LA Galaxy 3, FC Dallas 1
Saturday, August 6, 2011
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.
Scoring Summary:
FCD – Marvin Chavez 5 (Maicon Santos 2, Zach Loyd 3) 9’
LA – Omar Gonzalez 2 (Unassisted) 32’
LA – Juninho 4 (Gregg Berhalter 1, David Beckham 9) 62’
LA – Mike Magee 2 (David Beckham 10) 81’
Misconduct Summary:
FCD – Ricardo Villar (Yellow Card) 18'
LA – David Beckham (Yellow Card) 25’
FCD – Jair Benitez (Yellow Card) 27’
LA – Gregg Berhalter (Yellow Card) 35’
FCD – Marvin Chavez (Yellow Card) 68’
LA – Michael Stephens (Yellow Card) 94+
Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Josh Saunders; A.J. DeLaGarza, Omar Gonzalez, Gregg Berhalter, Todd Dunivant; Sean Franklin, David Beckham, Juninho, Mike Magee (Michael Stephens 88’); Adam Cristman (Juan Pablo Angel 78’), Landon Donovan©.
Subs Not Used:Brian Perk, Bryan Jordan, Chris Birchall, Paolo Cardozo, Miguel Lopez.
FC Dallas: Kevin Hartman; Zach Loyd, George John, Ugo Ihemelu (Bobby Warshaw 92+), Jair Benitez; Daniel Hernandez©, Bruno Guarda (Daniel Cruz 72’), Marvin Chavez, Ricardo Villar, Brek Shea; Maicon Santos (Eric Alexander 79’).
Subs Not Used: Chris Seitz, Andrew Jacobson, , Ruben Luna, Andrew Wiedeman.
Referee: Michael Kennedy
Referee’s Assistants Adam Wienckowski and Jason Cullum
4th Official: Mark Declouet
Notes:
- With the win, the Galaxy are now 13-3-9 on the season, giving them a league-best 48 points. They remain in first place in the Western Conference and are now six points ahead of FC Dallas and seven points ahead of third place Seattle, who beat Sporting Kansas City 2-1 earlier tonight.
- The Galaxy are now 12-3-6 under Bruce Arena following a regular season loss.
- With the win, the Galaxy remain undefeated at home with a 7-0-5 record. Additionally, with Sporting Kansas City’s loss tonight to Seattle, the Galaxy are the only team in MLS not to lose at home.
- The Galaxy are now 5-1-2 in the next game after giving up three or more goals in a regular season game.
- Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena made three changes to the team that lost 3-0 in Portland on Wednesday night. Adam Cristman made his first start of the season while Gregg Berhalter and Mike Magee returned to the starting lineup. They replaced Juan Pablo Angel, Chris Birchall and Michael Stephens, all of who started the game on the bench.
- Paolo Cardozo was back in the 18-man squad, replacing Dan Keat who had appeared in each of the last two games, but did not dress for tonight’s game. He did not play.
- The Galaxy were once again without Sean Alvarado, Chad Barrett, Jovan Kirovski, Leonardo and Donovan Ricketts, who all missed the game through injury.
- Adam Cristman was making his first start in a Galaxy uniform and his first in MLS since August 29, 2010 when he was a member of D.C. United.
- The Galaxy fell behind 1-0 in the ninth minute when Marvin Chavez scored his sixth goal of the season. Chavez also scored in Dallas’ Western Conference Championship win over the Galaxy in November 2010.
- This was the seventh time this season and the second straight game that the Galaxy have fallen behind 1-0. LA is now 2-3-2 in those seven games, though they are 2-0-2 at home.
- Omar Gonzalez equalized in the 32nd minute, heading in a David Beckham freekick that fell to him after Kevin Hartman and George John had collided for Dallas in the box.
- The goal was Gonzalez’s second of the season and fifth of his career. A native of Dallas, this was his first goal against his hometown club.
- The Galaxy are now 3-1-1 when Gonzalez scores in the regular season.
- The Galaxy have fallen behind 1-0 six times in the first half of games. In four of those six contests, they have gone into halftime tied 1-1 and are 2-0-2 in those contests.
- In the second half, the Galaxy took a 2-1 lead when Juninho scored his fourth goal of the season.
- Juninho is now tied with Chad Barrett for second on the team with four regular season goals. Only Landon Donovan has more with 11.
- All four of his goals have come on shots from outside the box. The Galaxy have eight such goals this season with David Beckham tallying two and Barrett and Sean Franklin each scoring one.
