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 2009 LA Galaxy Schedule has been updated after the announcements of friendly games vs Barcelona and AC Milan this summer. AC Milan will play the Galaxy at the Home Depot Center on Sunday July 19th at 7:00 p.m. Two weeks later FC Barcelona will come to play the Galaxy at the Rose Bowl on Saturday August 1st at 8:00 p.m.
Things have been quiet around here the past couple of months but things should pick up as the new season approaches. What will this year have in store for the Galaxy. Currently Landon Donovan and David Beckham are doing well in Europe.
If you haven’t seen anything of Beckham at AC Milan check out his latest goal for the Italian team.
While the Galaxy are off half way around the world Major League Soccer has announced the opening weeks schedule for the 2009 MLS season. The Galaxy will be opening the season at home on Sunday, March 22, 2009 against DC United @ 3:00 PM.
The Galaxy are not on the schedule released for week 2 and 3 yet. The full opening weeks schedule can be found at the official MLS website.
The season will open 3 days prior to the Galaxy’s first game. New York Red Bulls will open the season at the expansion Seattle Sounds FC on Thursday, March 19, 2009.
Bruce Areana has dominated at the college level, ran the most successful team in Major League Soccer during its first years, and had a pretty good career with the National Team. His little time spent with the Galaxy has resembled his stay with the New York Red Bulls more than any of the other mentioned coaching jobs.
But no reason to fear. If the Galaxy can go on a run like they started to at the beginning of last year – they should be just fine. With 4 games left in their schedule they are only 5 points behind the last playoff position.
The Galaxy currently have 29 points. Real Salt Lake is in 8th place with 34 points. Assuming Real Salt Lake contine to gain ~1.3 points per game (their average for the season) they will be up ~5.2 but we’ll round up to 6. So RSL goes to 40 points. All the Galaxy have to do is win 4 games and they will be at 41 – and likely in the playoffs!
No problem! Except for that last game of the season. At least it won’t be Chicago this year.
Rumors have been thrown around a lot recently about Landon Donovan making the transfer to Europe. England was usually the subject of the transfer rumors, but now Germany and Bayern Munich is the talk to Landon’s future destination.
Steven Goff’s Morning Kickaround says that there were early stage discussions that did already take place. Will Major League Soccer let their biggest American star leave? How could Landon be replaced?
Some jobs have recently opened up as you all know coach Ruud Gullit and general manager Alexi Lalas have recently departed from the Galaxy. Former US MNT coach Bruce Arena has filled the role as coach and general manager since then, but only after the general manager job was turned down by Peter Vermes. Vermes says he was recently offered the job, but turned it down. Vermes will stay at his current position as technical directory for the Kansas City Wizards.
We all saw Bruce Arena at the game vs Chivas USA last night and knew what would probably be coming. Now apparently it is done – Arena has taken over the vacant spot as the coach of the Galaxy.
Arena has had a lot of success as a coach at many different levels of the game. His success includes multiple championships with the dominate DC United in the first few years of MLS history. He also had a good run with the US men’s national team.
Will Arena be what the Galaxy need to turn this season around?
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.