Valentin all missing the game through injury.
• The Galaxy are now unbeaten in their last six MLS games, going 5-0-1 in that span. They last lost a league game on June 20, a 2-1 loss at San Jose.
• Landon Donovan scored his team-leading ninth goal of the season in the 21st minute. Donovan is now tied with Seattle’s Fredy Montero for third in the league in goals scored. Only Colorado's Conor Casey (11 goals) and Guillermo Barros Schelotto (10 goals) have scored more.
• Donovan’s goal was scored from outside the box. They have now scored four goals from outside the box in the last three games after scoring just once from outside the area in the first 17 games of the season.
• In the Galaxy’s six-game unbeaten streak, they have scored the game’s first goal five times, winning each one.
• Jovan Kirovski put LA in front 2-0 in the 52nd minute with his second goal of the season. It was his first goal since the Galaxy’s 2-1 loss to San Jose on June 20.
• Alan Gordon and Eddie Lewis each assisted on the goal. It was Gordon’s third assist on the season and Lewis’ fourth. Lewis is now in third place on the team in assists, one behind the leaders Landon Donovan and Mike Magee.
• Eddie Lewis was shown a yellow card in the 77th minute for a foul on Sainey Nyassi. It was Lewis’ fourth yellow card of the season, meaning that he is now on warning. If he gets a yellow card in an of his next three MLS games, he will earn a one game suspension.
• Chris Klein entered the game in the 80th minute, replacing Eddie Lewis and stretching his MLS record consecutive games played streak to 135.
• The win was the Galaxy’s first at New England since July 11, 1999, when they defeated the Revolution 5-2 at Foxboro Stadium.
• Following the game, David Beckham (England), Chris Birchall (Trinidad and Tobago) Landon Donovan (United States) and Donovan Ricketts (Jamaica) all left the club to join up with their National Teams for games on Wednesday. All four are expected to be back in Los Angeles and available for selection in the Galaxy’s next game, against Seattle.
• The attendance for today’s game was 26,623.
• The Galaxy are back in action on Saturday, August 15 when they host the Seattle Sounders FC at The Home Depot Center at 8 p.m. (PT) in a game that can be seen live on PrimeTicket.
• For more about this afternoon’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.

Ready for the Revs

Pregame warmups have just ended and kickoff is less than 25 minutes away here at Gillette Stadium. The Galaxy are looking for their first-ever win at Gillette Stadium in a regular season game and their first win here since the 2002 MLS Cup Final.

Here is the lineup that Bruce will put on the field in an attempt to make that happen...

-------------Gordon------------Kirovski------------

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

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

Dunivant------Berhalter--------Gonzalez-----DeLaGarza

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

Subs: Saunders, Sanneh, Birchall, Kovalenko, Klein, Jordan, Magee

And here is how the opposition New England Revolution, who are without their suspended head coach Steve Nicol, lineup...

-----------------Dube----------Jankauskas----------------

Mansally-------Joseph---------Larentowicz---------Ralston

Alston----------Osei------------Barnes---------------Heaps

-------------------------Reis--------------------------------

Subs: Knighton, Igwe, Phelan, Thompson, Castro, Nyassi, Videira

This Week Inside the Galaxy - Episode 12

Join us as we look back in full detail at the 2-1 loss to Barcelona and see how the players are transitioning back into the hunt for a playoff spot ahead of Saturday's game against New England.

All this and more This Week Inside the Galaxy.

How Do Like Them Apples!

The Galaxy made their way over to Harvard this afternoon, not to $%#@ up some smart kids, but rather for a day of training under pristine skies in one of nation's oldest stadiums on the campus of one of the world's oldest universities.
Harvard was founded in 1636, while Harvard Stadium, where the club trained today, was built more than 100 years ago in 1903. At that time it was the first permanent stadium for American intercollegiate athletics, though we're fairly certain that it did not have FieldTurf at that time as it does now. (The FieldTurf was installed in 2006.)
A total of 19 players, including both goalkeepers, made their way East last night ahead of the game on Saturday evening (or afternoon if you're back in LA).
As most of you already know from reading the blog year round, training sessions the day before the game are usually pretty quick, with the team opening with a run and some 5v2 before breaking off to do functional work with the anticipated starting 11 going through a series of attacking and defending options.
Once all of that is out of the way, the starters head to one end of the field to work on set pieces and the reserves play a small-sided game at the other end.

Not surprisingly, today was no different.

Following the session we caught up with Gregg who not only grew up just a few hours away in New Jersey, but also has some strong ties to the city of Boston. He spent a lot of his youth in and around the city, spending much of his time over at Fenway Park where his godfather, Baseball Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, the last man to win baseball's Triple Crown, long patrolled left field.

Here's what he had to say about coming back to his home away from home.


And finally, check back soon for the latest episode of This Week Inside the Galaxy.