- Gregg Berhalter was credited with the first assist of his MLS career on Juninho’s goal, which turned out to be the game-winner. David Beckham was also credited with an assist on Juninho's goal.
- Five of Juninho’s six career regular season goals have been game-winners, including each of his two goals against Dallas. He also scored early in the second half of LA’s 2-1 win over FC Dallas in October 2010 when LA overcame an early 1-0 deficit to get the victory and claim the Supporters’ Shield.
- Mike Magee finished the scoring with his second league goal of the year, heading home a David Beckham corner kick in the 81st minute.
- Both of Magee’s goals this season have come with his head, driving home Beckham corner kicks after having also done so on April 9 at D.C. United.
- Beckham assisted on each of LA’s last two goals, giving him 10 on the season. His 10 assists are tied with Houston’s Brad Davis for the most in MLS.
- The assist on Juninho’s goal was the 25th of his Galaxy regular season career. He is the seventh player to reach that figure for the club.
- His 10 assists also equal a career-high, which he set in 2008, his second season with the Galaxy.
- This was the third time in his MLS career and the first since April 2008 that Beckham had more then one assist in a game.
- Prior to tonight, the last Galaxy player to record two assists in a game was Chad Barrett, who did so in LA’s 4-1 win over Sporting Kansas City on May 14. That was also the last time that the Galaxy came from behind to win a game.
- Josh Saunders made two saves to earn his seventh win of the season. He is now 7-2-3 on the year, giving him one more win then teammate Donovan Ricketts.
- Juninho was not booked, meaning that he will have one card expunged from his record, leaving him two yellow cards away from a suspension. Chris Birchall and Landon Donovan are also each two cards away from a suspension.
- After being shown just two combined yellow cards in their last two games, the Galaxy were shown three yellow cards tonight with David Beckham, Gregg Berhalter and Michael Stephens all earning yellow cards from referee Michael Kennedy. FC Dallas were also shown three yellow cards.
- Todd Dunivant once again played the full 90 minutes at left back for the Galaxy. He is the only player on the club to start all 25 regular season games while also play the full 90 minutes in each.
- The Galaxy are now just two points shy of eclipsing the 50 point plateau for the second straight season. The Galaxy have only reached 50 points in five of their first 15 years of play.
- The attendance for tonight’s game was 21,546 at The Home Depot Center.
- The Galaxy do not return to MLS action until two weeks from tonight on Saturday, August 20 when they host the San Jose Earthquakes at The Home Depot Center. That game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. and will be shown live on Prime Ticket starting with the Galaxy Live pregame show at 7 p.m.
- LA will open the CONCACAF Champions League on Tuesday, August 16 when they host Honduran champion Motagua at The Home Depot Center in a game that kicks off at 7 p.m.
QUOTES
LA Galaxy Head Coach Bruce Arena
On tonight’s game:
“We beat a good team tonight. I think both teams were fatigued from not only a long week but a pretty busy schedule to date. It wasn’t going to be easy and I thought perhaps the difference in the game is that out team showed a lot of determination. They fought real hard over 90 minutes but it was something we had to do to neutralize Dallas. I thought Dallas came out and played real well and gave us a lot of trouble in the opening 20 minutes of the game.”
On starting Adam Cristman and Mike Magee up front:
“I thought they did well. Adam was a handful. Those were players that have been hurt and haven’t a chance to play together. Adam’s been hurt for a good part of the season. As of late, he’s begun to get his match fitness. We’ve started playing him more in reserve games and our games. We wanted to go with him tonight to play against two very good center backs that Dallas has. I think he did a good job in battling and holding the ball up for us, in particular in the second half. Magee’s played up there before and it’s a good position for him. I think Landon [Donovan] much prefers the midfield. Mike’s a good player. With a player like Adam next to time, it gives him a different kind of role in terms of having the ability to pass and attack the box a little bit more. I thought they played well tonight.”
On Sean Franklin playing in the midfield:
“I thought he played well. I think that we have five backs that we’ve rotated during the season for a variety of reasons, mainly injuries. Those five were still able to get onto the field when we pushed Sean into the midfield. I think that’s a position Sean likes. His speed is a plus for us. The combination of Landon on the left and Sean on the right gives us some speed. I thought that Sean had an exceptional game tonight against a very good player. I think it’s a move we may continue to see.”
On Juninho’s game:
“He played well. He’s logged a lot of minutes this year. He’s been a little bit fatigued. I’ve been concerned, but I think tonight he stepped up. And certainly, the goal he scored was a great one. You know, when we get Juninho in or around the box, it’s good for our team because he strikes the ball quite well. I was please with him. Another good effort. Also so happy to announce his wife arrived last week. He was married months ago, and they’ve been apart. He’s a much happier person now.”
