mls cup 2009

i've been waiting with great anticipation for the mls cup 2009. you see, i am an l.a. galaxy fan, and have been since their inception. i've gone to games when they played in pasadena, and even have been to a mls cup game (we bought tix when it looked like the galaxy would make it but they didn't). the galaxy completed a very good season and played well throughout the playoffs. when they qualified last friday night i was ecstatic. not only was the team i loved capping off a enjoyable year, it was made even better knowing that the team didn't even make the playoffs the last three years.

i started off my day in normal fashion for the average american male, watching american football. i enjoyed the games, but i knew that i was saving up all my nervous energy for the mls cup this evening. i didn't have any plans for the game, other than watching it. as the afternoon wound on i texted some friends and invited them to come over and watch with me. i didn't even think about trying to go to sequoia or hero's or some other sports bar because i doubted i could secure a tv away from sunday night football, even if it was a crap matchup (imho - bears vs eagles). sadly, no one was available so i watched the game by myself. that's fine, i'm focused on the game. i just wouldn't have anyone to shout with on shots or saves, no one to ask questions to when people made terrible passes, and no one to celebrate with should the galaxy win.

as the game was starting, i was impressed by the noise generated by the seattle crowd. what an amazing soccer city seattle has become. honestly, i would love for fresnans to also do things like have a march to the stadium before fuego games. i'd love to see the fuego fans become more passionate, develop chants, or even show up for games. however, it did bug me that they were doing seattle chants. i know you're seattle fans, and it's in seattle, but your team isn't there. pick a team and cheer for them. i don't care if you all choose to chant for real salt lake, just stop cheering for your side that isn't there.

the first half was a bit choppy. the galaxy dominated possession, but there wasn't that much offense generated. however, their possession and play was eventually rewarded by a very nice goal from mike magee. a nice string of passes were finished off by a well place shot. a few minutes later the half ended and the galaxy led 1-0. i was elated.

the second half was a much different affair. real salt lake dominated possession, moved the ball all over, and started putting a olot of balls into the box. on one play, a collision occurred between findley of rsl and the galaxy's keeper, ricketts. it's never good when your goalkeeper's hand is injured, but he pressed on. a few minutes later findley found himself with the ball after a scramble in the box and he slotted it home. ricketts immediately left the field and after he removed his glove you could see how swollen and jacked up it looked. and on came a replacement goalkeeper.

seven minutes of stoppage time. that is a huge amount, but there were several injury stops and substitutions. would we see a winner now, or would we head to added periods? added periods. man, i sat on the edge of the couch for the last twenty minutes of the game (+ stoppage time). that galaxy rallied back, and the play on the field was much more end to end and wide open. it was tense, and neither team could finish it out, so more time to work on my ulcers (or to start one). anything could happen in with another 30 minutes on the clock. who would step up? myself, i feel like the galaxy need to score in the first fifteen. we don't want penalty kicks as rsl has a keeper with a sick knack of blocking pk's. but hey, the back up keeper for the galaxy may be secretly dope.

the majority of the first fifteen minutes were dominated by real salt lake. they put two in the side netting, and both times the galaxy were lucky it wasn't in the back of the net. i felt like the galaxy escaped the first fifteen without surrendering a goal.

both teams looked exhausted in the second overtime period. there were flashes but not a whole lot of sustained offense. real salt lake did have a nice bit of pressure but the galaxy managed to hold them off. with ten seconds left rsl pressed for one more shot, but couldn't quite get a foot on it at the end and the match headed to penalties.

