The LA Galaxy play their final game before the two-week World Cup break on Wednesday night when they travel to Salt Lake City to take on Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium. The game kicks off a 6 p.m. (PT) and will be the second and final meeting of the season between last year’s two MLS Cup finalists following the Galaxy’s 2-1 win over RSL at The Home Depot Center on April 17. The Galaxy currently sit in first place in the Western Conference with an MLS-best 10-0-2 record for 32 points, 12 points clear of second place Real Salt Lake who have 20 points from a 6-3-2 record.
Wednesday night’s game will be broadcast on tape delay on Fox Sports West starting at 10:30 p.m. The game will also be available live locally on the radio in Spanish on ESPN Deportes Radio 1330 AM starting with their pregame show at 5:30 p.m. while lagalaxy.com will stream the game live in English starting at 5:30 p.m.
THE WEEK THAT WAS
Saturday, June 5, 2010; Galaxy 4 – Houston Dynamo 1 – The Home Depot Center – Attendance: 20,826
The Galaxy tied their club record unbeaten streak at 15 games with a convincing 4-1 win over Houston on Saturday night. Jovan Kirovski scored twice, including the opener after just 47 seconds while Tristan Bowen and Alex Cazumba added second half goals to complete the victory which moved LA 12 points clear at the top of the Western Conference.
Saturday, June 5, 2010; Galaxy U-16’s 0 –
Arsenal FC U-16’s 1 – John Blanche Memorial Soccer Complex
Jeff Stamp allowed just one goal but the Galaxy could not get on the scoreboard as they fell 1-0 to the eventual league winners Arsenal 1-0 on Saturday. .
Saturday, June 5, 2010; Galaxy U-18’s 3 –
Arsenal FC U-18’s 1 – John Blanche Memorial Soccer Complex
The Galaxy U-18’s clinched a second place finish in the league with a 3-1 win over Arsenal on Saturday, a result that knocked Arsenal out of postseason consideration. Ruben Valencia gave the Galaxy a 1-0 lead and Gyasi Zardes broke a 1-1 draw early in the second half before Alex Covarrubias sealed the win with a late goal.
Sunday, June 6, 2010; Galaxy U-16’s 1 – Irvine
Strikers U-16’s 0 – The Home Depot Center
Dyllan Stevens scored the game’s only goal and Josh McNeely kept a clean sheet as the Galaxy U-16’s ended their season with a 1-0 win over the Irvine Strikers. The U-16’s finished the season with a 6-6-4 record in the league and a 12-11-6 mark in all competitions.
Sunday, June 6, 2010; Galaxy U-18’s 2 – Irvine
Strikers U-18’s 1 – The Home Depot Center
The Galaxy stretched their unbeaten streak to six games to end the regular season with a 2-1 win over the Irvine Strikers on Sunday afternoon. The Galaxy trailed 1-0 but Ritchie Gonzalez equalized just before halftime and Neil Ignacio scored the winner with 15 minutes remaining as the Galaxy finished the season with a 10-4-2 mark in the league, leaving them five points behind first place Real So Cal.
INJURY REPORT
Galaxy Injury Report
OUT – None
DOUBTFUL – None
QUESTIONABLE – Dema Kovalenko (Right Hamstring – Strain), Leonardo (Right Quad – Strain), Mike Magee (Right Hip – Soreness)
PROBABLE - None
TEAM NOTES
RECORDS MATCHED: With the 4-1 win over Houston on Saturday evening, the Galaxy stretched their unbeaten streak to 12 games to the start the season and 15 regular season games overall dating back to the end of the 2009 season. The Galaxy are now 10-0-2 for an MLS-best 32 points on the season, leaving them 12 points ahead of Real Salt Lake, who sit in second place in the Western Conference standings with 20 points. The Galaxy defeated RSL 2-1 at The Home Depot Center on April 17 and complete the season series with them on Wednesday night at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Dating back to the end of the 2009 regular season, the Galaxy are unbeaten in their last 15 games, going 12-0-3 in that time and taking 39 of a possible 45 points. LA has kept a clean sheet in 12 of those 15 games and have not trailed in any of them.
The Galaxy have now tied their club record of 15 straight games without a loss and the MLS record that they set in 1996 for the longest unbeaten streak to begin a season. That year, the Galaxy won each of their first 12 games on the season en route to reaching MLS Cup.
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 SNAPPED: With Cam Weaver’s seventh minute goal for the Dynamo on Saturday, the Galaxy’s streak of 463 minutes without allowing a goal came to an end. That streak, which dated back to late in the 3-1 win over Philadelphia on May 1, was the longest shutout streak in MLS this season, the third longest streak in club history and the sixth longest in MLS history.
Including the game that the streak began and ended with, the Galaxy went 6-0-1 during the stretch, stopping 18 consecutive shots on goal.
The longest shutout streak in Galaxy history began late in the 2009 season and ended with Kyle Beckerman’s goal late in the first half of LA’s 2-1 win over Real Salt Lake on April 17. During that stretch, LA went 612 minutes without allowing a goal, a streak which is the third longest in league history.
This season alone, the Galaxy have three of the 10 longest shutout streaks in the league. LA opened the season by going 311 minutes without allowing a goal before Beckerman’s goal. That is the fifth 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 tenth longest streak in MLS this season.
ALEX CAZUMBA GETS ON THE SCORESHEET: Alex Cazumba became the 11th different Galaxy player this season to score a goal when he beat Pat Onstad with a low, left-footed shot in the 56th minute of Saturday’s 4-1 win over the Dynamo. The first of the Galaxy’s three loan signings from Sao Paulo to score a goal, Cazumba is the first player born outside of the U.S. to score for the club this season. Prior to the goal, the last foreign player to score for the Galaxy was David Beckham, who scored the game-winner in the 2-0 win over Toronto FC on September 19, 2009. Cazumba is the fifth different Brazilian player to score for the Galaxy and the first in almost two years since Alvaro Pires scored in a 3-2 win over Colorado on June 7, 2008.
