MLS LA Galaxy

LA Galaxy Weekly Update

Published on June 1, 2009 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
LA Galaxy News Release


CARSON, Calif. (Monday, June 1, 2009) - The LA Galaxy will go in search of the club's fourth unbeaten streak of 10 games or more games this weekend when they travel to Canada to take on Toronto FC. The Galaxy are unbeaten in their last nine games, going 1-0-8 in that span. The game kicks off 1 p.m. from BMO Field where the Galaxy are 0-1-1 all-time, playing to a 0-0 draw in 2007 and losing 2-0 last season. FS West will have all the action live, starting at 12:30 p.m. with the 'Galaxy Live' pregame show. Additionally, fans can listen to all the action live on the radio in English on KTLK 1150 AM and in Spanish on KWKW 1330 AM ESPN Deportes Radio.

THE WEEK THAT WAS

Saturday, May 30

LA Galaxy U-20's 2 - Chivas USA U-20's 1 - The Home Depot Center

LA Galaxy 1 - Kansas City Wizards 1 - The Home Depot Center - Attendance: 19,673

Sunday, May 31

LA Galaxy U-16's 0 - LAFC Chelsea U-16's 0 - The Home Depot Center

LA Galaxy U-18's 3 - LAFC Chelsea U-18's 4 - The Home Depot Center

LA Galaxy U-20's 3 - Lancaster Rattlers U-20's 1 - Pelona Vista Park

INJURY REPORT

Galaxy Injury Report

OUT - Sean Franklin (Right Hamstring - Surgery - Disabled List), Yohance Marshall (Right MCL - Sprain - Disabled List)

DOUBTFUL - None

QUESTIONABLE - None

PROBABLE - Edson Buddle (Left Quad - Tightness)

TEAM NOTES

FIVE STRAIGHT: With the draw against Kansas City on Saturday, the Galaxy have now drawn five consecutive games, setting a new club record for consecutive draws. The Galaxy are now just one draw shy of tying the MLS record for consecutive draws, which was set by the San Jose Earthquakes who drew their final four games of 2004 and the first two games of 2005.

The Galaxy are one of the only three teams in MLS history to tie five consecutive games in a single season, joining the Chicago Fire and the Seattle Sounders FC, who each have drawn five straight games this season.

UNBEATEN IN MAY: Saturday's draw against Kansas City also completed an undefeated May for the Galaxy, who went 1-0-5 during the month. The Galaxy outscored their opponents 7-6 this month with Landon Donovan scoring three of the club's goals and assisting on one other while Mike Magee had a goal and two assists.

The last time the Galaxy played more than two games in a month and went unbeaten in that month was in July 2006 when the club went 3-0-2 while outscoring their opponents 6-1.

DONOVAN CALLED UP: Following Saturday's draw with the Wizards, Galaxy captain Landon Donovan flew to Miami to join the U.S. National Team for a pair of World Cup Qualifiers, first in Costa Rica on Wednesday and then in Chicago against Honduras on Saturday. The 27-year-old is the all-time leading scorer with 37 goals in 109 games for the U.S. and has four assists through the first three games of the current round of Qualifying, helping the U.S. to first place in CONCACAF with a 2-0-1 record. Donovan, who leads the Galaxy with six goals and four assists this season, will miss at least this weekend's game in Toronto and then could miss as many as three additional games if he is included in the U.S. team that travels to South Africa for the FIFA Confederations Cup, which runs from June 14-28.

In 2008, the Galaxy were 2-2-1 in the five games that Donovan missed, including a 2-0 loss in Toronto on May 31.

BUDDLE OPENS GOAL ACCOUNT: Edson Buddle's 87th minute goal was his first of the season after tallying a career-best 15 goals in 2008. The 28-year-old has been in and out of the lineup this season as a result of a quad injury, which has limited him to just six appearances and two starts so far this season. An All-Star in 2008, Buddle has scored in each of his last two home games against Kansas City and also scored the Galaxy's game-winner against Toronto FC on October 13, 2007 for his first and only goal against his former club. Toronto traded Buddle to the Galaxy in June 2007 in exchange for Tyrone Marshall.

NINE IN A ROW: With the 1-1 draw on Saturday, the Galaxy are now unbeaten in their last nine matches, going 1-0-8 in that time. This current run is the fourth longest unbeaten streak in club history, and the longest since a 12-game unbeaten streak that ended early in the 2000 season. The four longest unbeaten streaks in Galaxy history are...

Length of Streak Start End

15 Games September 7, 1997 (6-1 win vs. Tampa Bay) May 20, 1998 (3-1 loss at Chicago)

12 Games April 13, 1996 (2-1 win vs. MetroStars) June 30, 1996 (2-1 loss at Colorado)

12 Games October 9, 1999 (1-0 win at Kansas City) May 24, 2000 (2-1 loss at New England)

9 Games April 11, 2009 (0-0 draw vs. Chivas USA) --

During the current streak, the Galaxy have fallen behind in six of the nine games, only to come back and earn a draw in each. The Galaxy are now 0-1-7 when allowing the game's first goal this season, compared to 2-13-4 when falling behind last year and 3-12-3 in 2007 when surrendering the game's first goal.

RICKETTS REMAINS UNBEATEN: With Saturday's draw, Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts remains unbeaten in MLS action, compiling a 1-0-8 record in goal for the club. The 31-year-old Jamaican is fourth in MLS with a 0.89 goals against average and has allowed more than one goal in a game just once this season. Ricketts would need to stay unbeaten through the Galaxy's trip to San Jose on June 20 to match the club record for the longest unbeaten streak at the start of a career, which was set in 1996 by Jorge Campos who went 12-0 in his first 12 games with the club.