round 1:
beckham vs rimando - beckham scores
mathis vs saunders - mathis scores
1-1

round 2:
berhalter vs rimando - berhalter scores
findley vs saunders - findley scores
2-2

round 3:
kirovski vs rimando - rimando save - oh crap
beckerman vs saunders - saunders save! freakin yeah!
2-2

round 4:
donovan vs rimando - donovan shanks it over the bar.
grababoy vs saunders - grabavoy scores
2-3 rsl

round 5:
magee vs rimando - magee scores
williams vs saunders - saunders save! holy isht, 2 saves from a keeper that doesn't play!
3-3

round 6:
klein vs rimando - klein scores
wingert vs saunders - wingert scores
4-4

round 7:
buddle vs rimando - rimando saves
russel vs saunders - saunders scores

5-4 real salt lake, your mls cup 09 champs. now, i'm saddened that my team didn't win. but, you gotta love rsl's story. they qualified for the playoffs on the last day in near miraculous fashion. they beat the defending champs in a home/away series. they won last week in pk's and their keeper blocked 3. and this week, they came back from 1-0 to tie and eventually win. their keeper had 2 saves + a shank and they slotted enough home to win. congrats to them.

congrats to the galaxy on an enjoyable season. i hope donovan doesn't have any lingering mental issues from that miss, we've got a world cup to win next summer. and really, they accomplished a lot on the field. maybe next year.

maybe next year i'll watch the final with a crowd as we cheer on the galaxy to a victory.

*cross posted @ wide world of fresno sports.

l.a. galaxy open try out

this post is for nick. the galaxy, my fav team, are having their open try out in february, the 9th through the 12th. you really need to go. remember, adam and i have said we will contribute to your registration fee.

and, the galaxy recently traded their starting keeper from last year, joe cannon, to san jose. they still have another guy, but you could be the back up. or maybe even take the starting role.

get down there buddy. that would show the fuego what's up.

fire 1 galaxy 0

dang. it all worked out. final game of mls regular season. everything fell into place. galaxy win, they're in the playoffs. the fire were in the same position. decent match, and both teams had a lot of good chances. and, the galaxy keeper came up huge over and over. until the last 30 seconds. in stoppage time, chicago had a breakaway and their player was able to loop it over the charging keeper. goal.

game over.
season over.

dang.

but we still have 4 more years of beckham to build on.
thanks for keeping it interesting down the stretch fellas.

galaxy win again

the galaxy are still rolling. they won again today, this time 2-1. three wins in a row. still a good amount of work to do. 6 points behind the last playoff spot with 3 games to go. but, 2 of those games are against the worst two teams in the league. and the team they're currently behind in the playoff race in the season finale. how cool would that be, to play the final game of the season riding a 5 game win streak, everything on the line?

puts a little shine on a weekend where the rams kept losing (0-5). and it looks like my fantasy team will fall to 3-2 after starting out 3-0. argh.

but at least the rockies and diamondbacks advance. and, the red sox, too, i guess. sadly, the yankees still have a little life in them.

never count your team out

so, i remember during the fuego's season, i watched them blow a match and it looked like they had also slipped out of playoff contention. a few matches later, everything had been righted, and the fuego rolled all the way to the pdl finals.

in similar fashion, i'd pretty much given up on the galaxy's chances of making the playoffs. i harbored slim hopes that they could repeat their feat of last year and hit stride late and sneak into the playoffs. but, realistically, i figured we were dead in the water. especially after we continued to lose after i'd already given up.

but last night, the galaxy moved closer to realizing the dream. they have quietly snuck back into contention. they beat columbus, and are now only 4 points behind the final playoff spot. and all this without that beckham fellow. who, by the way, is healing nicely. initial thoughts would be that he could be back for the oct. 13 but i haven't heard any official news on that front. but, there are 4 games left. we'll see if becks makes it back, and if the galaxy can sneak in the playoffs. one problem, 3 of the 4 games are against the top teams in the league. here's to hoping that they'll be resting their guys for the playoffs and field soft teams against the galaxy.

see you in september

david beckham will be taking a few weeks off. it seems he sprained his mcl. the galaxy have denied that he actually had arthroscopic surgery today.

well, at least his ankle will finally have time to heal up.

superliga final

tonight @ 8 pm. i'll be watching the galaxy taking on pachuca. and hoping that my mls side has it's head straight. if we're not going to make the mls playoffs, which it pathetically looks like, at least we could win this tournament.

