Following their 2-0 win over the previously unbeaten Columbus Crew, the LA Galaxy return home to take on the Houston Dynamo at The Home Depot Center. The game, which is presented by Super Mario Galaxy 2, kicks off at 5 p.m. and will be the club’s final home game before the two-week World Cup break, which begins on June 10. Los Angeles defeated Houston 2-0 at Robertson Stadium earlier this season and will look to complete the season sweep on Saturday evening.
Saturday’s game will be broadcast live nationally on Galavision at 5 p.m. in Spanish and on tape delay on Fox Sports West at 10 p.m., followed by a special postgame edition of Galaxy Live. The game will also be available live locally on the radio, with KTLK 1150 AM and ESPN Deportes Radio 1330 AM carrying the game live in English and Spanish respectively starting with their pregame shows at 4:30 p.m.
THE
WEEK THAT WAS
Friday,
May 28, 2010; Galaxy U-16’s 2 – CASL Chelsea FC Academy U-16’s 2 – Sarasota Polo
Club
Neil Ignacio and Eric Gonzalez, who was playing with the Galaxy for the first time since joining the U.S. Under-17 Residency Program last year, each scored four minutes apart in the first half of a 2-2 draw with the CASL Chelsea FC Academy to open their Spring Showcase schedule.
Friday,
May 28, 2010; Galaxy U-18’s 2 – CASL Chelsea FC Academy U-18’s 2 – Sarasota Polo
Club
Mark Vasquez and Christian Alvarado scored on either side of halftime as the Galaxy overcame a 2-1 deficit to earn a 2-2 draw with the CASL Chelsea FC Academy to open their Spring Showcase schedule.
Saturday,
May 29, 2010; Galaxy 2 – Columbus Crew 0 –
Columbus Crew
Stadium – Attendance: 18,139
Michael Stephens and Tristan Bowen scored on either side of halftime as the Galaxy defeated the only other unbeaten team in MLS, winning 2-0 at Columbus on Saturday night. Stephens scored the first goal of his MLS career in the 10th minute to put LA in front and Bowen sealed the win with his first MLS goal in the 87th minute. Donovan Ricketts made four saves in the game for the club’s fifth straight shutout in the league, extending their streak of not allowing a goal to 456 minutes.
Sunday,
May 30, 2010; Galaxy U-16’s 1 – NJSA U-16’s 0 – Sarasota Polo
Club
Dyllan Stevens scored the game’s only goal and Jeff Stamp kept a clean sheet as the Galaxy won their first game of the Spring Showcase.
Sunday,
May 30, 2010; Galaxy U-18’s 2 – NJSA U-18’s 0 – Sarasota Polo
Club
Eric Verso and Neil Ignacio each scored in the opening 25 minutes as the Galaxy earned their first win of the Showcase, defeating NJSA 2-0. Vince Paldino played the opening 85 minutes in goal for the Galaxy before being replaced by Josh McNeely for the game’s final five minutes.
Monday,
May 31, 2010; Galaxy U-16’s 2 – St. Louis Scott Gallagher Metro U-16’s 0 –
Sarasota Polo Club
Neil Ignacio and Juan Mendoza scored on either side of halftime and Jeff Stamp and Josh McNeely combined to keep a clean sheet as the Galaxy rounded out the Spring Showcase with their second straight win and second straight clean sheet.
Monday,
May 31, 2010; Galaxy U-18’s 4 – St. Louis Scott Gallagher Metro U-18’s 0 –
Sarasota Polo Club
The Galaxy rounded out the Spring Showcase with their biggest win of the trip, defeating St. Louis Scott Gallagher Metro 4-0. Spencer Johnson, Trent Clifton and Alan Rovira each scored in the first half and Dyllan Stevens added a fourth after the break to round out the win. Vince Paldino kept a clean sheet in the win, stretching the team’s streak of not allowing a goal to 264 consecutive minutes.
