Los Angeles Galaxy vs. D.C. United: Is A Resurgence In Order?

Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy scored a breakthrough victory against the Columbus Crew to the tune of 3-1.

“It’s a much-improved performance by our team,” Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said after last Saturday's contest. “Hopefully it gives us the confidence to continue to move forward and try to be a better team as we go into postseason play.”

On September 18, it's back to the Victoria Street grindstone for the leaders of Major League Soccer as they host Ben Olsen's D.C. United, a side that has been out of luck since the season first started.

For David Beckham, it was a great time to make a return to MLS action after a long layoff due to injury. Could more minutes be seen from him next week?

“That was a perfect situation for me really,” Beckham said after the match. “The players had done so well through the game and it made it easier for me to come on. The pace was still a high tempo but it obviously calmed down. We’d kind of won the game by then and we played hard. It was a perfect situation for me to come on.

“Obviously, it felt great. I’ve never been out of the game for such a long time, and to get back out there in just under six months was a quick recovery. I’m happy with that."

Midfielder Dema Kovalenko will look to build on opening his scoring account next week.

“It feels good,” Kovalenko said of his first-half goal. “It’s been a while but honestly I don’t care. I’m just happy we got three points because it’s a big game, a huge game, and big win."

Edson Buddle continues to lead the MLS with 14 goals this season, and will look to add to his total, while Landon Donovan's continuing role as the Galaxy's main provider has paced him to a league-best 14 assists.

“We want to get the Supporters' Shield and we want to win at home,” said Buddle, who was removed due to cramps as a precaution. “Every game is important and we have to move on. We can’t just dwell on this game and definitely made a little statement. Hopefully we got things right and hopefully we can have the same type of game next week.

“We led the league all year and we wanted to hold onto that. Who knows what the mood would have been like if we would have lost that game and Columbus would have taken the lead?”

“Bruce talked to me a lot this week about winning my matchup and being the best player in my part of the field," Donovan said after the match. "I need to be the best player on the field every night when I play and that is my objective. Tonight I felt I did that. That needs to be the sort of effort I put out, and if I do that, we are going to win a lot of games.”

Last Saturday's match against the Crew marked the return of Juninho, who had to take care of personal matters in Brazil the past couple of week.

“He’s an excellent player," Arena said of Juninho. "We really missed him. It has been unfortunate that we have lost him for personal reasons for a number of games this year, and we have missed his presence in the center of midfield. Tonight he played well, and obviously it’s great to get him back.”

Los Angeles is currently 14-5-5 (47 points) and takes on a D.C. United side that, in spite of defeating Toronto FC 1-0, has a league-worst 5-16-3 record (18 points).

Danny Allsopp, the former Melbourne Victory striker, leads D.C. United in goals with four this season. Andy Najar is a player of the future, and will be the main man to watch. There aren't a lot of providers on D.C.'s end, but Rodney Wallace has a club-best two assists this year.

Defensively, the play of Julius James, Carey Talley, and Jordan Graye will have their hands full with a full-strength Galaxy side at Arena's disposal. Goalkeeper Troy Perkins has made 54 saves to go with a 1.69 goals against average, and a 66.7 percent save percentage.

D.C. United will essentially be playing for pride for the rest of the campaign as a way to prepare for next season. Curt Onalfo was sacked earlier this season, pushing Olsen into a caretaker manager position.

As for the Galaxy, 13 different players have scored for Los Angeles. Aside from Buddle's 14, Landon Donovan has chipped in five goals, while Jovan Kirovski notched his fourth of the season on Saturday against Columbus.

Michael Stephens and Sean Franklin are secondary providers for Los Angeles's 4-4-2 system. Stephens has seven assists on the year, while Franklin earned his fifth on Saturday night.

Defensively, Omar Gonzalez has proven to be a priceless asset to a backline that is looking to experience a resurgency in stopping opposing attacks. A workhorse in the defensive third for LA, Gonzalez's 2,070 minutes are the most in the club. Look for Franklin, Todd Dunivant and Leonardo to clamp down on the chances Allsopp, Najar and Santino QUaranta will get in their attacking third.

Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts—the Big Cat from Montego Bay—has a 77.2 percent save percentage, a 0.78 GAA and 61 saves.

Prediction:

Los Angeles has had a nasty habit of doing poorly against the lesser teams, while performing reasonably well against the teams at the top of the table.

With Beckham making a presence on the pitch, one can expect that the galaxy will regain the ability to take care of business against the lesser teams as well.

Los Angeles Galaxy 2, D.C. United 0

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PT and will be televised by Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports en Español.

INS & OUTS

Godspeed, Eddie Lewis

Galaxy midfielder Eddie Lewis will be retiring after this season is done and dusted.

“For me, this is it,” Lewis said. “This is going to be my last season, and it’s been great.

“I felt as if I needed one more year to personally fulfill some of the things I wanted to fulfill. As well, as I wasn’t ready to give it up. I feel like this will be a great transition year. We have a lot of good young players coming through—the foundation is set in the team now.”

This is sure to be added incentive for the G's to send him out a winner.



As for the USA's FIFA World Cup ambitions...

It was a matter of going through the motions after the conclusion of a three-day, five-city visit by FIFA’s World Cup inspection team.

“We were able to show FIFA the things they needed to see,” Gulati said in a conference call earlier last week. “It’s impossible not to be impressed by some of the magnificent NFL stadiums on this trip.

“We did have some private conversations about some things I thought we can make improvements in. The stadium width issues and the sight lines, the quality of the playing surface is not what we would have at the World Cup...we discussed that.

“We’ve always known in an open society like the US, there are things we can and can’t do. We had a frank discussion about government guarantees.”

At least we have a scapegoat in the form of three letters of the alphabet should the bid fail: NFL.