LA Galaxy News Archives

Being the Los Angeles Galaxy manager isn’t easy, or rather, it’s much harder than Ruud Gullit had anticipated. The former Chelsea coach and 1987 European Football of the Year is getting a closer grip on reality day after day, and isn’t hiding his malcontent (event though the team is currently ranked 2nd in the Western Conference, behind FC Dallas).

“I’m sure that when people think of LA Galaxy, the picture that comes to mind is not of our staff making phone calls to friends on Friday to see if they can play in a reserve game on Sunday, but, strange as it may seem, this is the reality” declared the Dutch manager in an interview to English newspaper Sunday Times. “I can’t play sexy football with this team at the moment because we are not ready for this”.
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This is the moment North American soccer fans have been waiting for; the CONCACAF Champions Cup Final is here. However, with more exciting MLS action coming up this weekend, Americans are spoiled for choice as we creep closer to summer.

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Although there are two teams (San Jose and New York) that have only played two matches, this will be the first review in which I publish the Major League Soccer table, and this season there are some surprises early on. In fact, what I predicted to be a weekend of matches that are nothing special turned out to be a very exciting weekend of big teams losing to supposedly weaker opposition yet again. Welcome to the MLS.

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In the past couple of days:

•The Mexican league continued its commanding dominance in the Champions Cup – the most finalists in the history of the competition with thirty-two, twenty-three of which have won.

•Costa Rica has also had a good record – in second place with ten finalists, six of which were also winners.

•The Revolution win their second match of the season.

•The Galaxy take on three new players.

•A new MLS club starts to forge their identity.

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Major League Soccer’s second week kicked off on Thursday, with two matches, and finished with five more at the weekend. Also, CONCACAF Champions Cup semi final action took place in Pachuca, Mexico, and Houston, Texas.

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David Beckham scored his the first goal and set Landon Donovan (who set Becks up for the first one) up for another as LA Galaxy win 2-0 against the San Jose Earthquakes. I don’t care what the match was like. I don’t particularly care about the LA Galaxy either.

All I care is that Beckham scores - and without being presumptious, that’s a view many other non-American ‘newcomers’ to the MLS hold as well.

Here’s hoping for many more from Becks this season. Here’s the goal (don’t have the Beckham assist / the second goal, if anyone has a video link to it please drop it in the comments.

Will Beckham start when England play the US at Wembley? I imagine pressure from sponsors will make it happen, but then Beckham sells, and that’s what football in the US needs in the first place - the ability to attract massive attention.

This was a week of surprises for the MLS. Opening weekend, officially known as MLS First Kick 2008, was riddled with surprise results and courageous showings by supposedly inferior sides.

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The moment we’ve all been waiting for is finally here! The 2008 Major League Soccer season is upon us. Here are a few things to look out for this season:

• David Beckham makes his second go-around with the Los Angeles Galaxy.
• Stars Juan Pablo Angel and Cuauhtéhmoc Blanco look to continue their great form from the 2007 season.
• The return of the San Jose Earthquakes gives the Bay Area another lease on soccer life.
• The dominant University of California, Santa Barbara senior class comes to the MLS from the SuperDraft.
• The MLS 2008 Kits.

As usual, at the end of the season, Major League Soccer will deliberate over a number of awards, along with the silverware that the deserving teams will carry away. I have predicted who will win the ones that arouse my interest:

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In this week’s WagSnatch roundup, Beckham plays for his England and Hollywood future (what, you think Indiana Jones is just about the money?), Rooney is getting bald, Coleen does not want his name and Danielle Lloyd, famous for stripping in front of a lens, is in a titz over some ‘personal’ saucy photos…

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2007 review

To sum it up quickly, a season full of hope, glamour, and global expansion ending in mediocrity, shame, and defeat on the pitch. Maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but for the hype the LA Galaxy were given in 2007, they were a huge disappointment. Fixture congestion and injuries led to the Galaxy finishing fifth in the Western Conference (eleventh overall) with nine wins, seven draws, and a whopping fourteen losses. A late surge couldn’t get them into the playoffs, and when they lost 1-0 to Chicago on the final day of the season, even a 12-4 victory in a friendly against Hollywood United couldn’t make them feel better.

A good run in the SuperLiga distracted many fans from LA’s MLS troubles, as did friendlies against top sides like Chelsea FC and Rangers FC of Britain. In the SuperLiga, LA forced extra time in the final against CF Pachuca of Mexico with a stoppage time bicycle kick from Chris Klein before losing 4-3 in a penalty shootout.

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Following up on my previous article about why the MLS will be successful in the future, I have realized that not many people know just how the MLS works today. Sure there are two tables, a playoff system, and some weird rules about players and salaries, but who knows exactly what goes on in this league? Fortunately for readers, I do, and for what I don’t know, the MLS website definitely does.

League Structure

As mentioned before, the league is split up into two tables: Eastern Conference and Western Conference. The structure is based on the geographical distribution of clubs. Have a look at the image:

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Now that Kevin Keegan has taken over at Newcastle, it‘s time to kick their transfer speculation into fifth gear.

