Beckham, Galaxy take caravan to D.C.
D.C. UNITED v LOS ANGELES GALAXY
RFK MEMORIAL STADIUM, Washington, D.C.
7 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
Aug. 9, 2007 (WEEK 19) / MLS Game #118
D.C. United and the Los Angeles Galaxy will meet for the first of two games in a week's time - the first one coming in a vital league encounter. United ended a brief winless streak last Sunday and are now just six points out of the top spot in the Eastern Conference entering the final third of the season. The Galaxy are still well back in the Western Conference as they chase the MLS Cup Playoffs - but still with a good number of games in hand. Next Wednesday, the teams will meet at The Home Depot Center in the SuperLiga semifinals.
REFEREE: Jair Marrufo. SAR (bench): Rob Fereday; JAR (opposite): Adam Wienckowski; 4th: Mark Geiger
MLS Career: 60 games; FC/gm: 29.0; Y/gm: 3.5; R: 14; pens: 25
Games involving United: P14 W8 L3 T3; FC/gm: 30.7; Y/gm: 4.4; R: 3; pens: 7
Games involving Galaxy: P12 W7 L5 T0; FC/gm: 30.9; Y/gm: 4.3; R: 6; pens: 8
INJURY REPORT: D.C. UNITED - OUT: FW Jamil Walker (Achilles rupture); MF: Justin Moose (sports hernia); PROBABLE: DF Greg Vanney (ankle sprain) ... LOS ANGELES GALAXY - OUT: DF Troy Roberts (R ankle); DF Chris Albright (R hamstring); MF Cobi Jones (R hip), DF Kyle Veris (R hip); QUESTIONABLE: MF David Beckham (L ankle), FW Edson Buddle (L Achilles); PROBABLE: MF Kyle Martino (L groin)
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: DC: Christian Gomez ... LA: Kevin Harmse
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: DC: Bobby Boswell, Brian Carroll, Josh Gros, Bryan Namoff, Ben Olsen, Greg Vanney ... LA: Kyle Martino
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (29 meetings): United 11 wins (1 shootout), 36 goals ...Galaxy 14 wins (0 shootout), 45 goals ... Draws 4
AT RFK (15 meetings): United 6 wins (0 shootout), 24 goals ... Galaxy 8 wins (0 shootout), 30 goals ... Draws 1
• This is the second and final league meeting between the clubs this season, the only one set for RFK Memorial Stadium. The teams will meet again next Wednesday at The Home Depot Center in a SuperLiga semifinal.
• A year ago, the teams played to a draw in their first meeting in Carson - then the Galaxy went to Washington and defeated United on their home ground for the first time all season.
• The Galaxy have now won in the nation's capital in seven of the 11 seasons in MLS history, including three of the last four meetings (and last two) on East Capitol Street). United have won just three times in the last 14 meetings between the clubs.
• While the Galaxy hold the upper hand in the league series, United of course have two victories in the MLS Cup Playoffs, both coming in MLS Cup Finals, in 1996 (3-2) and 1999 (2-0).
• Coaches record: Tom Soehn v LA: P1 W0 L0 D1 ... Frank Yallop vs. DC: P10 W5 L2 D3
LAST MEETING (MLS):
6/2: LA 0, DC 0
• In their first meeting of the season, June 2 at The Home Depot Center, the clubs played to a scoreless draw.
• The Galaxy were hamstrung, as international duty and injuries left Frank Yallop with just 13 field players to call upon. But despite a somewhat untested lineup, the Galaxy held the majority of the play, though they failed to really test United 'keeper Troy Perkins, called upon to make just two saves on the night.
• United did have some quality chances, the best falling to Fred in the first half, though he saw a sizzling shot bang off the post.
• But they started to dry up and the Galaxy nearly grabbed the full three points late in the match when Cobi Jones had the ball in the area with Perkins off his line. But defender Bryan Namoff was able to clear away the chance.
• Here's Yallop's team (4-4-2): Joe Cannon - Ian Russell (Mike Randolph 70), Tyrone Marshall, Kyle Veris, Ty Harden - Cobi Jones, Nathan Sturgis, Peter Vagenas, Santino Quaranta (Robbie Findley 57) - Landon Donovan, Nate Jaqua. Substitutes Not Used: Steve Cronin, Josh Tudela
• Here's Soehn's team (4-3-1-2): Troy Perkins - Clyde Simms, Bobby Boswell, Facundo Erpen, Bryan Namoff - Fred (Rod Dyachenko 91+), Ben Olsen (Kasali Yinka Casal 78), Joshua Gros - Christian Gomez - Jaime Moreno, Luciano Emilio (Guy-Roland Kpene 73). Substitutes Not Used: Marc Burch, Stephen deRoux, Justin Moose, Jay Nolly
D.C. UNITED
D.C. United won for the first time in a month in league play, going to Gillette Stadium and coming away with a resounding 3-0 victory against the New England Revolution on Sunday afternoon. United moved into a tie for third place in the Eastern Conference with the win with 27 points from 17 matches, level with the New York Red Bulls (with a game in hand), two behind the Kansas City Wizards and six behind the first-place Revolution.
