Official Pre-Season thread

Discussion in 'LA Galaxy' started by mbar, Feb 4, 2008.

  1. mbar

    mbar Member+

    Apr 30, 1999
    Los Angeles, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    We've got so much good information in a variety of threads, I thought I'd humbly suggest the creation of a master pre-season thread to discuss all things training, friendlies, transfer rumours, anything that is the build up to the new season in just under 2 months.

    To start off:

    1) Babayaro appears official

    http://www.insidesocal.com/soccer/2008/02/galaxy_chivas_usa_open_camp_us.html

    2) Lalas hints at additional hard decisions in future moves (What's he talking about don't we have a ton of allocation money?)

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23000840/

    3) The blog is proving it's usefulness with a good training camp report. (Damn Sesay is short! )

    http://thelagalaxy.blogspot.com/2008/02/back-to-work.html

    4) A riot squad member got some first impressions and photos from the first day of training

    http://www.soccerpubs.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=25733&st=15&p=498232&#entry498232

    5) Is constant re-branding causing Riot squad legend Tommy Mack to shrink?

    https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=654731

    6) Should Kevin Harmse be playing ice hockey?

    https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=13804209&postcount=13

    I think that's about it...discuss!

    (I'm way too pumped for a season that is 2 months away)
     
  2. Soccer Obsession

    Jun 13, 2007
    Pasadena
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    awesome summary. i agree, a main pre-season thread would be good.
     
  3. The Cadaver

    The Cadaver It's very quiet here.

    Oct 24, 2000
    La Cañada, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    The blog is a good idea. But here's a minor suggestion:

    Update the right hand sidebar, which says,

    "With a roster that features stars like Chris Albright, David Beckham, Joe Cannon and Landon Donovan..."
     
  4. mbar

    mbar Member+

    Apr 30, 1999
    Los Angeles, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Here are some names of trialists in camp...

    Anyone know any of these names?

    http://sidelineviews.blogspot.com/2008/02/trailists.html

    Gabriel Aikhena, Fed Bianchi, Prince Daye, Richard Duru, Bryan Jordan, Jordan King, Chris Sharpe, Josh Wicks.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Daye some info on the Liberian forward.

    Also, Cronin is excited to be a projected starter:

    Galaxy goalkeeper Steve Cronin sounded pretty happy Monday about the turn of events (Joe Cannon's trade) that has left him as the Galaxy's starting goalkeeper.

    "This feels like home and this is the team I want to start for - so it's awesome," he said, adding he spoke with new Coach Ruud Gullit earlier Monday. "He's taken some of the pressure off me and given me some leeway to make mistakes. Hopefully I'll keep that to a minimum."

    http://www.insidesocal.com/soccer/
     
  5. shirteesdotnet

    Feb 13, 2007
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Awesome guys. Nice work. Great idea mbar to start a pre season thread. Im feeling better and better about our chances this season. I think we've done better in the off season than the majority of teams.
     
  6. mbar

    mbar Member+

    Apr 30, 1999
    Los Angeles, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Another Blog entry:

    http://thelagalaxy.blogspot.com/2008/02/who-are-youwhowhowhowho.html

    The names of all the trialists...

    Gabriel Aikhena - Midfielder
    Last Club: Gombak United (Singapore League)

    Fed Bianchi - Midfielder
    Last Club: California Victory

    Prince Daye - Midfielder
    Last Club: CD Badajoz (La Liga)

    Richard Duru - Midfielder
    Last Club: N/A

    Bryan Jordan - Forward
    Last Club: Portland Timbers

    Jordan King - Goalkeeper
    College: UC – Riverside

    Chris Sharpe - Goalkeeper
    Last Club: Viborg FF (Danish League)

    Josh Wicks - Goalkeeper
    Last Club: Portland Timbers

    Any Portland fans out there?
     
  7. NowhereMan

    NowhereMan Member

    Jan 30, 2004
    NorCal
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Good to see a few keepers in there.
     
  8. socluis90

    socluis90 Member+

    Aug 11, 2004
    So Cal
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Ima see if my friend who plays for UCR soccer knows that goalie.
     
