After being eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions League on Wednesday and playing their final scheduled international friendly on Saturday, the LA Galaxy will return their focus to the MLS regular season this week when they take on the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. PT. This game will be the Galaxy’s first-ever trip to the newly-opened Red Bull Arena and will be the first meeting of the season between the two sides.
Bruce Arena’s team swept the Red Bulls in 2009, winning 1-0 at The Home Depot Center in May and then 3-1 in their final game at Giants Stadium in July, a game that saw the Galaxy score three times in the first half en route to the victory. This season, the Galaxy head to New Jersey in first place in MLS, three points ahead of the Columbus Crew and five points ahead of Real Salt Lake for the top spot in the Western Conference. The Red Bulls are currently in second place in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of third place Toronto FC, who New York host on Wednesday.
Saturday’s game will be broadcast live nationally on Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports en Espanol. Locally, the game will be live on the radio in English on KTLK 1150 AM and in Spanish on ESPN Deportes Radio 1330 AM KWKW.
THE
WEEK THAT WAS
Wednesday,
August 4, 2010; Galaxy 2 – Puerto Rico
Islanders 1 – Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium
CONCACAF
Champions League Preliminary Round – Galaxy lose 5-3 on
aggregate
The Galaxy’s dream of a berth in the group stages of the CONCACAF Champions League ended despite a 2-1 win in Puerto Rico. After falling 4-1 at home in the first leg, the Galaxy had a large hole to climb out of in order to turn around the series, a hole that was made that much more difficult when the Islanders took a 1-0 lead midway through the first half. LA equalized with an own goal a few minutes later and Sean Franklin added a late winner, but it was not enough for the Galaxy to advance. READ RECAP
Saturday,
August 7, 2010: Galaxy 2 – Real Madrid 3 – Rose Bowl – Attendance:
89,134
International
Friendly
In front of another capacity crowd at the Rose Bowl, the Galaxy went toe-to-toe with one of the world’s largest club’s falling 3-2 to Real Madrid. Todd Dunivant and Landon Donovan scored late in the first half for the Galaxy, but Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain scored twice after the break and Alvaro Arbeloa scored the winner with 20 minutes left to send the Spanish side home with a victory. READ RECAP| PHOTO GALLERIES: 12|HIGHLIGHTS |VIDEO RECAP
INJURY
REPORT
OUT – David Beckham (Left Achilles tendon surgery – Disabled List)
DOUBTFUL – None
QUESTIONABLE – None
PROBABLE – None
TEAM
NOTES
THREE INCLUDED IN U.S. SQUAD: Following Saturday’s game against Real Madrid, the Galaxy trio of Edson Buddle, Landon Donovan and Omar Gonzalez departed for New York where they met up with the U.S. National Team ahead of their friendly against Brazil on Tuesday night. That game, which kicks off at 5 p.m. (PT) from the New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., will be shown live on ESPN2 and Galavision and is the first game for the U.S. since the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Buddle and Donovan were named to the squad on Wednesday and are two of the 15 players in the team that were also a part of the U.S. team in South Africa. Donovan is the all-time leader in goals and assists for the U.S., scoring 45 times and adding 45 assists in 127 appearances for his country, while Buddle has two goals in five games with the U.S. Prior to the start of the 2010 MLS season, Buddle had just one cap with the U.S., with that having come in 2003. He appeared in two friendlies prior to the World Cup, including a 3-1 win over Australia in which he scored the first two goals of his international career, and then came off the bench twice during the tournament against England and Algeria.
Gonzalez was added to the team on Thursday, replacing Columbus Crew defender Chad Marshall, who withdrew from the roster. Gonzalez was called into camp with the National Team in January ahead of the U.S. game against Honduras and then again a month later ahead of the game against El Salvador, but he did not play in either game and will be looking for his first cap on Tuesday against Brazil.
RICKETTS GETS JAMAICA CALL: Donovan Ricketts will also be on international duty this week as he has been named in Jamaica’s squad for their friendly against Trinidad & Tobago on Wednesday night in Port of Spain. The 33-year-old goalkeeper last represented his country at the CONCACAF Gold Cup in July 2009, starting all three of the Reggae Boyz games at that tournament.
Following Wednesday’s game, Ricketts, who has been capped 75 times by Jamaica and was a part of their squad at the 1998 World Cup, will fly directly to New York where he will meet up with the rest of his Galaxy teammates ahead of Saturday’s game against the Red Bulls.