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Before Tottenham Hotspur star Dimitar Berbatov began to sing Juande Ramos’ praises, the speculation surrounding whether he would stay or go swirled with rumor, one of which was that Manchester United were top of Berbatov’s January transfer window wish list. It’s no contest that this season Manchester United is performing much stronger than Tottenham, and because Berbatov is widely known as their marquee player, a rumor surrounding his eventual transfer is, to some degree, to be expected.

The perception generally is that clubs like Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea are the big clubs in the EPL – and selective big club status necessitates rungs of smaller clubs. Because Berbatov’s form seems to be so strong (stronger than this season’s Spurs, in toto), the natural progression seemed to be well on its way: Berbatov was moving from the Spurs and up into the powerhouse of the North where he belongs. Whether this sets itself out of newsprint and into an actual contract has yet to be determined, but it is just the most recent example of what can look like a proverbial chicken or the egg question for football fans. Can a player ever be(come) bigger than their club? Or does the issue just boil down to dollars and cents?

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After Frank Yallop’s departure as the manager of LA Galaxy, so he could return to coach the San Jose Earthquakes for the second time, his replacement has been world player of the year for 1987 and ‘89 – Ruud Gullit. As well as the Galaxy’s poor form last season it’s been said that another contribution to Yallop’s leaving has been the added pressure of David Beckham’s high profile arrival.
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According to The Times, Becks is set to return to England. No, we’re not talking about a sensational career turn-around for the ex-England captain, but rather an arrangement of opportunity: Beckham will be given the chance to keep his fitness level up during the Major League Soccer Winter break, and all reports seem to suggest he’ll be doing it with Cesc Fabregas & friends.

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Last week the LA Galaxy was shut out of a play off berth thanks to similarly situated team, the Chicago Fire. The Fire were also bestowed with a designated player this season, so naturally, the game was penned as the Blanco v. Beckham match-up. In the end though, it was nothing close to that head to head scenario.

Beckham entered near the 60th minute though no one really noticed, besides the screaming girls in belly shirts, screaming his name while madly snapping away with their camera phones. No such fanfare for Blanco, which makes sense since no one would probably claim Blanco to be sexy or celebrity or even on the radar of 15-year old American girls. Blanco did play the entire 90 minutes though, and proved indispensable to the Fire’s late season turn around from bottom of the conference to play off qualifier.

Despite the rumors that the Galaxy and the MLS at large was attempting to fix the last few Galaxy games (presumably to ensure that some more mileage could be gotten out of their cash cow), in the end, the rumors were meritless (or the league was simply incapable of orchestrating successful match fixing). On Sunday, the American public bid farewell to the inaugural season of what has become the Beckham rollercoaster.

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This article is a submission for the Soccerlens Football Writing Competition; to participate, please read the details here.

This article was first published at World Football Commentaries.

Recently, David Beckham disclosed that he may return to Europe after the MLS season is over. Some in the media, both mainstream and soccer-specific, have criticized this potential move.

It actually makes a lot of sense for Becks.

Here are a few reasons why:

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This article is a submission for the Soccerlens Football Writing Competition; to participate, please read the details here.

Written by Laurie.

Question: What do soft-core photos, star-studded parties and a (probably) non-existent diamond-encrusted vibrator have to do with “saving” American soccer?

Answer: All are part of the complicated package that is Brand Beckham.

In case you missed it, David Beckham came to the LA Galaxy in the summer of 2007 to “save” American soccer. This must be true, because that’s what all of the world’s press told us at the time.

Of course, nobody ever really explained what this actually meant. Some vague “quality of play” thing, apparently, combined with bringing in new fans and dumping gazillions of dollars into the pockets of MLS (and, consequently, David Beckham.)

Now, several months in, how is this whole Beckham-saving-American-soccer thing working out?

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For the MLS to be successful and show the fans their appreciation, the LA Galaxy must travel with David Beckham. He does not have to play in the games, but he MUST SHOW UP!

Since the announcement that Beckham was joining the LA Galaxy and the MLS, stadiums across America have been selling out to see the “Ambassador of the MLS”. This role was one that Beckham accepted whole heartedly and takes very serious, so why is Frank Yallop keeping him at home when they travel to Colorado?

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Update: LA Galaxy will rest Beckham on Sunday (from his 4th game in 9 days) to help heal his ankle injury and prepare for Wednesday’s Superliga game (BBC)

Beckham’s public profile means that his every move is over-analysed, criticised and beaten to a bloody death by biased, uninformed hacks who are either putting down a famous person (and getting their kicks out of it) or pining away in romantic optimism, with flagrant disregard of the facts.

What are the facts then?

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A few news items to go through quickly this morning.

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David Beckham’s LA Galaxy have released their 2007 Away kit.

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David Beckham won’t line up for the LA Galaxy to face Chelsea tonight, but already his move state-side has been a success, for him and for LA Galaxy.

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