Preseason has just begun, so let's start a new thread, right? Games announced : - February, 9th : LA Galaxy - Toronto FC (Dignity Health Sports Park) - February, 16th : LA Galaxy - Vancouver Whitecaps (Orange County Great Park, Irvine) - February, 23rd : LA Galaxy - Colorado Rapids (Dignity Health Sports Park) Preseason roster announced by the Galaxy : GOALKEEPERS (3): David Bingham, Justin Vom Steeg, Matt Lampson* DEFENDERS (8): Hugo Arellano, Rolf Feltscher, Tomas Hilliard-Arce, Dave Romney, Jorgen Skjelvik, Daniel Steres, Julian Araujo*, Didi Traore* MIDFIELDERS (12): Romain Alessandrini, Emmanuel Boateng, Servando Carrasco, Jonathan dos Santos, Giovani dos Santos, Juninho, Perry Kitchen, Sebastian Lletget, Bradford Jamieson IV, João Pedro (on loan), Emil Cuello*, Don Tchilao* FORWARDS (4): Zlatan Ibrahimović, Ola Kamara, Chris Pontius, Efrain Alvarez * denotes that a player is unsigned.
For those keeping track, the numbers of the Galaxy players are : 1. Bingham 2. Kitchen 3. 4. Romney 5. Steres 6. 7. Alessandrini 8. Jona 9. Ibrahimovic 10. Gio 11. Kamara 12. Pontius 13. 14. Carrasco 15. 16. Skjelvik 17. Lletget 18. 19. Juninho 20. Hilliard-Arce 21. Arellano 22. 23. 24. Boateng 25. Feltscher 26. Alvarez 27. 28. Lampson 38. Jamieson IV 41. Vom Steeg 50. Traore ? Cuello, Tchilao and Araujo Pontius switched to 12 and Juni had the 19 back.
Yes. He was sent on a 10 month loan, which ends on June 30, 2019 (although we have the right to recall him at any time).
Any knowledge or thoughts on these defenders? Julian Araujo*, Didi Traore* Any chance they could help the first team this year?
This is what I wrote on Traore after last season in the Los Dos thread : Traore (born in 1999) : a french left-footed guy signed following G2 trials, Traore impressed me. He's a big and strong defender, very hard to move, but who's also fast and technically gifted. He loves to run at defenders and open some spaces. His crossing is something between "OK" and "good", but he managed to get 5 assists in 13 games (11 starts), where he played both left FB and left CB in a 3-5-2. He needs to improve in two areas IMO : he needs to be more clever with the ball and stop running at defenders (he sometimes loses too much possession), and combine more with his teammates, and he also loses his man behind him too many times (not saying it's happening every game though). Overall he's my defender of the year even if he has played limited minutes. At the beginning of the 2020 MLS season he will be 21, he could be ready after another year in USL. A player to watch next year. A few videos on him : It seems we have high hopes on him, Kleiban said a few weeks ago "it's important to give Traore a lot of minutes at LB in USL this year". Los Dos have been terrible the past few seasons but I'm glad we identified the few players who are capable to make the jump to the first team. The international tag could hurt him this year as I think he would not be more than a sub, so I'm not anticipating he will sign a first team contract. And more important, he's french. Julian Araujo (born in 2001) is known as a very good prospect. I don't know him much, he just played a couple of minutes for Los Dos last year. Kleiban recently said he's a CB with a lot of physical tools but he could project as a RB in the long-term.
Traore probably needs a green card to get first team minutes in mls. Sounds promising. Thanks for the insight!
🏃 And they're off.All-Access: Day 1 ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/IJ7JHVB1M6— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) January 22, 2019 Big hug for Dom from Jona (I think) caught my eye.
Soccer in Los Angeles 🌅📸: https://t.co/QTaAK9FcR9 pic.twitter.com/RvDlgKdC8R— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) January 22, 2019 Oh, man. Getting pumped for the season for the first time in a while.
I think it depends on if we bring in more outside backs. If we don't, I have to imagine that the plan is to bring both Traore and Araujo up. Brian Klieban says that Araujo's best position right now is CB, but projects long term as a RB (doesn't think he has the size to play CB at the MLS level.
Gio is on social media - he must realize that the fan base wants him gone. Does that motivate him? Or make him care even less?
According to Kevin Baxter, there's been interest from teams in Spain and Germany for Julian Araujo. If he shows well in camp I wouldn't be surprised to see him sign a homegrown deal. It's interesting that the world clearly took notice of the US U-20s success in the Concacaf Championship. A lot of those players have either been signed or pursued by teams in Europe. 3 of those players are from the academy and only 1 is still part of our system. Although Uly Llanez still hasn't signed anywhere as far I'm aware. Hopefully DTK is trying to bring him back. I doubt we bring Atuna on loan if Uly was still here.