66237

66237 was the reported attendance tonight for the match between the galaxy and the red bulls. that's a lot of people. beckham had 3 assists. sadly, my galaxy lost 5-4. such a wide open game. plenty of space. very little defense.

i was sad that xavier pavon didn't play. that probably would have helped the galaxy back line, which was a mess most of the night. he's another one of the galaxy players that doesn't really want to play on field turf. i've played on field turf. it's not terrible. but then again, it's not the same as playing on a good grass field. and, watching the game tonight, there were some ridiculous bounces of the hard field. but, i've also played on some rock hard fields in my time as well. what are you going to do? well, i guess at the top levels of sport you should be playing on the proper surface.

i'm hoping that the galaxy somehow manage to make it into the playoffs. it's looking grim right now. but, even if we miss out this year, to have guys like beckham, pavon, xavier, donovan, and more for the next few years, i'm confident the galaxy will be hoisting the championship trophy more than once over the next few years.

beckham goal!

well, beckham has scored his first goal here. bent a nasty ball into the side net. over the wall, got the keeper moving that way and is whipped back to the side the keeper had been.

expect to see a clip of that goal here asap.

here it is



expect to see more of that from beckham.

btw, in the start of the second half a beckham had a nice ball that sprung landon, and he buried it.

quick hit

tomorrow i'll have a full post about this weekend, featuring some pictures. but, in the meantime, i just wanted to briefly reflect on soccer in the u.s. this weekend.

the other day, i mentioned that the mls allstars beat celtic 2-0. well, they also played chicago fire. that game ended up being 1-1. cuauhtemoc blanco, mexican international, scored for chicago and just missed another. this result impresses me because chicago isn't an allstar team, and i wonder if their combined salaries are equal to 1/3 of celtic's.

sadly, the galaxy were unable to come up with a similar result against chelski in beckham's debut. but, they did play well on both ends of the field, especially in the first half. i didn't get to watch the second half, but have it taped for later. i hoped beckham would play a little more, and figured he would be on for about thirty minutes. he only played 17, but it's a start. and, as they drilled it into our skulls during the game, no one wants to aggravate an injury in a friendly match. but, like my chicago assessment, the overall salaries lag far behind chelski's. they are a freaking allstar team. if you take away beckham's endorsements, he's getting signed for less than many of the chelski players. now, you can make an argument that these high played players are @ a different point of their careers, like malouda who recently signed for 35 million.

i may not think everything alexi lalas says is gold, but i think he's right, you could take mls teams and drop them into the premiership. they would finish middle of the pack, and with time and wide open checkbooks they could compete.

footy news

celtic sucks.


okay, i admit, it was an preseason friendly/warm up type match, and it was against the stars of the league. but still, 2-0 on some really nice goals. and, it's not like all star teams have the benefit of practicing together, knowing where people will and should be. and, it's nice to see that this is the second year in a row where the mls all stars have beaten a top notch squad. last year's victim, chelski, will be playing the galaxy on saturday. maybe you've heard, this beckham fellow is supposed to play.

oh, and dana, the earthquakes are coming back.

galaxy vs fuego

in the first half, we were sitting behind the fuego goal, which was a good place to be if you: a)wanted to see goals; b)were a galaxy fan. fortunately, i was sporting my galaxy jersey and had a lot to cheer about. here's the third goal of the first half. look how wide open the galaxy attackers are on the goal.

is it a moral dilemma?

tonight, my local side is playing my mls team. i have jerseys for both. previously, when these teams have met, i've worn the mls gear. here's where the problem enters: my friend plays for the local side. in fact, he got us the tickets (some of his player comps). so, am i obligated to wear the local gear, and root for them? or do i go with the pro's?

beckham, my darling, i love you.

you may or may not have heard, one of the most recognizable people in the world is coming to los angeles, to play for my favorite team. beckham is joining the galaxy, for the next five years. and, he actually turned down a contract w/real madrid (my international favs) to come to the states. why?
"There are so many great sports in America," the former Manchester United star said. "There are so many kids that play baseball, American football, basketball. But soccer is huge all around the world apart from America, so that's where I want to make a difference with the kids."

pretty cool. wants to come to the u.s. to raise the profile of the game. sweet. he'll be here in august.

sadly, the fuego (our local side) aren't playing the galaxy this year. unless, they run into them in the u.s. open cup.