LAST MATCH
• The Revolution had extended their unbeaten streak to five games after their Thursday night victory, while United were returning to league play for the first time in two weeks riding a three-game winless streak, though they had qualified for the semifinals in SuperLiga in between.
• Hard work gave the United their opener. Clyde Simms flighted in a shot from the right, and Matt Reis got down easily to make the save. But he allowed the ball to barely roll away, and before he could reclaim it, Josh Gros stormed in to poke it home (22).
• Nine minutes later United doubled their lead. Luciano Emilio drifted off his marker's shoulder in the Revolution area and Guy-Roland Kpene sent in a perfect defense-splitting through ball. Emilio latched onto it and slotted home past Reis.
• United put the game away 14 minutes from the end. Emilio was fouled at midfield, grabbed the ball and quickly played to Ben Olsen in the center circle. Olsen sent the return pass behind the New England defense and Emilio raced to get on the end of it, coming in alone on goal before sliding his shot past Reis for his 12th goal on the campaign, tying Emilio for the league lead along with Eddie Johnson of the Kansas City Wizards.
• United head coach Tom Soehn made four changes to the team that defeated the New York Red Bulls 1-0 two weeks earlier. Bryan Namoff returned to the team at right back, while Ben Olsen and Rod Dyachenko also came back into the midfield, all in place of the injured Greg Vanney, and Brian Carroll and Christian Gomez (who was also injured). Guy-Roland Kpene was chosen to partner Luciano Emilio in attack in place of the suspended Fred.
• Here's Soehn's team (4-3-1-2): Troy Perkins - Bryan Namoff (Domenic Mediate 78), Bobby Boswell, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch - Ben Olsen, Clyde Simms, Joshua Gros - Rod Dyachenko - Luciano Emilio, Guy-Roland Kpene (Jaime Moreno 46) (Brian Carroll 74). Substitutes Not Used: Christian Gomez, Jeff Carroll, Jay Nolly, Greg Vanney
• "I think it's more of a team thing today, our mentality. We worked hard, the staff, to really push the guys to bring up our mentality on the road and stick to our game plan. And I thought that was a big difference today," Soehn said. " ... Everybody's always questioning how good we are and I know we got a good team. Obviously there are certain days where they're better than others, but we got a good bunch of guys and when we click, we're tough to play against."
TEAM NEWS
• For Emilio, it was the second time in three games - and the third time this season - he had scored two goals in a game. After scoring in the first two games of the season, he went six league games without finding the back of the net. Since, he's scored 10 goals in nine games.
• "He's opportunistic. He's hard on defenders. He makes a living off scoring goals and that's why we brought him in," Soehn said. "Forwards are going to go through stretches when they get them in bundles, and stretches when they don't get them. But I've always said, the day he wakes up and goes on one of those stretches, someone's going to pay."
• Despite the absence of Jaime Moreno, Fred and Christian Gomez from the first XI, United hit for three goals, a number they hadn't reached in a road contest since winning at Kansas City on June 28, 2006. It was first time United had scored more than once on the road since a 2-1 win against Toronto on May 19.
• "We were pretty organized today. We made it hard for them; we know what their strengths are and took those away," Soehn said. "We were much better on the ball and we worked harder. Won some balls high, and we took care of our chances, so that's obviously that's a positive"
• Fred was suspended while Christian Gomez was nursing a quadriceps strain suffered in training just before the Revolution game. The plan was to have him enter late in the game, but with the lead, Soehn held out Gomez for precautionary reasons.
• After suffering a hamstring injury during the Dallas game on July 14, Moreno returned in a substitute's role last Wednesday in the SuperLiga match against Houston. He came off the bench again to start the second half in New England as he continues to build up his minutes, but a collision soon afterward and resulting discomfort in his back led Soehn to remove him.
• "With Jaime's history with back pain, the longer you keep him in, the worse it's going to get, so we made a decision to get him out," Soehn said.