On the team not having another game until August 16:
“We have a little bit of time off now before the Champions League game. We need it. We’re a team that needs a couple of days of, get a little bit of rest, get our legs back, and get ready for what’s going to be a real difficult August, September and October for us. I think the little bit of the break we have right now is a real plus. I think for players like Juninho, Dunivant and others who have played a lot of minutes this year need a little time off.”
LA Galaxy Midfielder Landon Donovan
On the game:
“It was a good game. I didn’t think it was all that chippy, but it was a good, hard game with two teams that, in my opinion, are the best in the league right now. We are happy that we won.”
On the team’s goals:
“We have our goals that we have set. The first one is winning the Supporters Shield and this was a big step in that direction. Not only that, but for the rest of the year we don’t want to play like we did on Wednesday against Portland. If we are going to play like that, we aren’t going to win many games. We wanted to make sure we played the right way. This was a much better performance and a step in the right direction to winning the Supporters Shield this year.”
LA Galaxy Midfielder David Beckham
On the match:
It’s nice to set up goals, but it’s more important that we are six points clear to be honest. That’s something we aimed to do, and it was a good performance to night. We started off slow in the first 15 minutes. I think, we were still in Portland, but then our character came through. Then we started fighting.
On the team’s performance:
Obviously, we wanted to get the three points, but I think our performance was more important tonight after we let ourselves down in Portland. I think that was the biggest thing tonight. Character wise it was a really good performance… all around the pitch everyone worked hard for each other, and that’s the only reason we won tonight.
LA Galaxy Midfielder Juninho
On his goal:
“It’s definitely a very big goal. I feel very happy right now. It’s the fourth one this season. I’m just very happy to have helped out our team.”
On David Beckham’s crosses:
“That’s him. It wasn’t just today. That’s the way he has always been. It was good.”
LA Galaxy Defender Gregg Berhalter
On the physical game:
“It’s two of the top teams in the league right now, so of course it’s going to be a tough game. Considering the last game, we lacked that physical presence in Portland, and we wanted to come out and establish that. We know we can play soccer, but we wanted to come out and establish the physical presence as well.”
LA Galaxy Forward Adam Cristman
On his first start with the club:
“It was good. You know, it was a factor of last year picking up another knee injury at the end of the year, and then having to go through the same process again during preseason and being traded to a new team. And to show what my value is to the team. Unfortunately, it’s the second or third time I’ve had to do it. But for me, it’s a positive thing to know that I can work my way in. Just to be patient and I will eventually get my chance and to make the most of it. I do what I can to help the team.”
LA Galaxy Defender Sean Franklin
On how the team feels on set pieces:
“Very confident. We’ve got the best guy hitting balls in. He puts them in good spots, and our players did a good job of getting at the end of some of his crosses tonight.”
FC Dallas Head Coach Schellas Hyndman
On tonight’s game:
“I thought it was a very fast paced game. Unfortunately it was a physical game. I think I know we were tired and it kind of showed in the second half. I thought we started off very well and scored a great goal then we gave up three goals on set pieces. For us we are disappointed but at the same time we got the best we could out of the boys.”
On the physicality of the game:
“I think part of it was LA came in and was being very disruptive. I think [Adam] Cristman did his job, whatever that job was, it was to bang for every ball. There was a lot of physical play there and then I think because they got beat pretty well in Portland I think it was a game to show off character. They came back and played very hard and there were a lot of fouls going back and forth and I think it turned out a very disruptive game.”
FC Dallas Midfielder Marvin Chavez
(Translated from Spanish)
On the game:
“It was a difficult game. We knew that the Galaxy had a great team but we came here to try and get the three points but we weren’t able to. It’s time to go back and work hard and continue going forward.”
On his goal:
“I am happy about the goal but I would have been happier if we would have gotten the three points but that’s how the game is. We have to focus on the next game and not let this game worry us and focus on winning the next game.”
On the second half:
“We lost our concentration and that was fatal for us. They started to attack us and they took advantage of their set pieces and that hurt us so we have to go back and work on that.”
FC Dallas Midfielder Brek Shea
On tonight’s game:
“They had more chances in the second half than us. They came out and outplayed us in the second half. Unfortunately we were tied at half time but that’s soccer.”
On the flow of the game:
“I think over the past couple of years there has been a rivalry going between us. Like you said there were a lot of stops in the game we couldn’t get any rhythm there were a lot of fouls. The rhythm kept getting disrupted.
