P/I/P: #19 - L.A. Galaxy vs. Portland Timbers; 7/14/12; 8:00 P.M. PDT

Agree on Becks Skydog - I loved this quote:

On Landon - he has been involved in 9 out of our 18 goals since the break. Ever since he got moved. Can't argue with those stats. I have no interest in seeing him on the right for the rest of the year. And it's directly due to what you wrote about Keane/LD. Their off the ball movement and understanding of one another over the course of the last few weeks has been stellar - and what should be scary to the rest of the league is that it's getting BETTER. That's what I want to analyze, and if I didn't have to do this stupid work business I would do it. I'd rather focus on that today!

Ironically, that'll also benefit the national team - he'll be more rested for those gigs too. And also help when we have 3 games/week. When he had to do that on the wing, you could tell he was gassed by the time he got to game 3. Now? Not the case.

You know what's even scarier? Skydog's right about Keane's passing touch. How many times in the last few games have we seen Keane *almost* set Landon free? Happened against SJ at least twice, against the Union at least twice...etc. Landon has been setting Keane up, and Keane occassionally has been setting LD up. But there have been a few instances where Keane hasn't quite picked out the right pass. That starts to happen? Martin Rennie was right - our off-the-ball movement has the potential to frighten.

Someone who didn't get enough credit for his great game this weekend was Sean Franklin - he was involved in several serious scoring attempts and had a great game defensively as well - Portland basically gave up on his side and came down the center or left. Plus he had a goal line clearance. I think it was you skydog that says he usually picks it up halfway through the season. Well, he's reverting to trend.

Didn't notice the wall so I went back and watched the highlights. Wow. You are very very right. Adds to Saunders woes last night. He needs to shake it off.

Not minimizing what Mattocks did - but his leap was all about jumping and having the ball hit off of him. If I was judging best leap of the week he'd win.

Becks' shot required more skill. If I'm judging best goal of the week - thats Becks. And I'm not a homer that votes for LA every time.

To each his own.

id say both of his goals shouldve made it

Agree to disagree. We all have different criteria, but I dislike minimizing the skill required for what Mattocks did. It's a little more than just leaping and having the ball hit off of him, so give him some credit. That's like saying that Beck's shot was just swinging your leg at the ball really, really hard.

No different then Lopes, and it's been all season. Between the both of them guaranteed F ups every game.

Make that Saunders

I said his leap was beautiful and amazing, which it was. But it was still a leap that was impeccably timed. I don't know what else you want me to write. It was a great display of athleticism.

I know David has a reputation for those shots, but they are hard. The setup, balance, weighting and precision of that shot was spectacular. And the GK could have done ZERO to stop that shot whereas if the GK had stayed behind for Mattock's shot, he could have had a shot to save it.

Goal of the week in my opinion.

The first one and the bounced FK happen, but that punch that he put BEHIND him that Sean cleared off the line was the biggest gaffe last night imo. My heart actually leapt into my mouth in terror.

Looks like we weren't the only ones that noticed Sean (and all three DPs):

SI's team of the week:

Goalkeeper: Milos Kocic (Toronto FC)
Defenders: Sean Franklin (Los Angeles Galaxy), Victor Bernardez (San Jose Earthquakes), Adam Johansson (Seattle Sounders)
Midfielders: David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Luis Silva (Toronto FC), Torsten Frings (Toronto FC)
Forwards: Darren Mattocks (Vancouver Whitecaps), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes), Robbie Keane (Los Angeles Galaxy)

I think the attitude to Beckham's goals speaks volumes about hsi ability in that area. If Darlington Nagbe or Fredy Montero pulled out that FK, they'd be raving about it. While Beckham's scoring rate from freekicks and distance is not dramatically higher than any quality set-piece taker, I almost think his reputation for such goals is so widespread that we become a little more blase about them.

It's a shame really - but the best thing about Becks open-play goals like that one is that you know just by his MO, that it's more likely the result of precision and technique. Many players produce goals like that by taking a speculative punt, while you can bet that the way it looped over the keeper and swerved in was very calculated.

The full post, above, excellent analysis. On this point, I don't understand. I think there were one or two Portland touches to set up Boyd before he struck the ball. If so, I can't see how AJ's charge could have been infringement. Maybe not good strategy - I am not judge of that - but not infringement if I understand the rules.

Guys, some good news about Omar:

http://www.lagalaxy.com/news/2012/07/omar-gonzalez-feeling-normal-ahead-vancouver-clash

Galaxy training session in Portland ahead of Vancouver fix:

I just rewatched this match, and I was struck by how much of a track meet it was. Really the last ten minutes we finally started trying to put the breaks on the game. I know everyone here hates Bruce Ball, but that was what we really needed... especially after we had a 3 goal lead in the second half. Instead we just kept trying to make the killer pass and pile on the goals. Hopefully we learned something from this.

Somebody else posted during the game that it was like we were stuck in attack mode. (More! Goals! For Everyone!) I'm sure Bruce was ripping his hair out, and Josh didn't look happy with himself, but it did make for an 'entertaining' game for NBC.

Yeah, my bad. I was giving my impressions from my recall of the game after a couple days and --to use a term popular with politicians -- I 'mis-remembered.'

And NBC got a record rating for this game by FAR.

Do you have a link? I did a google search and couldn't find anything.

Check the tv ratings thread in MLS N&A

Whatever you want to say about the Galaxy this year, we're entertaining! Been involved in a lot of high scoring matches and comebacks.

The one good take away thing: if the defense gets back to last year's form, we're going to be trotting out a lot of 3-0 scorelines and be ready to go in the playoffs.

Biggest touchy situation right now: getting Omar back on the field in the right manner and right timeline to keep him healthy. If you hear the words "minor scar tissue cleanup surgery" then we are all in trouble and better hope we keep scoring goals by the bucketload.

Just watched the game (have been away), and I congratulate NBC. Martino was STELLAR. The sideline gig is working very well.

John Spencer must be laughing into his dinner wherever he is right now.

I thought the firing was dumb, and after the last two games, still think that firing was dumb.

Yeah - I can't help but think the "philosophical differences" were something like Paulson saying - "why didn't you play so-and-so" and Spencer saying "because I'm the coach and you're not."

They were winning their home games and he had the support of the players. That's pretty good for second year of expansion. I'll be very surprised if they get a better coach the second time around.

You can almost hear the "oops, my bad" echoing through the GM offices.