ARENA TO BE
HONORED TUESDAY: Prior to Tuesday’s game between the
U.S. and Brazil,
Galaxy General Manager and Head
Coach Bruce Arena will be honored along with the rest of the National Soccer
Hall of Fame's 2010 Induction Class. Arena was elected to the Hall of Fame in
January, earning 78 percent of the votes on the Hall of Fame's Builder
Ballot.
Arena will be joined by Thomas Dooley, Preki and Kyle Rote Jr. in
the Hall of Fame's Class of 2010.
The quartet will be honored in a
private ceremony that will take place at 4 p.m. (ET), and will be followed by a
reception for the new inductees, Hall of Famers, and invited guests. They will
then be honored again, this time on the field, prior to
kickoff.
Along with Buddle, Donovan and Gonzalez, Arena will remain in New York on Wednesday and meet up with the team on Thursday.
MAGEE CLEARED TO PLAY: After missing the Galaxy’s last six MLS regular season games, forward Mike Magee has been removed from the club’s Disabled List and is now eligible to return to the field. The 25-year-old missed the Galaxy’s final two games before the World Cup break because of the injury and then had surgery in Germany in late June to correct the problem. He was placed on the club’s Disabled List on June 24 and returned to training in late July.
Because the Disabled List applies only to MLS games, Magee was able to return to action on Wednesday night in Puerto Rico, playing the final 22 minutes of the 2-1 win over Puerto Rico in the Champions League. He then played the entire second half of Saturday night’s friendly against Real Madrid.
Magee last played in a regular season game on May 29 at Columbus, playing 65 minutes up front alongside Tristan Bowen in a 2-0 Galaxy win. He has appeared in eight games for LA this season, starting six and collecting a goal and an assist. He spent the first six seasons of his career in New York, scoring 23 goals and adding 13 assists in 130 games before joining the Galaxy prior to the start of last season.
A NEW PLACE TO PLAY: The Galaxy will make their first-ever visit to Red Bull Arena on Saturday when they take on the Red Bulls. The stadium opened in March, ending New York’s run at Giants Stadium, which served as the club’s home since their inaugural season in 1996. The Galaxy were 6-10-2 all-time at Giants Stadium in the regular season, including a 3-1 win there in 2009 when Alecko Eskandarian, Landon Donovan and Eddie Lewis each scored in the opening 45 minutes.
Red Bull Arena will be the 32nd different stadium that the Galaxy have played a regular season game in since the start of MLS. In their first game at a new stadium, LA is 13-13-5 all-time, including an 0-0-3 record last year when they played to a 2-2 draw with Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium, a 1-1 draw with Seattle Sounders FC at Qwest Field and a 1-1 draw with the Kansas City Wizards at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.
YOUTH ACADEMY
TWO PLAYERS NAMED TO SUPER-20 STARTING XI: LA Galaxy Under-20 players Earl Edwards and Evan Reynr were named to the all-tournament team for the recently completed USL Super-20 Finals. Edwards, who is about to begin his freshman year at UCLA, was named the tournament’s top goalkeeper, while Reynr, who will be a sophomore at UCLA in this year, was named to the team as a midfielder. He finished the tournament with a team-best three goals in five games as the Galaxy reached the Super-20 Final for the first-time ever.
The Galaxy went 2-0-1 to win their group before dispatching the Chicago Fire 2-1 in extra time in the tournament semifinals. In the finals, LA lost 2-1 to the Crew Juniors to narrowly miss out on winning their first Super-20 championship.
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.
HOW SUITE IT IS: Join us on Saturday, August 28 at The Home Depot Center for a night of Galaxy soccer, music, wine and champagne tasting and martinis! Come mix and mingle for a great cause while enjoying a special private performance by Jared Lee, a Galaxy home soccer match and a post-game player meet & greet. Fans interested in purchasing tickets to this event should visit the Community section of the Galaxy website.
FOR THE
FANS
CUP OF JOE WITH MIKE MAGEE: Mike Magee will join Galaxy radio announcer Joe Tutino on Wednesday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. for Cup of Joe, the Galaxy's weekly live web show. Magee and Tutino will discuss his return from sports hernia surgery, Saturday’s game against his former club, the New York Red Bulls, and any other questions that viewers submit. The show will air live 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 Mike now to socialmedia@lagalaxy.com.
WATCH THE GALAXY PLAY LIVE IN SAN JOSE: Galaxy fans wishing to see their team play the San Jose Earthquakes live at Buck Shaw Stadium on August 21 can still book their seats for the bus trips that the club has organized for the game through Bixby Travel Company. For just $80, fans will receive roundtrip transportation to and from the game, a ticket to the match and lunch on the journey to Santa Clara. Visit www.lagalaxy.com/roadtrips for complete details on the trip.
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.