  9. Soccer Obsession

    Jun 13, 2007
    Pasadena
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  10. jolieandbecks

    jolieandbecks Member

    Sep 9, 2007
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    ^ I thinks it's Brandon McDonald - Forward University of San Francisco
     
  11. Elninho

    Elninho Member+

    Sacramento Republic FC
    United States
    Oct 30, 2000
    Sacramento, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    I Googled the foreign players on the list, and found the following:

    * Aikhena is a Nigerian defensive midfielder.

    * Daye is a Liberian international (18 caps, 4 goals), and most recently played for Al-Siliya in Qatar. He can play forward or left wing.

    * Duru was the hardest of the bunch to find. Nigerian, apparently played for their U-17 national team at one point, most recently (06-07) turning out for UE Seva, in the Spanish sixth tier.

    * Sharpe is Australian.
     
  12. mbar

    mbar Member+

    Apr 30, 1999
    Los Angeles, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  13. Ludwig77

    Ludwig77 New Member

    Jun 19, 2007
    Los Angeles
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Ditto!!!

    Although I must say it feels great. Every day there is more and more pre-season news!
    And they've finally released "Authentic Jerseys" without Becks' name on them. (Although I'm having a hard time ponying up $80 just so I can have 2 stars on my jersey. ESPECIALLY now that I have to go buy a USMNT Jersey for tonights game.)
    Training camp is in full swing.
    I'm picking my new season seats on Saturday.
    I'm about to freakin' explode!!!
    Now all I need is a TV schedule for the Feb games and I'm all set! (Ok, maybe some Ritalin will help!)

    Is anyone else this excited?!?!?
     
  14. Galaxy Steve

    Galaxy Steve Member

    Jun 15, 2007
    PASADENA AREA
    Updated. http://thelagalaxy.blogspot.com/
    Thank you for pointing this out.
    -Steve

     
  15. Galaxy Steve

    Galaxy Steve Member

    Jun 15, 2007
    PASADENA AREA
  16. StillKickin

    StillKickin Member+

    Austin FC
    Dec 17, 2002
    Texas
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    He's a forward?! He looks like a middle linebacker.

    Hope he's good and hope he makes the team.
     
  17. StillKickin

    StillKickin Member+

    Austin FC
    Dec 17, 2002
    Texas
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Fun stuff in there.

    You've got to be kidding me.

    Ah, but the preseason is just around the corner...can't wait!!!!!
     
  18. mbar

    mbar Member+

    Apr 30, 1999
    Los Angeles, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    We hardly knew you...

    http://thelagalaxy.blogspot.com/2008/02/news-and-nuggets.html


    The Galaxy's roster has seen its first cutdown of the year already as trialists Fed Bianchi, Prince Daye, Richard Duru and Jordan King were each let go. That leaves the Galaxy with 32 players still in camp


    I'm not going to make the open training tomorrow. Hopefully some of you that do go would be so kind as to share your observations here...
     
  19. Anteaters FC

    Anteaters FC New Member

    Mar 28, 2004
    Santa Monica
    Damn...no Princes or Kings on our roster!
     
  20. mbar

    mbar Member+

    Apr 30, 1999
    Los Angeles, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    An article on Cronin:

    http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20080207&content_id=138154&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp


    A total aside...but I can't stand the way Lalas asks and answers his own questions.

    "If one looks at the situation, (Cronin) looks to be the anointed one," said Galaxy general manager Alexi Lalas. "Certainly we have a lot of confidence in him. Is he going to make mistakes because he's a younger goalkeeper and doesn't have a tremendous amount of experience? Of course, but we're willing to take that risk and put our faith in him."


    Just bugs me.
     
  21. Baysider

    Baysider Member+

    Jul 16, 2004
    Santa Monica
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Yeah, that was fast.

    A minor note from 3rd degree

    DC still hold his rights. He passed on a dev roster contract to take a job in the USL. I'm not sure how we could offer him a better deal.
     
  22. Baysider

    Baysider Member+

    Jul 16, 2004
    Santa Monica
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Alexi has indicated that we still need to cut players to get under the cap. Who to cut?

    I would be surprised if we bring in any new players from outside (pleasantly surprised, but surprised nonetheless). So cutting someone means moving a player from the dev roster to the senior roster to fill the hole.

    Here’s the pool of players split up by position and roster standing (with names truncated to fit). I’ve put all the trialists on the dev roster even though I doubt some would take dev contracts. Some players can play multiple positions so I just had to decide where to put them.