• Moreno's last goal came on May 19, the third of three consecutive games where he hit from the penalty spot. That left him with 108 for his career, still tied with current RSL head coach Jason Kreis for the all-time league lead.
LOS ANGELES GALAXY
The Los Angeles Galaxy returned to league action for the first time in more than a month, starting a three-game road swing with a scoreless draw against Toronto FC at BMO Field. The Galaxy sit in fifth place in the Western Conference with 14 points from 13 matches, four points behind the Colorado Rapids and now 19 points behind the automatic playoff places in the division while still holding a clutch of games-in-hand.
LAST MATCH
• Another sellout crowd greeted TFC, winless in their last four games and goalless in their last three. The Galaxy were making their return to league competition after more than a month, though they had earned a place in the SuperLiga semifinals in between.
• Toronto FC dominated from the outset, and could have taken the lead in the eighth minute. Andrea Lombardo ran onto a ball played over the top and looped a soft shot past Joe Cannon as the Galaxy 'keeper came well off his line. But just as the ball bounced in front of the L.A. goal, defender Ty Harden came sliding in to sweep it away to safety.
• The Galaxy forced TFC 'keeper Kenny Stamatopoulos, making his MLS debut, to stop just one shot on the night. But Cannon preserved the shutout and guaranteed a share of the points with another big stop in second-half stoppage time, coming off his line again to smother Andy Welsh's bid after he burst into the area on the right.
• Galaxy coach Frank Yallop maintained the same team he had run out five days earlier in the SuperLiga victory against FC Dallas. He made three changes from the team that came back to claim a 2-2 draw with the Kansas City Wizards more than a month earlier, as Troy Roberts, Kevin Harmse and Alan Gordon all came back into the team, in place of Kyle Martino, Edson Buddle and Carlos Pavon.
• Here's Yallop's team (4-3-2-1): Joe Cannon - Troy Roberts (Kyle Martino 47), Ty Harden, Abel Xavier, Ante Jazic - Kelly Gray, Peter Vagenas, Kevin Harmse (Quavas Kirk 70) - Chris Klein, Landon Donovan - Alan Gordon (Carlos Pavon 64). Substitutes Not Used: Edson Buddle, Steve Cronin, Gavin Glinton, Mike Randolph
• "At the end of the game it was good to get a point," said Yallop. "I thought Toronto was very good tonight. We struggled to get to grips with the game, to be honest. While we might have been outplayed in the game, we weren't outfought. That was important to us as a club to come through that. They had some great chances to score and they didn't."
TEAM NEWS
• For the Galaxy, it was a team season-low in both total shots (two) and shots on goal (one). "Whether it was Toronto or us I'm not sure," Yallop said, "but we didn't really create anything, to be honest. Did we have any shots? One? Two? We didn't play well at all tonight."
• It was also a far cry from the six-goal bonanza just four days earlier against FC Dallas in their SuperLiga group stage finale. It was the most goals the Galaxy had scored in a competitive match since a 6-1 defeat of the then-Dallas Burn in the opening match of the MLS Cup Playoffs on Oct. 1, 1998.
• "We didn't move the ball well as a team you know -- in the Dallas game we did that and we did pretty well going forward. We struggled with our play tonight, we just didn't really get going," Yallop said. "I felt that Toronto pressured us pretty well and shut us down when we tried to get out and play. They did a good job"
• Still, the Galaxy have only one loss in their last five league games as they continue to chase the postseason in trying to avoid missing out on the MLS Cup Playoffs for the second consecutive season after 11 seasons of qualifying.
• "We fought, and I say again, we would've lost that game a few weeks ago," Yallop said. "We're still not playing like we want to play and we look poor in certain areas ... but we've gotten better and we'll keep going."
• In addition to Beckham, the Galaxy were without a couple of other attacking talents in Cobi Jones and Edson Buddle. Jones missed the final two SuperLiga games with a hip injury and was not in the 18-man gameday roster for the TFC match; Buddle made only one appearance in SuperLiga (coming on as a substitute in stoppage time), and was an unused substitute in his return to Toronto, where he spent the first two months of the season.
• Beckham's status is still game-to-game, though Yallop said the English star did some running on Sunday and "felt a bit looser than yesterday." Beckham said in a press conference the day before the game he still could be seven to 10 days from playing.
• When fit - and in the flow of things - Beckham is expected to fill a central midfield role for the Galaxy. "I think if you look at Toronto's team, [midfielder] Carl Robinson is the heartbeat of the team," Yallop said. "And we're missing that. That's one of the reasons David will play in the middle of the field. He can get on the ball, he can dictate the pace of the game, can [make] passes in the area."