INJURY
REPORT
OUT – None
DOUBTFUL – None
QUESTIONABLE – Alan Gordon (Right Quad – Strain), Dema Kovalenko (Right Hamstring – Strain), Leonardo (Right Quad – Strain)
PROBABLE - None
TEAM
NOTES
ONE FROM RECORDS: With the 2-0 win at Columbus on Saturday night, the Galaxy stretched their unbeaten streak to 11 games to the start of the season and 14 regular season games overall dating back to the end of the 2009 season. The Galaxy are now 9-0-2 for an MLS-best 29 points on the season, leaving them 10 points ahead of Real Salt Lake, who sit in second place in the Western Conference standings with 19 points. The Galaxy defeated RSL 2-1 at The Home Depot Center on April 17 and will complete the season series with the club next Wednesday, June 9 at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Dating back to the end of the 2009 regular season, the Galaxy are unbeaten in their last 14 games, going 11-0-3 in that time and taking 36 of a possible 42 points. LA has kept a clean sheet in 12 of those 14 games and have not trailed in any of them.
The Galaxy are now one game shy of the club record 15-game unbeaten streak and one game shy of the club and MLS record of consecutive games without a loss to open the season.
In the club’s inaugural season in 1996, the Galaxy won their first 12 games, setting an MLS record for the longest unbeaten streak at the start of the season.
From September 7, 1997 until May 17, 1998, the Galaxy won a club record 15 straight games, with all but one of those wins being settled in regulation, as opposed to a shootout, which was used to decide tie games from 1996-1999. That streak is the second longest in MLS history, four games shorter than the Columbus Crew’s MLS record 19-game unbeaten streak that began in July 2004 and was ended in April 2005.
The last time the Galaxy lost was on September 26, 2009 when they fell 2-0 to the Columbus Crew.
SHUTOUT STREAK EXTENDED: After their 2-0 win at Columbus on Saturday night, the Galaxy have now gone 456 consecutive minutes without allowing a goal this season. That streak, which dates back to the 84th minute of the 3-1 win over Philadelphia on May 1, is the longest in the league this year.
Of the 10 longest consecutive minutes without allowing a goal streaks in the league this season, three are owned by the Galaxy. LA opened the season by going 311 minutes without allowing a goal before Kyle Beckerman scored for Real Salt Lake in a 2-1 Galaxy win at The Home Depot Center. That is the fourth longest shutout streak in the league this season. After that goal, Galaxy goalkeepers went 223 minutes before allowing another goal, to Philadelphia’s Jack McInerney, for the eighth longest streak in MLS this season.
TWO NEW SCORERS: Two more players scored their first goal of the MLS season on Saturday, with Tristan Bowen and Michael Stephens each tallying the first goal of their MLS careers. Stephens opened the scoring in the 10th minute, finishing a cross from Chris Birchall and Bowen sealed the victory with a right-footed shot from 15-yards out late on off a Chris Klein pass. Stephens and Bowen were the ninth and tenth different Galaxy players to score a goal in MLS play this season. Of those 10, only Edson Buddle, who scored nine of LA’s first 10 goals, has more than one goal.
In 2009, the Galaxy did not register their 10th different goalscorer until July 4 when Alecko Eskandarian scored eight minutes into his Galaxy debut, a 1-0 win over New England. After Eskandarian’s goal, only two more players scored their first goal of the season for LA over the second half of the season, giving them 12 different goalscorers on the season.
The Galaxy record for the most amount of different goalscorers in a single season is 15, a mark that was set in the inaugural 1996 season. The fewest goalscorers that the club has had in a single season is 10, a mark that was set in 2006, the first year in club history that the Galaxy missed the playoffs.
DONE WITH THE DYNAMO: Saturday’s game against the Dynamo will be the second and final meeting of the year between the two sides. They first met in Houston on April 10 with Edson Buddle scoring twice to give the Galaxy a 2-0 victory, which was their first road win of the season. With a win or a draw in this weekend, LA will win the season series against the Dynamo for the second straight season after going 1-0-1 against them in 2009.
The all-time season series between the two sides, which began in 2006, is currently level with each team recording identical 4-4-4 records. LA won just one of the first six meetings between the two sides all-time but has now won three of the last six and are unbeaten in the last three meetings, not including LA’s 2-0 extratime victory in last season’s Western Conference Championship.
PERFECT AGAINST THE WEST: Following their 1-0 win over FC Dallas on May 20, the Galaxy are now a perfect 6-0-0 against fellow Western Conference opposition. Of those six wins, four have come on the road, with the Galaxy winning at Colorado, Dallas, Houston and Seattle, giving LA 12 points on the road against conference foes this season already.
