With that crazy long overtime win last night over the Houston Dynamo the Galaxy book their place in the MLS Cup final for the 6th time in the young league’s history. 6 happens to be the most any team has played for the MLS Cup. DC United has been there 5 times. A win for the Galaxy would still have them trailing DC United by one in the category on how many MLS Cups they have won. DC has 4, this would only be the Galaxy’s third.
So who would be the better match up for the Galaxy in the Final? Chicago Fire or Real Salt Lake?
The LA Galaxy are going into the playoffs with the #1 position from the West. That means they will play rivals Chivas USA on Saturday, November 1st and Sunday, November 8th. The Galaxy won the regular season series over Chivas USA 2-0-1 with one scoreless draw and two 1-0 victories.
After disposing of Chivas USA the Galaxy will go on to face the winner of Houston Dynamo and Seattle Sounders FC in the conference finals. Who would you rather win between those two?
With only a single game remaining in the regular season (with the exception of Chivas USA having 2 games) the Galaxy are on top of the Western Conference. That top spot currently has them tied on points (45) along with Houston Dynamo and Chivas USA. All 3 teams have sealed a spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs. Seattle Sounders FC have also claimed a spot from the West only 1 point behind the leaders at 44.
This is what the Western Conference looks like today:
45 Los Angeles
45 Houston
45 Chivas USA
44 Seattle
40 Colorado
39 FC Dallas
37 Real Salt Lake
30 San Jose
The Galaxy finish up the season on with the San Jose Earthquakes at home. A win will ensure them at least a top 2 position in the West if not the #1 seed from the West. The Galaxy have tiebreakers but Chivas USA still have a game in hand.
Likely 1st round opponents could be the Colorado Rapids, FC Dallas, or Seattle Sounders FC. Who do you hope to see the Galaxy take out in the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs?
The LA Galaxy extended their undefeated streak to 6 games this weekend with a 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution. The victory keeps the Galaxy in 2nd place in the west at a single point ahead of the Colorado Rapids. Landon Donovan scored a goal that should be a goal of the week followed by a Jovan Kirovski goal near the start of the 2nd half. Steve Ralston got one back for the Revolution from the penatly spot with just under 10 minutes to go, but the Revolution failed to level the game with another goal.
The LA Galaxy played the reigning European champions to a tight 1 goal game. At halftime the Galaxy were level with Barcelona at 1-1 after an amazing free kick that Galaxy midfielder David Beckham put right into the upper left corner past the Barcelona keeper.
The game was witnesed by 93,137 fans at the sold out Rose Bowl. This broke the old record for attendance of a game involving a team from a U.S. professional league. The former record was 92,216 in 1996 when the LA Galaxy played the Tampa Bay Mutiny. That game was a double header with a USA versus Mexico game.
Next up for the Galaxy is a trip to play the New England Revolution next Saturday afternoon at 3:00 pm.
Don’t miss the Galaxy taking on reigning European and La Liga champions FC Barcelona tonight.
VS
Over 80,000 tickets have already sold for the game at the Rose Bowl tonight but there are still some available. You could also get the game on Fox Soccer Channel with pre-game coverage starting at 7:30pm local time.
It isn’t every day the European champions come to town! Many of the stars of FC Barcelona will be on this trip as they are preparing for the start of their regular season at the end of the month.
That is right, the 2004 MLS Cup MVP is making his way from Chivas USA over to the Galaxy! What a move. In order to make room for Alecko the Galaxy had to cut Josh Tudela. A lot of people will be sad to see him go.
According to the official press release the Galaxy game up some money and a conditional pick in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft to get Eskandarian. The striker was the first overall draft pick by DC United in the 2003 MLS SuperDraft and had a good 4 years with DC United. Between his time with DC United and now the LA Galaxy Eskandarian has played with Toronto FC, Real Salt Lake, and Chivas USA.
This 26 year old striker could have many great years in this league – and maybe even with US MTN – which he has a single cap for already.
How big of an impact will Alecko be able to make with the Galaxy?
The Galaxy just wrapped up a rare 3 points by beating the Houston Dynamo. The Dynamo are currently on top of the West and have the best record in the league.
The difference in the game came in the 24th minute when Todd Dunivant scored his first goal of the year assisted by Mike Magee.
This big win won’t move the Galaxy up any positions in the conference standings, but it does bring them within striking distance of Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids.
Pts Team
28 Houston Dynamo
27 Chivas USA
25 Seattle Sounders FC
21 Colorado Rapids
19 Real Salt Lake 18 Los Angeles Galaxy
14 FC Dallas
12 San Jose Earthquakes
On the other side of the globe the US MNT played Brazil in the Confederations Cup final. This was the first appearance for the United States in a final of a FIFA tournament ever. They started out great and took a 2-0 lead into halftime, but Brazil was too much in the 2nd half and they were able to come out with a 3-2 victory over the US. Donovan was my player of the tournament for the US but Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard both won awards.
Landon Donovan and the rest of the United States national team made history today. After a poor start with 3-1 and 3-0 losses to Italy and Brazil the United States has done the unthinkable. They somehow managed to beat a tough Egypt team 3-0 while Brazil did exactly the same to Italy to slip the US into the semi-finals as the 2nd place team in the group by way of total goals scored tiebreaker.
The only problem with that situation is they had to play Spain. Spain was currently the #1 team in the world. They haven’t lost a game since November of 2006. They have won 15 in a row and been unbeaten in 35. No team from outside of Europe has beaten Spain since 1999.
The United States stepped up and did what no one else could do. They beat Spain!
The Galaxy’s own Landon Donovan set up the 2nd goal as the US went on to a 2-0 victory to send them to the championship game of the Confederations Cup for the first time ever. Jozy Altidore scored the first goal for the US and Clint Dempsey scored the 2nd goal that was set up by Donovan. This is one of the biggest victories ever for US Soccer!
If you don’t believe it – check out the official website: edfahttp://www.fifa.com/confederationscup/matches/round=250120/match=66213/index.html
The LA Galaxy played the reigning European champions to a tight 1 goal game. At halftime the Galaxy were level with Barcelona at 1-1 after an amazing free kick that Galaxy midfielder David Beckham put right into the upper left corner past the Barcelona keeper.
VS 
Landon Donovan and the rest of the United States national team made history today. After a poor start with 3-1 and 3-0 losses to Italy and Brazil the United States has done the unthinkable. They somehow managed to beat a tough Egypt team 3-0 while Brazil did exactly the same to Italy to slip the US into the semi-finals as the 2nd place team in the group by way of total goals scored tiebreaker.