In an ideal world, this would not be an "either or" choice. But in the reality that the LA Galaxy is in right now, you've got a thin roster, a couple of critical players who are gimpy (Xavier and Beckham), a long road trip, and massive fixture congestion. Does LAG basically write off the thursday Superliga semis match against DC United? I say "basically write off" as meaning....treat it like some MLS teams treat the USOC competition. For LAG, that would mean, continue to rest Beckham, rest Xavier, go with a younger/reserve lineup, seek to bunker and counter, hope that's enough to advance but if it isn't, you've got a mostly fresh team going into an important road match only 3 days later against NYRB. Or does LAG view the Superliga semis match as an opportunity to debut Beckham (assuming the ankle improves) at home, put your best lineup on the field, play a more aggressive match and recognize that in doing so, followed by a long airplane trip to play on field turf 3 days later, you're in worse shape for a regular season MLS match? My take is that it would be a mistake at this point in the season to assume you can go all-out for both--there are simply too many key players (Donovan, Beckham, Xavier) who have to carry the weaker elements on your side and do great things if you're going to have a chance to win. There just aren't that many teams who play a hard game on Thursday than take a cross-country trip and play 3 days later on field turf and look good in doing so. Does the front-office/Yallop want to de-emphasize Superliga in order to try and improve the chances of getting regular season MLS points for a playoff push? Or does Yallop, et. al. want to push hard in Superliga with the idea that it's LAG's best chance of winning something this year? This isn't an attempt to troll, only a point that there is what I think is a very critical decision for LAG at this point in the season. And I think it's going to be telling what direction they go with (or even if they don't decide to choose one over the other in terms of priority).
Playing the part of a snooty bigsoccer poster/Galaxy fan I'd say that there isn't much of a difference between the Galaxy giving it their all and them basicly "writing a competition off." Also, objectively sitting down and stratifying competitions is a complete offense to Alexi's cowboy approach to the front office where fifa05 for the PS2 is the ultimate gauge for player transfers and releases. But disheartened snootiness aside, I honestly think that Yallop and the girls are looking for positives, anything to get their confidence back after this quagmire of a year. That said, the closest thing to that would be to win a competition like Superliga. So I think the Galaxy are gonna field a strong (well, strong for us I suppose) team and try to fish for positives. Also, based on guesstimation and previous playoff points for the league we're going to need around nine or ten wins in our remaining games to get to the playoffs, and that's not going to happen until this team grows a pair and get's their confidence up to where it should be vis-a-vis the Superliga. But meh, I'm sure your boys will stomp our little hearts out so it won't really matter. cheers, losangeles
We have a chance to WIN Superliga. We have no shot to even make the MLS playoffs. Superliga must be the priority right now. It MIGHT be the only thing that can save this season and some jobs.
Not a Galaxy fan, but this was my opinion as well. By no means give up on the MLS season, but the Galaxy have to be an extreme longshot to win MLS Cup at this point, whereas there's a reasonable chance they can win the Superliga. While I assume winning MLS Cup remains a far bigger deal than the Superliga, the Galaxy would need a Herculean run just to make the playoffs, much less adding a playoff run to the title.
I agree with this completely. The mexican teams are trying to say they aren't trying in these games, why should we? for the 1 million dollars? plz. This tourney means nothing if both sides aren't going at it fully 100% dont' get me wrong, this tourney is alot of fun to watch, but not when i know one of the countries is putting in 16 year olds to play against the U.S. teams. kind of demoralizing actually. as for putting becks in, i don't think they should have played him in washington to be honest and i certainly think it was a stupid move to play him against chelsea. ESPECIALLY when we were down to 10 men right before he came on the field. I understand they have to make the fans happy, but in all honesty, now we're seeing a huge backlash from the fans and the media because he didnt play in boston infront of a sold out stadium (Sorta) and now he's not going to make the NY game. It's just silly, they are jeopardizing a 35 million dollar investment from L.A. for what? they've already sold shirts and gear. All the games are already sold out. Don't force this guy on the field anymore. he's no good to the team injuried or 70% of what he can be (Still can be argued he turned the momentum of the entire game when he stepped on the field in washington) Just leave the guy alone, tell him to stay home and relax and fix the ankle and the ligaments. f'n media and ignorant fans piss me off.
