Cause this spectacle isn’t really about putting on a credible tournament it’s about making money. Universidad qualified for the round of 32 with a loss and a draw. Philadelphia topped their group with 2 goals for and one against. Two of three teams progress from the “group” stage. It’s a glorified friendly that interrupts the regular season and puts our players at risk for injury in the competition that actually matters.
So the Galaxy won 2 matches, we remain on the road… Quakes get a home match.. yup, good times.. I guess its the same frustration with CCL in that the squad that qualifies the prior season is never really the same squad that shows up to the tournaments it qualified for..
SO much fun in person, it's great watching all those drunk Chivas fans go home after losing. How long has it been since the Galaxy is the team with the better finishers? We are deadly up front. Nice to not be the team with all the possession and still lose... Let's go Galaxy!
Fantastic game!!! Loved sending Chivas home two years running. Keep it up! More GALAXY WINNING SOCCER! Is Garces okay? Cause he looked great. I’m the contrarian on this. These don’t play like friendlies. I could care less that it was introduced last year. Go win. P.S. The Monterrey manager may literally be fired tomorrow for not making it out of the group.
Just hope Garces’ injury isn’t serious. Liked what I saw from him tonight. And I don’t know the Chivas team at all, so no idea if they were playing their A team or B team or some mix. But you could make the argument that if our entire team is healthy going into the playoffs, that our starting XI will be the 3 DPs from this game plus 8 completely different players than the guys who started tonight. (If we were to start Reus and Delgado instead of Brugman and Cerrillo, plus our usual back line and keeper and Dejan). It’s starting to look like, other than forward, we are getting some depth.
True, and the point about our increased depth is spot on. But ine note: I think we may have started our best cb pairing this game. Garces, for sure, is looking like he should be a first choice cb. I know he is young and less experienced but he is much more athletic than Yoshida. And in my experience, athleticism becomes even more important in the playoffs than in the regular season. There are a number of reasons for that, too much to go into here.
Corner of the Galaxy says it’s a rolled ankle for Garces. Not great, but that’s recoverable. Team will know more as it swells but guessing he will not be playing vs Seattle. It was going to be Nexaca and a home game until they scored late. Delgado said Vanney jinxed it by telling the team home game during PKs…and then it wasn’t. And it is indeed being reported the Monterrey manager is gone.
It's bizarre that LAG doesn't get a home gsme, but it's all good. Tonight's match and PKs made us better. An away game in Seattle (win or lose) is like a playoff games and great prep. We'll be adding Jovelic,and Aude back soon. Then Reus. We're looking pretty solid heading down the stretch.
I like our defense with Nelson at left back and Garces at cb. I think it will be weaker (and slower) when Aude and Yoshida return. Joveljic is interesting. He is obviously our best center-forward but Pantsil has benefitted from his absence. When Dejan comes back will we return to the problem of Joe being ignored and unproductive stuck out by himself at left wing? And Reus will be another big question mark. Not his abilities - I think they will be fine. He produced goals & assists at a fine rate with Dortmund last season (0.79 g+a/90m). But how does he fit on a team that is short on defensive minded midfielders? If healthy, Dejan, Pec, Paintsil and Puig are all starting, as are four defenders, That leaves only two spots for Delgado, Brugman, Cerrillo, Fagundez and Reus!? And how can Greg play Reus & only one of the other four without making our midfield even weaker defensively?? Plus Cerrillo plays the most defense but is the youngest & most likely to be benched. Can Delgado alone handle our defensive midfield duties? That's asking too much methinks. With Puig, Reus, Paintsil, Pec and Dejan all thinking offense will our midfield become a sieve? Or does Greg finally bench Puig late in games, for Reus of course. Or dies he bench Dejan to make room for Reus, shifting Joe to forward? Could be eeks for team chemistry, right?! to;dr - Getting Reus and our injured “starters” back may create as many - or more - problems than they solve.
Everyone is so hung up on this but it was known ahead of time and it makes the regular season mean more (as seeding for next year's leagues cup) and aren't we always complaining the regular season is too meaningless?
They announced him in the starting line up and with graphics on the big screen. He got a reception. Then around minute 8 I'm looking around and wondering where the hell he was. I don't believe they announced the change. Too bad.
So the game was definitely a Chivas presented home game. All the line up graphics were theirs. The little Chivas music being played at their corners or whatever. Different announcer than our guy. But very respectful to the LA Galaxy I thought. Chivas fans were pretty chill from what I saw in the parking lot and in the upper deck where I was. No issues when we scored or won or celebrated. They seemed like a fan base that has seen their glory years fade into the past a bit so they weren't too hurt when it didn't work out for them. Thought Garces has some things no one else has in the back. Super quick. Super acceleration. Excellent emergency defending. He needs work on the stuff that prevents emergency situations but it was a very promising debut. Thought the 3-5-2 was not good for us. Neilson doesn't offer much going forward. Everyone had no idea where their teammates were or would be. A lot of slow looking around play. I'm kinda amazed we equalized at 1-1 so quickly because they were all over us. We looked miles better when we went back to our normal formation at halftime. I thought Yamane changed the game completely in our favor when he came on. When we made it 2-1 against the run of play (in large part due to Yamane) we took over the game and should have had 2 more goals and were never threatened until... What a great goal by Cowell. That was surprising. Not as surprising as us winning the shootout. Has that ever happened since the MLS 35 yard tie break in the mid to late 90s?
Highlight Time Folks I completely blanked out and missed the game even after getting a notification on my tv lol. We are awesome. Even though Chivas decided to make it a real fight. And to our Goal Keeper for standing on his head all game this one's for you sir.
Probably because this tournament changes the rules willy-nilly. I’m a big fan of iteration, but can’t be arsed to learn rules that will likely change for the next version of this. I shouldn’t be annoyed or surprised. MLS was founded on weird and arbitrary rule changes. And to give credit where it’s due some of their weird choices actually end up working. The spray can for free kicks.
If we can keep both of them for awhile, the Garces/Neal centerback pairing is gonna be one of the best in the league in a couple of years. As soon as Garces' positioning and decision-making catches up to his physical talents, he is gonna be something else. I can see why the Galaxy scrapped the loan and bought him outright. Can't teach that speed and strength...