CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy continue their preseason preparations on Saturday at 6 p.m. at StubHub Center against FC Shirak of the Armenian Premier League.
Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena said he will continue his low-key approach to such preseason matches – test out a few player combinations, for example – but that doesn’t exactly mean he’ll be overlooking the Armenia side.
He admitted he wasn’t even sure where Armenia was located – “I would think south of Russia, but everything’s south of Russia, when you think about it,” he joked – but he definitely was aware of FC Shirak’s success.
The club, which was founded in 1958, is the reigning Armenian Premier League champion and won the Armenian Super Cup last year. What’s particularly impressive, however, is FC Shirak reached the second qualifying round of the 2013-14 UEFA Champions League.
“I did notice that when we had talks about playing them,” Arena admitted. “They’re not a team of no quality. I would imagine they’re going to have some pretty good players and probably will be a difficult team for us to play at this time of year.”
The Galaxy are in only their second week of preseason training and are coming off a 2-2 tie against Chivas USA in a closed-door scrimmage earlier this week, but Arena said he’s been generally pleased with the team’s progress.
He’ll be looking to see more of that Saturday, with perhaps a twist or two in personnel.
“We want to see a few different combinations,” he said. “All the practice games we’ve played to date we’ve mixed the lineup a little bit.
“We’ll do the same on Saturday as well.”
Tickets are $12 for Galaxy season ticket holders and $17 for the general public. For more information, go to www.lagalaxy.com or call (877) 342-5299.
Time Warner Cable Deportes will present the LA Galaxy vs. FC Shirak preseason match up. Live coverage will begin at 5:30p.m with a half-hour Galaxy En Vivo pregame show followed by a complete postgame analysis on Vamos Galaxy at the end of the match.
Time Warner Cable Deportes’ Samuel Jacobo will provide play-by-play commentary with Martin “El Pulpo” Zúñiga as lead analyst. In-studio coverage will be led by the network’s special correspondent, Enrique Aníbal Gutiérrez accompanied by guest commentators, Christian Bozzo, Steve Sampson and Francisco X. Rivera.