The Galaxy’s 11 different goalscorers on the season are tied with Real Salt Lake for the second most in the league this season, with only the Houston Dynamo having more. The Dynamo have already had 13 different players score a goal in MLS this season.
CAZUMBA GOAL IS #700: Alex Cazumba’s second half goal on Saturday was the 700th goal in club history, making the Galaxy the second team in league history to reach 700 goals. D.C. United was the first team in league history to score 700 goals, achieving the feat last season, and have scored 28 more goals than the Galaxy, who are the only team in league history to have scored 100 or more goals than they have allowed, surrendering 573 all-time regular season goals and giving them a +127 goal differential.
Goal #
Player
Date
Opponent
Result
100 Eduardo Hurtado 9/7/97 vs. Tampa Bay W 6-1
200 Clint Mathis 3/20/99 vs. Colorado W 2-1 (SO)
300 Cobi Jones 4/28/01 at Colorado W 3-2
400 Carlos Ruiz 6/14/03 vs. Kansas City W 2-1
500 Herculez Gomez 9/4/05 vs. Chicago L 1-2
600 David Beckham 5/3/08 at Real Salt Lake T 2-2
700 Alex Cazumba 6/5/10 vs. Houston W 4-1
PERFECT AGAINST THE WEST: Following their 4-1 win over Houston on Saturday evening, the Galaxy are now a perfect 7-0-0 against fellow Western Conference opposition. Of those seven 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, including Wednesday’s game at RSL, 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 – two fewer than they already have in seven games against the West this season.
A CUP OF JOE WITH COBI JONES: Tune-in to the Galaxy's weekly live web show, Cup of Joe, with radio play-by-play announcer Joe Tutino. On Wednesday afternoon, the show will broadcast live from Salt Lake City, with Cobi Jones joining Tutino to discuss the Galaxy’s impressive start to the season, that night’s match against Real Salt Lake, the 2010 World Cup 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
GALAXY U-18’S QUALIFY FOR DEVELOPMENT ACADEMY PLAYOFFS: With a pair of victories over the weekend, LA Galaxy Youth Academy U-18’s finished their season in second place in the West Conference, SoCal Division and qualified for the U.S. Soccer Development Academy playoffs for the first time. The Galaxy finished the season with a 10-4-2 record in the league and a 16-7-5 record in all competitions.
The playoffs will begin in Browns Summit, N.C. from June 25-29 with the U-18 Finals held at The Home Depot Center from July 10-18.
In their first two years of participating in the Development Academy, the Galaxy have now sent two teams to the playoffs, with this year’s U-18’s joining last year’s U-16’s, who reached the postseason in their inaugural season.
GALAXY U-20’S BEGIN SEASON ON WEDNESDAY: The LA Galaxy U-20’s will kick off their USL Super 20 League season with three games this week, starting on Wednesday night when they take on Chivas USA in Bell Gardens at 7:15 p.m. Following that game, the Galaxy will be back in action on Friday night when they host SUSA – Everton at The Home Depot Center at 8 p.m. before rounding out the week with a game on Saturday evening at home against the Lancaster Rattlers at 5 p.m.
In 2008, their first year of play, the Galaxy U-20’s won the Super 20 Pacific Southern California Division with a 7-2-1 record, with Tristan Bowen and Michael Stephens helping to lead the club to a division title. Last year, the Galaxy finished second in their division with a 7-3-0 record, with Stephens once again playing a major role in the club’s success.
IN THE COMMUNITY
GALAXY HOST VIEWING PARTY FOR U.S. WORLD CUP OPENER ON HERMOSA BEACH PIER PLAZA SATURDAY: Fans looking to see the U.S. National Team open their 2010 FIFA World Cup schedule on Saturday afternoon against England are invited to a free viewing party that will be held on the Hermosa Beach Pier Plaza. Galaxy midfielder Dema Kovalenko will be on hand for the game with a number of additional special guests and attractions taking place throughout the day. For more information and the complete list of the club’s Official Viewing Locations for every game throughout the World Cup, go to www.lagalaxy.com/worldcup.
WATCH THE WORLD CUP OPENERS WITH YOUR FAVORITE GALAXY PLAYERS: The most talked about game of the World Cup is on Saturday, but the tournament kicks off on Friday morning when the hosts South Africa take on Mexico. That game kicks off at 7 a.m. and is followed at 11:30 a.m. by the second game from Group A with France taking on Uruguay.
You can watch those two games with some of your favorite Galaxy players, with Sean Franklin in attendance at the ESPN Zone at LA Live from 6:30 a.m. until 8 a.m. and Dema Kovalenko there from 8 a.m. until 9:30 a.m. If you are in Orange Country, you can catch the game at the ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney, with Michael Stephens there from 6:30 a.m. until 8 a.m. and Josh Saunders there from 8 a.m. until 9:30 a.m.
TUNE IN EARLY SUNDAY MORNING TO ESPN RADIO AS THE GALAXY ARE FEATURED ON THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EXPERIENCE: On Sunday, June 13 at 5 a.m., the Galaxy’s Director of Community Development and Director of the Los Angeles Galaxy Foundation, Gloria King, will be a guest on The Southern California Experience on 710 AM - ESPN Radio to discuss the club’s many community endeavors in Southern California.
The Southern California Experience with LaFern Cusack, is the 710 ESPN AM public affairs show. Airing Sunday mornings, from 5-6 a.m., The Experience strives to present topical guests and stories in an entertaining and comfortable format. Each week they bring a new show covering a current issue, news item, upcoming event, or local charity.
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.
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.