It's Pre-season for supporters groups too. Crazy story in the LARS Squadcast (http://lariotsquad.org/riot-squadcast/) about how the FO called a meeting with LARS along with GBS, TeKlose and ZLATAN (!!!) to try and convince LARS to move sections and join forces with ACB. Interesting discussion that starts maybe 10 minutes in. A few thoughts as a former LARS member: 1) I totally get that there are huge style/attitude differences between LARS and ACB and that's the main reason there are two groups. 2) It's pretty crazy to be trying to move the section before the season on like one month's notice 3) I personally wish the groups were combined. Unpopular LARS opinion and as someone who now sits in the upper deck my opinion is irrelevant. I love the away matches where all groups are combined. Anyway, something to think about during this long pre-season. Also - rumor for our home game against Chivas is that they will be in the upper deck in the corner (not clear which corner). So bring an umbrella.
Former LARS member here too. That is interesting that the FO and Zlatan proposed combining the groups and I get why. I agree that wanting this combination on short notice is crazy. LARS has been in Sec. 138 since the the stadium's opening in 2003. I get why LARS would not want to move because of history and tradition. I would not mind seeing all of the SG's combined but that may happen in the far future. The current setup is fine for now. I really hope they don't move away supporters to upper deck. That is a horrible, horrible idea.
Haven't gotten around to listening to this week's Squadcast, but they talked a little about it last week. I forgot what reasoning was given for wanting to move LARS. In that show, the idea was flipping them to the opposite corner on the south end. They also had some complaints about the rumor to put away supporters in the upper deck (as opposed to the northwest corner).
Not a fan of giving fans that are known to throw things the altitude to do so. Plus having them up under the noise amplifying roof is not wise either.
“Everybody is stiff, everybody is sore,” Galaxy forward Ola Kamara said. “It’s a higher intensity from the beginning and I think the intensity was something that we lacked last year.” “Hard training, that’s for sure,” Galaxy forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic said. “Double sessions, but everybody is working hard, everybody is excited and motivated.” “I know them from footage of last season’s games, but I get more knowledge about them of seeing them practice on the field,” Schelotto said. “We’ve got some time to work with them. Season starts on March 2nd and I get to glance at their abilities and make a decision of what is the best team to put on the field.” “I believe that the first thing that I have to aim for is to find a way to play and a style, feel the commitment, and from that point on assess on what chances we got based on the team we have available,” he said. “That will be determined on a game-to-game basis. “My first objective is to build a team so that we can reach playoffs. That’s what we’re going to work on and obviously build aspirations from there.” “It is important you put the base and the preparation and you keep it for the entire season,” Ibrahimovic said. “We have a team that can do it. New coach, so everything is new, but I have belief and I trust in what we’re doing. I’m very confident. “After playing one season in MLS, I understand it more, so I’m very hopeful.” “I feel better,” the 37-year-old star said. “I have to be honest, I feel better. I’m doing every session, even if it’s only been three days. I want to do everything. If my team runs, I run. If my team suffers, I suffer. Like I said, my age is not important. The important thing is my mentality and that is bulletproof.” https://www.ocregister.com/2019/01/...m&utm_content=tw-ocregister&utm_medium=social
I partially agree. Why not put opposing fans in the seats in the berm area? And if that isn't enough room, I would suggest the northeast corner. They both as far from the field as possible and in the sun on sunny days.
The @LAGalaxy have added a game to their preseason schedule and will play touring Japanese club Vissel Kobe on Feb. 5 from 10 a.m.-noon. It is a closed scrimmage. Vissel's three World Cup champions -- Andres Iniesta, David Villa and Lucas Podoloski -- will not participate— Kevin Baxter 🇺🇦🏳️🌈 (@kbaxter11) January 23, 2019
Some more quotes I hadn't yet seen: “We don't have any problem about the [Designated] Player,” Schelotto said after Wednesday's training session during LA's first media availability of the preseason. “We are talking with the player about that, and no problem. ... I think maybe it can happen. I think we need to talk with him.” Which “him” it is, the club isn't saying “I think we have a really good roster, but maybe we can get [additional players], more in defense,” Schelotto said. “We are seeing our possibilities. We have important players like Ibra, Romain, both Dos Santos, so we will see what possibilities we have so that all our players have the freedom to feel comfortable on the field and give their best.” “His vision is to attack, get organized, more tactical,” Ibrahimovic said. “I think you all know his philosophy from his previous clubs. So I think it fits us good.” Ola Kamara said Schelotto has started unveiling the vision of how he wants to play. “He wants us to defend,” the Norwegian forward said, “but he also wants us to play good attacking football where everybody's involved and [he] wants to play along the ground. He's been pretty clear about that the first couple of days.” “I think we first have to find our style of play, be committed, and from then on see what our possibilities are, based on what we have,” he said. “We'll see that as soon as we start playing games.” https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019...er-logjam-la-galaxy-no-problem-says-schelotto (click the link to make me feel better for lifting the better quotes).
This is really intruiging. Can Schelotto/DTK exert enough pressure to get "him" to agree to some sort of new contract structure????
"him" has to be RA right? Would seem a win-win thing if it was possible to extend him and get him below the DP threshold. I know there has been some doubt as to if that is event possible but I can't imagine how they could buy down Jonah's salary.