With three road games against Western Conference opposition remaining on the schedule, the Galaxy already have more points on the road against conference opposition than they had in all of 2009 when they went 1-1-6 for nine points. Including home games last season, the Galaxy were 4-5-7 against the Western Conference last season for 19 points – one more than they have in six games this season. With a draw in any of their final eight games against the West, the Galaxy can match their point total from last season against their conference opposition.
STEPHENS BLAST NOMINATED FOR MLS GOAL OF THE WEEK: Michael Stephens’ first half goal in Columbus on Saturday has been nominated for the AT&T Goal of the Week award. With the score tied 0-0 early in the first half, Stephens got free inside the box and collected a Chris Birchall cross, settled the ball once before driving a right-footed shot past Crew goalkeeper Will Hesmer to give LA a 1-0 advantage.
Click here to vote for the goal, which was also assisted on by Jovan Kirovski. Voting closes at 10 a.m. (ET) on Wednesday.
TRISTAN BOWEN SITS DOWN FOR CUP OF JOE: Tune-in to the Galaxy's weekly live web show, Cup of Joe, with radio play-by-play announcer Joe Tutino. On Thursday afternoon, Tristan Bowen will sit down with Tutino to discuss his recent run of form that has seen him start and record either a goal or an assist in the Galaxy’s last three games, Saturday’s visit of the Dynamo and much more. The show will air live at 12:30 p.m. on the Galaxy’s website, www.lagalaxy.com, where it will also be archived for future viewing.
Fans can participate asking by questions either beforehand or live during the chat. Start submitting questions for Dave now to socialmedia@lagalaxy.com.
YOUTH ACADEMY
PLAYOFF BERTHS ON THE LINE FOR GALAXY ACADEMY TEAMS: The LA Galaxy Youth Academy teams are back in Southern California this weekend following their successful appearances at the annual U.S. Soccer Development Academy Spring Showcase in Sarasota, Fla. Both Galaxy teams will complete their Development Academy regular seasons this week with a pair of games against Arsenal and the Irvine Strikers.
On Saturday, the Galaxy Academy teams will travel to Murrieta, Calif. to take on Arsenal FC in their final road game of the season. The U-16’s kick off at 10 a.m. and the U-18’s begin two hours later at noon.
The following day, the Irvine Strikers visit The Home Depot Center for the final game of the season. The game’s, which will be on Field #7, kick off at 1 p.m. (U-16’s) and 3:15 p.m. (U-18’s).
The Galaxy U-16’s, who were 2-0-1 at last weekend’s showcase, have a record of 11-10-6 in all competitions this season, including 5-5-4 in the division. They are currently tied for fifth place in their division with two games remaining. They will need to win both of their games in two weeks time in order to possibly qualify for the postseason.
The Galaxy U-18’s, who were also 2-0-1 at the Showcase are currently in fourth place in their division with a 14-7-5 record in all competitions and 8-4-2 in the league. If they win one of their final two games, they will be assured of a top three spot in the league and a potential postseason berth, while two wins in those games would give them a second place finish in the division and a guaranteed postseason berth.
IN THE
COMMUNITY
GALAXY FOUNDATION SHOT OF THE WEEK: At each LA Galaxy home game, fans are invited to visit the Galaxy Foundation Booth to place your bid on the Galaxy Foundation's Shot of the Week presented by MoraPhotography.com. Each photo will be signed by the player or players featured. All proceeds benefit the Los Angeles Galaxy Foundation.
SUPPORT NOTHING BUT NETS ON SATURDAY: MLS WORKS, Nothing But Nets and the Los Angeles Galaxy are United Against Malaria. Stop by the Nothing But Nets or Galaxy Foundation booths and receive your South African-made bracelet with a $10 donation towards a mosquito net to help fight malaria deaths in Africa.
NEED TO
KNOW
LOOKING FOR MORE UPDATES?: If you are looking for continuous updates from the Galaxy all week long, be sure to visit the club’s official websites www.lagalaxy.com and www.lagalaxyfutbol.com, or the club’s official blog at www.thelagalaxy.blogspot.com for all the latest news from the club. The Galaxy can also be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lagalaxy and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lagalaxy.