No Galaxy goalkeeper has finished in the top three in the league in goals against average since the 2002 season. Every year from 1996-2002 the Galaxy had a goalkeeper in the top three in goals against average, with Jorge Campos leading MLS with a 1.20 GAA in 1996 and Kevin Hartman leading the league with a team record 0.91 GAA in 1999.

Ricketts has recorded two clean sheets this season, tying the Galaxy's mark from all of last season when LA had two shutouts in 30 games while allowing a league-worst 62 goals.

GALAXY TO FACE CLUB SPORT HEREDIANO ON JUNE 9: Next Tuesday, June 9, the Galaxy will face 21-time Costa Rican champion Club Sport Herediano in a friendly at The Home Depot Center. One of the most popular clubs in all of Costa Rica, Herediano reached the Primera Division Final this season, only to lose out to Liberia Mia 3-0 on aggregate in the two-leg final.

YOUTH ACADEMY

LA GALAXY YOUTH ACADEMY PREPARE FOR FINAL GAMES OF THE SEASON: The LA Galaxy Youth Academy was back in action in league play last weekend, taking on LAFC Chelsea at The Home Depot Center on Sunday. The Galaxy U-16's played to 0-0 draw with LAFC Chelsea, putting them in position to earn a spot in the 32-team U-16 Development Academy playoffs. The U-16's are now 8-5-2 in league play, leaving them in fourth place in the Western Conference SoCal Division with 26 points. The Galaxy are now two points behind third place LAFC and one point ahead of fifth place San Diego Surf.

If the Galaxy win their final game of the season on Sunday against Pateadores, who they defeated 6-0 earlier this season, they will finish no worse than fourth in the Division and would likely qualify for the postseason as one of five Wild Card teams at the U-16 level. A draw, combined with a San Diego Surf draw or loss would also keep the Galaxy in fourth place.

For the playoffs, the top three teams from all nine Divisions automatically advance to the playoffs. Additionally, the top five fourth placed teams; based on points per game in all competitions, advance to the playoffs. The Galaxy currently have the best points per game of all fourth place teams at the U-16 level, collecting a 16-9-3 record in all competitions for an average of 1.82 points per game.

The playoffs begin in Greensboro, N.C. on June 26 and culminate with the final at The Home Depot Center on July 18.

However, the Galaxy U-18's were not as fortunate on Sunday, falling 4-3 to LAFC Chelsea. The loss eliminated the Galaxy from postseason contention and dropped their record to 6-9-0 in the league and 11-14-3 in all competitions.

Both the U-16 and U-18 teams are back in action this weekend in their final game of the regular season against Pateadores at The Home Depot Center. The games kick off on Sunday at 1 p.m. and 3:15 p.m. respectively and will be played on Field #7.

LA GALAXY U-20 TEAM WINS A PAIR OF GAMES TO REMAIN UNDEFEATED: The LA Galaxy U-20 team remained perfect on the season, winning a pair of games to improve to 3-0-0 on the season.

On Saturday, the Galaxy played the first-ever U-20 SuperClasico, defeating Chivas USA 2-1 at The Home Depot Center. Sam Myerson gave the Galaxy a 1-0 halftime lead before Christian Ramirez scored the game-winner late in the second half, finishing a through ball from Rafael Baca, to defeat their in-stadium rivals.

One day later, the Galaxy were victorious again, defeating the Lancaster Rattlers 3-1 on the road.

The Galaxy U-20's are now in first place in their league with nine points from three games, leaving them three points ahead of the second place Southern California Seahorses. LA is off this weekend but return to action on Sunday, June 14 when they host the Bakersfield Brigade on Field #7 at The Home Depot Center.

IN THE COMMUNITY

GALAXY TO HOST SUMMER SANTA TOY DRIVE ON JUNE 13: The LA Galaxy will host a toy drive for the Summer Santa program sponsored by JAKKS Cares™, the philanthropic division of Malibu-based toymaker, JAKKS Pacific, Inc., Fox Sports WEST and PRIME TICKET, on Saturday, June 13 at The Home Depot Center. The Galaxy are encouraging their fans to support the endeavor by donating new, unwrapped toys at any of the four entrances prior to the LA Galaxy-Real Salt Lake game.

JAKKS will be kicking off the drive with a generous donation of toys including a variety of dolls, electronic games and action figures. In its first year, the Summer Santa program will launch here in Los Angeles before heading to three other cities, including one MLS and two Major League Baseball markets.

The first 200 fans to donate will receive an autographed player card from Galaxy defender Todd Dunivant. All fans will receive a Buy-One-Get-One Free ticket offer and a 25% discount at The Home Depot Center Team LA store for the Galaxy's June 28 game.

The toys will be delivered to pediatric patients at a local children's hospital in the upcoming weeks. Please visit the LA Galaxy website at www.lagalaxy.com for additional information and a complete toy donation list.

NEED TO KNOW

PURO GALAXY HITS ESPN DEPORTES RADIO: ESPN Deportes Radio KWKW 1330 AM, the Galaxy's official Spanish language radio partner, is the place for all of your Galaxy news and information en español. The best place to get that information is on Puro Galaxy, the network's weekly, hour-long show that airs every Saturday from noon-1 p.m.

Galaxy color analyst Armando Aguayo and Galaxy sideline reporter Mario Amaya are joined on a weekly basis by the players, coaches and a series of special guests that allow the fan to get excited for match day. So tune in each and every week and stay up to date with everything that is going on in the Galaxy.

Fans can also listen to free podcasts of previous episodes at www.LAGalaxyFutbol.com.

Check out the LA Galaxy Statistics

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Major League Soccer Stories from June 1, 2009


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