It was a microcosm moment of how MLS organizers have bungled Beckham's arrival in the league. With parity the defining element of the league, handicapping the Galaxy with so many games seems to have assured, despite Beckham's best efforts, that Los Angeles will miss the playoffs. In a critical first year under an international spotlight, the league itself will miss out on the added attention the Galaxy could have brought to the postseason, as well as the ability to attract many new and curious fans. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=456298&root=mls&cc=5901&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab6pos1 And MLS is not the only one - this is happening at the same time that Liverpool's coach is complaining about their 'unfriendly prem scheduling' and its affect on champions league games (ie, they wanna have Sunday prem games like ManU)
The only thing I get out of that article is that Yallop and Lalas have bungled the handling of Beckham, not the league. Gee Frank, you don't think that Beckham's schedule could have tired him out? What a moron. Lalas, keep trading away 2 serviceable players for one? Wow, no wonder injuries are hurting your team.
Pretty strong stuff there from Andrea Canales, who's usually supportive of the league. Of course she's right that the Galaxy are under a severe handicap with having to play so many games in such a short space of time, and it could well result in injuries. On the other hand, she speaks as if the Galaxy would certainly make the playoffs if it weren't for the schedule. I'm not sure about that. What is the deal with Yallop, by the way? "It wasn't our intention to play Beckham 90 minutes..." Dammit, Frank, I thought you were the coach!
Pure speculation here, but i would not be surprised if Lalas & his front office PR people demanded (whether Becks agreed or not, which it seems he did agree) that Becks play in order to feed the story of 3 games/6 days/NY, London, LA...
Another instance where I just can't agree with Andrea. Blame the scheduling. Blame his ankle, Blame TV. That doesn't change the fact that they put together a horrible team and dismantled it piece by piece throughout the season with pieces that were not much better than what they had before. They trumpet the Pavon signing, then sit him in favor of Alan Gordon.
As a Galaxy fan let me be the first to say that these excuses are rediculous. Boo Hoo, we have lots of games in the tail end of the season so what? If we would win a few games it wouldn't matter that we have so many matches. I usually love Andrea's writing and her blog but on this she is wrong. Where is the article about how we have a crap team? Our team with 2 exceptions can't trap, pass, shoot, run with pace, defend or move without the ball. That is why we aren't making the playoffs. I'm sick of all the excuses, especially the scheduling one. The excuses need to stop and the focus needs to be on the crap players and the crap gm/coach (No one knows for sure who is making the decisions) who brought them here.
Andrea is one of the many soccer writers who have absolutely no clue. I can't recall ever reading an article by her that came anywhere near the truth.
She has been, is now, and probably always will be biased towards the success of the LA Galaxy. Her writing comes across more as a fan blog sometimes rather than how a nationally published sports writer should write. Plus I am sick of hearing it anyways. Everyone knew what the deal was with Beckham when they signed him up, knew he would not be here until the summertime, and knew that his presence would be desired throughout the league (Read: away matches) I blame the Galaxy FO moreso than MLS. It was the "Brain Trust" running the Galaxy that felt the need to include themselves in that "World Series", include themselves in the Superliga, add on mid-season friendlies with the Kickers and the F-ing Rangers... Heck, even bowing out of the Open Cup (or at least not using your A squad so much) might have been a good idea. But no. Much like the coach subbing out Martino, instead of an injured Beckham, much of the blame lies at the feet of those running that organization... From AEG on down. Could the Galaxy have made the playoffs easier without all of the away games, sure. Everyones knows that it is easier to win at home. But the fact is that the Galaxy have not been winning many of the home matches that they had so far, including their last match against Chivas... I think this is less of a problem of away game congestion, than it is fatigue caused by an overloaded schedule. And that is the fault of the Galaxy, and Galaxy alone.
