CARSON, Calif. -- For all the talk surrounding the LA Galaxy back four in the lead up to Sunday's SuperClásico, Mike Magee believes that the the game will be determined in the center of the park.
Magee is likely to play an important role for the Galaxy attack on Sunday as he is expected to step into David Beckham's space in the midfield. With Beckham fulfilling his Olympic obligations on Sunday, Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena is expected to look to utilize Magee's speed on the flanks to help LA against Chivas USA's tenacious midfielders. Magee is well-aware that this will be no easy task as Chivas' high intensity midfield will be bolstered by the acquisition of midfielder Shalrie Joseph and the return of Oswaldo Minda from a shoulder injury.
"It's hard, they obviously like to load the middle of the field and they had a great midfield before and now getting Shalrie and Minda back from injury is obviously huge for them. We need to be extremely disciplined and match their intensity."
(On controlling the midfield...)
MAGEE: "That's huge in all our games, the times that we have the most success is when we have control of the midfield and are passing the ball well while keeping possession, especially in the final third. This game is obviously magnified a bit more because of how good their midfield is so we definitely need to do well."
(On the playoff chase...)
MAGEE: "It's a lot closer than people think, four games in hand is a lot and this is a massive game always and if you look at the standings, they're confident as well so this game could shake things up for the playoffs."