    Code:
    
    Starters(11) Subs (7)	Dev (10)
    
    Ruiz	     Buddle	Sesay
    Donovn 	     Gordon	Jordan
    
    Klein	     Gray       Tudela
    Beckham	     Vagenas	Kirk
    Harmse	     Martino	Allen
    Babdlph 	        Hatzke
    			DeGeer
    			Aikhena
    
    Frankln	     Roden	Valentn
    Xavier	     Jazic	McDonld
    Harbrts			Gavin
    Babdlph 			
    
    Cronin			Alamo
    			Wicks
                            Sharpe
    
    

    The players you would want to cut either can be replaced with cheaper players or are at positions where we have a number of players. The candidates:

    Klein: A big salary but we don’t really have anyone else to play right mid. Well,…I guess there is another guy. It all comes down to the formation that Ruud wants to play. What we don’t have is the luxury to keep Klein if he’s not a starter.

    Buddle: Again, a big salary, but we have to have a decent third forward. He’s performed well on a per-minute basis so we really should keep him.

    Martino: He’ll probably make $55k next year. Since the minimum is $34, we hardly gain anything by cutting him and adding a cheaper player. In fact, Martino is the kind of player we need: cheap, experienced, versatile depth.

    Jazic: He’s injured now, so we can’t cut him. The best we can do is give him away to Toronto for a conditional pick. I see him backing up two positions: left back and center back. If we play a 4-4-2, we’re actually pretty thin at left back since one of Babs and Randolph will need to play in the midfield. Our depth at center back depends on how the draftees turn out. Getting rid of Jazic is a risk.


    Vagenas, Gray, Harmse, Tudela: I think we all knew it was going to come to this. I put the players in order of salary. I believe that Vagenas makes as much as Gray and Harmse combined. Even if you liked Pete (and he has his virtues) it’s hard to make a case to keep him. The one field-player trialist we have left (who is probably getting cut as I write this) is a defensive midfielder. Maybe he figures into this too.
     
  23. mbar

    mbar Member+

    Apr 30, 1999
    Los Angeles, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Alexi being his usual annoying self again in the British media...

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article3330684.ece

    “I’m actually excited about it, but maybe not for the same reasons that others are,” he said. “I look at it as a great way for our fans and the soccer public here in general to get an opportunity to see first hand the level of EPL [English Premier League]teams, and I think we are going to measure up to, and in some cases surpass, that level. It’s a great way for us to come out looking a whole lot better than the perception of us.

    “English teams have been coming here for years, although not for competitive games, so yes, it’s great that the games could help to decide championships or who goes down. But I caution you folks, because there are a handful of ‘super clubs’ in the EPL, but when you get into the mid and lower tier, those brands — as strong as they may be domestically in the UK — have much less value here. Just because it is EPL does not mean it is going to sell.

    “They can come over and play these games and people can come and check it out, but I think they are going to leave the stadium more often than not thinking: ‘I can get much better value and more excitement by going to see my Galaxy play.’ We do not have a monopoly on crap soccer — it’s played all over the world.”


    You know he blamed the circus last year for our poor performance but he goes out of the way this year to antagonize the british press and possibly spur on yet another circus atmosphere.

    How is he helping the team? Wouldn't it be better if he just deny interview requests with Europe?
     
  24. iride_mybike

    iride_mybike Member+

    Mar 31, 2004
    DFW
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    He's helping just by talking. Publicity. I happen to think he is right. Do you really think people are going to flock to see Derby vs. Wigan? Reading vs Middlesborough? Hell no they aren't. Just like he said, outside of the big clubs it won't be such a big deal.

    that has got to be one of the best things I have ever heard from him. Priceless man!
     
  25. Anteaters FC

    Anteaters FC New Member

    Mar 28, 2004
    Santa Monica
    The proposal has been to come up with some sort of seeding system, so you don't get really bad matchups like that.

    But I can tell you from another message board I'm on, where most of the posters are English, that people think Lalas is a bozo. They only remember his playing days because of hair, and they hear his hyperbolic statements about our team and think he's a joke.

    He doesn't do anything for our credibility (I don't know if much would to a lot of people in Europe, but it could be better).
     

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