Exactly. It's not as if they were a terribly competent team early in the season when they were playing such a light schedule. And if scheduling is such an issue, Lalas should've told the league, "We want a normal schedule so that our team isn't disadvantaged late in the season." For all the times we've been told, "He's going to be here for five years," you'd have thought that they could put that mantra into practice when they created the Gals' schedule. Some teams wouldn't see him in 2007 with a normal schedule? Fine, they'll see him in 2008. I mean, that's how it going to be anyway, with Beckham missing some away games thus far, and they've got a crummy schedule to boot.
I seem to remember the Fire overcoming a crappy away schedule forced upon them by the construction of Toyota Park last year... And they made the playoffs.
""It's not fair in the sense that no other team has to do it," goalkeeper Joe Cannon said. "We understand what the circumstances were, with Beckham coming in. The league wants to keep so many things equal, like not letting a team fly charter, [but] then they have one team play a very different schedule." No other team? The Galaxy have 24 games in July, August, and September in all competitions. They are just over halfway through that stretch and have 4 wins, 2 ties, and 8 losses in 14 games. They started off the season in the spring with 15 points in their first 12 games so they are playing on a similar pace. The Dynamo had 21 games in 90 days this summer. OK, three fewer games but in those games the Dynamo so far are are 11-4-4 with two still to play. And that was with several players lost to the Gold Cup and Copa. Could it be that the Galaxy's early season record and overall team lineup is what is keeping them from making the playoffs rather than their remaining schedule that they haven't even played yet?
Fair points, but I would point out that LA's travel time is much worse than Houston's on average, except for Chivas.
I would rest David Beckham until the SuperLiga final, because that's the only trophy LA has a chance of winning this year. And then after that game, maybe play him only for road games, so MLS could collect the revenues.
Well, LA's owners are the same people that moved the Quakes to Houston, so any complaints about their travel time for away games should go to the same people who have turned the Gals' second-half schedule into a traveling circus.
No, they are horribly inconsistent. They beat DC and Dallas, both leading teams in each conference. With Beckham, they can bet anyone in MLS, but with or without Beckham they can also lose to anyone.
You haven’t seen the top Galaxy players play together. I follow the team closely, and while on vacation for the last 3 weeks, I’d check out the lineups and I couldn’t recognize almost a third of the players. The team is seriously injured and weary. And we’re only half-way through the stretch of 19 games in 10 weeks. (By the way, 20 games in 90 days is not nearly as exhausting as 19 in 70. ) If the Galaxy is as bad as you guys make them sound… how did they reach the Superliga final? I have my problems w/ the lineup and w/ Lalas' management. And I agree that it would've been a difficult task to make the playoffs w/ the team that started out the season. But the fact remains that 19 games in 10 weeks just to pad the coffers of every team SUCKS for the Galaxy.
if the Galaxy make the playoffs, it will be because of how many points they will have earned in the last 15 games of their season. if they miss the playoffs, it will be because of how few points they picked up in the first 15 games of their season. the schedule plays a huge part in affecting the latter half (or 2/3) of their season, but their inept first half (or first 1/3) of the season is what really may have done them in. although, it really shouldn't be too difficult to finish ahead of all of: TFC RSL COL CLB CHI it can be done, but the way things have gone for LA on the field this season, I don't see it happening. it would be good for the league (i suppose) if LA did qualify for the post season, but I doubt they're holding their breath at this point. in the short term, I just hope they can put in a decent effort in the SuperLiga final.
Um. So you think getting Chelsea to come to the US to play in the summer happens in ... say... April? That shit's been in the works for quite some time. Um. So would the Crew or KC been better? You know... have the fans "pack 'em in" ... like... 6K. Oooooooh. Now THAT's the way to start off a tournament! Whereas w/ the Galaxy, you're assured of 17K or twice that amount vs. Club America or Chivas. Um. Dude. We had nothing else to do b/c WE WEREN'T PLAYING ANY LEAGUE GAMES.
This article is a joke. Andrea is really just whining that she isn't gonna have a link on the front page of espn during the playofffs if Beckham isn't there. Nobody bothers to read her drivel if it has nothing to do with Becks.