Jazic, Gordon, and Gray are all suspended for the semis for LAG. Burch is suspended for the semis for DCU. So depending upon the health of Beckham and Xavier, this could be another game where the Galaxy has a very short bench. Thus, my initial post. I think there's a good argument for making the Superliga a priority (a chance to win hardware and play a semis match in front of home fans). I think there's a good argument about making MLS regular season the priority (regroup, get healthy and rested for a tough regular season stretch that determines if you make the playoffs or not). But what I think would be downright stupid would be for LAG to treat the Superliga semis as important (for instance, play Beckham part-time if the ankle improves some, start as much of your first team as you have able, tell Xavier to suck it up and deal with the pain) and then hop on a plane in a day to fly to NY to take on the RB on field turf to try and get 3 points. That's a scenario where Beckham risks a setback on his ankle all for impatience and the chance to debut him at home and your team arrives tired and flat to take on NYRB where every MLS regular season match now has big implications for your team.
Unfortunately, I think you are dead on here. And it will only get worse next year. Your preseason tour, SuperLiga (again), USOC, and MLS competition will tax the roster significantly. Add the long tail of the Beckham circus to the mix. Without some stratification, it will be a long year. FWIW, I still think that you have a shot at the playoffs.
Conspiracy? Well weren't we all just shocked not see beckham suited up for NE Revs game yesterday? Well it was decided by the Galaxy F.O. on Saturday that the season is pretty much outta reach, they sent a press release stating becks would be a game time decision for Sunday, all the while using the same lame airplane excuse. Which i just read on Journal of American Medicine website about pressurized hypoxia on nerve and tissue damage, and airline travel for injured persons. In brief: planes flying above 28000 ft are pressurized to an earth altitude of 5000-6000 ft. There effects of swelling on tissues and low density muscle is far less likely in patients who dont not have conditions of anemia, low blood pressure, and forms of asthma. I assume becks doesn't have any of those conditions. The airplane/presure excuse on his ankle is bullshit. Becks just isnt fit to play these matches, isn't used the heat and humidity of the eastcoast right now. and the organization has given up. Why not go for Superliga, they know if they win that you all will forget about the MLS title. And it is true too.
Re: Conspiracy? The larger issue with airline travel is that your feet end up lower than the rest of your body. It's not about air pressure. That's part of the reason why air travelers are advised to get up and move around at least once every hour on a plane--to reduce the risk of blood clots. I won't argue that Beckham is in danger of blood clots. But if you've got a sprained ankle, one of the things you want to try and do is elevate it as much as possible. That's usually a little tricky on a plane--not impossible but difficult.
save jobs???? are you kidding me. If we win the Superliga and don't make the MLS playoffs, it make sound nice, but I really doubt that will be a positive thing for the future.
Re: Conspiracy? LOL. Way to go TJ. Get to the friggen bottom of it why don't you. I must admit, I've been a bit perplexed why all of the sudden air travel causes inflammation. You'd think with all the injuries sustained in MLB, NFL, and NBA we'd have heard of something like this before. But whammo! Soccer comes to America and with that new ailments to injury are born. I too suspect if the MLS doesn't do it's best to rid itself of turf entirely we won't reap the full benefits of the Beckham effect this country is expecting.
Re: Conspiracy? But isn't that the larger issue with any kind of travel? I mean in theory he's doing as much damage driving his car, or sitting around at home in his recliner. So I guess unless he's on his back for the duration of the day, he won't be getting better anytime soon.
Why would you think LAG is in Superliga next year? The Beckham invite might be good for the initial year of the "invitational" but if the MLS teams for next year qualify based on league performance. And LAG are not about to be in the top 4 this year. About the only way LAG gets into Superliga next year is if by a fluke we win it this year and they change the "rules" to give a courtesy invite to a defending champion.
It's not uncommon for Cup champions of a previous year to be invited back to defend their status as the champions.
I'm no expert on the rules but I thought the plan with SuperLiga was to expand it to ALL teams in MLS. This year, it was an experiment combined with the scheduling issues of the Gold Cup and Copa so the agreement was 4 & 4. And it was a huge hit. So I thought I'd heard that the plan was to include everyone in MLS for future run thru's of this event.
No SuperLiga for us next year. I'm sure we'll send our B team to the Open Cup again. Looks like next year might be easier for Beckham than this year. True, but they haven't said anything like that so I have my doubts. Not sure where you heard that, but it has already been announced that the top 4 regular season team will qualify. I have also heard some rumors about expansion to 8, but nothing about included the entire league.