And rightly so: "...As Tuesday’s game kicked off at 5.30pm, there were scarcely 2,000 fans sprawled round the Home Depot. And the Galaxy’s hard-core supporters, known as the LA Riot Squad, totalled FOURTEEN...Not surprisingly the team were booed off at the end and coach Frank Yallop was barracked all the way down the tunnel...A shell-shocked Lalas faced the Press afterwards, wearing a look of abject horror. He has put his heart and soul into bringing Becks to LA, yet the grand project is in danger of blowing up in his face..." http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007330371,00.html
I'm afraid that it will blow in his face. Maybe he had it coming with all those trades? Either way, I don't like Lalas as GM.
First - I think its great Becks has come over Second - Galaxy are a debacle, and it may very well be Lalas fault...Id like to hear from Galaxy fans on who is to blame for the poor performance.
They can trash the Galaxy all they want, but AEG is laughing all the way to the bank. The Galaxy do suck though.
And hence the problem. Do you see the Galaxy fans laughing? Frank Yallop? The players? You saw the look on Beckham's face while he was at the game, right? AEG are really beginning to show just how little actual results mean to them...and that is going to kill the LA Galaxy brand in the long run.
Welcome to British football coverage if you're not familiar with it. Exaggerate the bad, downplay the good. It was a pointless exhibition match ... 2000 fans is actually a fine turnout for a game with zero meaning and coverage. But of course leave it the British press to blow things out of proportion. The Galaxy will be fine when all the cameras are on and the whole world is paying attention and stadiums are filled. Becks will make the players around him better. Just a typical overreaction by the Brits ... it's a weekly thing in England.
Hey, I'm a Quakes fan, I knew this two years ago. LA has some serious issues, but I think they extend off the pitch since they're actually at least a moderately talented side: Goal: Cannon (very good) Defense: Needs work but manageable; it'd be helped if Albright could return healthy Midfield: Beckham and Landon alone make the midfield pretty talented (although the plan is to play Beckham in the middle...); plus Klein, Kirk, and Jones Forwards: Pavon and Buddle. Something's really affecting this team, and it may just be the mere presence of ol' David B.
So not only do we have the Minor Chivas in Major League Soccer, the New York Energy Drinks (officially Energy Drink New York) of which New Yorkers want no part, but now we have a cellar-dweller repping the league to the whole world. "What is soccer? Oh, I own that. I hope gays aren't playing."
If I was AEG I would put beckham with the Dynamo for one year let him win the Championship and then send him to LA but no they put him in one of the worst teams in the league what a terrible mistake. Can you picture Beckham playing for the first place Dynamo in the Finals.
Except that Beckham wouldn't have signed with MLS if he had to go to Houston. Or Dallas. Or DC. Or just about any other city in America. Posh wanted to go to LA. And yeah, LAG is quite a mess. I don't think it destroys the league if the team doesn't make the playoffs but it is a missed opportunity. What I think would be worse would be if his ankle is a chronic thing so he misses a lot of LAG games, doesn't play 90 minutes and so folks who bought tickets see him play for 45 minutes or not at all and claim it's MLS doing another "Adu" again. And that would be a shame b/c David Beckham has always been about honest effort, heart and giving it all for his team. Often not the most talented player on the pitch but almost always the player with the most heart.
English reporters blast Galaxy LONDON, July 19 (Reuters) - David Beckham's new team -- the L.A. Galaxy -- has been dismissed as a pub team by English reporters who watched their 3-0 loss to Mexican side Tigres in a friendly. The Sun newspaper on Thursday described them as a shambles and said: "Frankly, Becks' new team resembles a Sunday morning pub side. Now they are bashing the Galaxy and toning it down a bit on the league (MLS)! http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/soccer/07/19/galaxy.pubteam/index.html
No, it was pretty embarrassing anyway you slice it. It's not as black and white as you slice. Sure, the English press overblows everything... but it's also true that the turnout for the game was embarrassing and so is the play of the Galaxy.
At what point did anyone expect the British media to say a single positive thing about anything that has to do with MLS?
Your team got turned over by Richmond, however good Richmond are they're still semi-professional. I know people are tired of hearing it, but it happened. How can they down play the good, when you aren't having any good on the pitch? Blah, blah, financial, business, ect, ect. Ben Franklin? He can't score goals.
Re: English reporters blast Galaxy English reporters are trained to "bash" things. It was just a stupid friendly for Pete's sake. I doubt there will be articles tomorrow about how the MLS punked Celtic tonight.
Pub leagues... you know, the leagues they have over there that are crappy enough for actual English players to play in.