New England Revolution 2 LA Galaxy 2

After just 7 mins Buddle received a wonderful cross from Beckham which covered nearly 75% of the length of the pitch. Buddles' attempt to chip the keeper was smothered.

After 21 mins Revolution take the lead when Cronin was beaten by Taylor Twellman to the ball in the air, Twellman paid the price when Cronin caught him in the face.

At 33 minutes Donovan takes a long pass and hits it first time smashing the ball into the net with his trusty left foot , twenty minutes later he added another slotting the ball past the keeper with his right.

On 70 minutes The Revolution stroll through The Galaxy defence to score again making the scores level at 2-2, missing the final chance 5 minutes later to take the lead again.

The Galaxy team looked more positive than it has of late and there is still a chance of making the play-offs if this run of 10 games without a win can be broken.

Beckham v Bentley debate continues

Fabio Capello seems to wants to perpetuate the myth that David Bentley is a complete like-for-like replacement for David Beckham - my contention is that he a somewhat paler imitation.
The two David's certainly have similarities, but they have their own strengths and weaknesses and seemingly Bentley's premiership manager disagrees with Capello on where to play him. Before the start of the new season Bentley moved from Blackburn to Tottenham, and on Saturday Ramos played Bentley centrally and had Aaron Lennon playing on the right.
Capello has Beckham, Bentley and Lennon available to him, but seems stuck with the tag-team of Beckham-Bentley. I can imagine that most opposition teams would probably breathe a sigh of relief to have Beckham replaced by the weaker (IMHO) Bentley. I would rather scare the pants off them by replacing Bechkam with Lennon's swift movement and close ball skill to ring the changes half-way through a match where the tactics weren't producing the desired result. Otherwise why replace Beckham who has shown regularly that he can still play ninety minutes?
I am sure Capello thinks he effectively has a fitter Beckham on the bench in Bentley to bring on for the second half - this does neither Beckham or Bentley justice in my opninion.

Beckham goes Olympic

David Beckham missed The Galaxy's game against Chicago Fire to carry out two international duties this week. On Wednesday he played a part in England's friendly against the Czech Republic, whilst today he took part in the Olympic closing ceremony in Beijing representing the UK as London prepares to take over the Olympic mantle for 2012.

After watching the strictly regimented performance from China in their perfectly choreographed smooth as clockwork display, each person as a cog in a greater machine, it was somewhat gratifying to see a small portion of them breaking ranks to scrabble for the football kicked by Beckham. No doubt that football now has pride of place on the mantelpiece of a Chinese home...

Galaxy 0 Chigaco Fire 1

A hugely disappointing loss demonstrating how much The Galaxy rely on Beckham and Donovan (not they even they have been able to help the Galaxy record a win lately). Both teams were without significant players, so Galaxy can't really use this as an excuse. Particularly disappointing for Arena who will have really wanted to start his reign with a positive result.
The game started even-handed with both teams demonstrating the ability to get forward and get chances in front of goal. Gordon had the best chance for The Galaxy in the early stages heading wide with just the 'keeper to beat. Over all, they missed the fire power of Donovan up with many surges fizzling out or resulting in weak shots. Chicago punished them just after the hour with a fine effort from Thorrington slotted past Cronin from just outside the area.
Aside from that one effort, Cronin coped valiantly with the many other shots that The Galaxy defence allowed Chicago to take. My feeling is that Cronin's record in goal is severely blighted by the weak defence that The Galaxy employ, and behind a stronger back-line, he would be able to show what an excellent goal keeper he is. Nine winless games on the trot and the play-offs are slipping away...

England 2 v Czech Republic 2

As England wind up to World Cup qualification starting in earnest in three weeks time, they took on the Czech Republic at Wembley. The time for experimentation is over and this should have been the start of a new England era at a new England Stadium with their Italian manager.
Beckham starts the game and the mystery striker turns out to be Defoe as England take on a team ranked six places above them according to FIFA rankings.
Beckham has an early opportunity from a free kick on the left hand side of the penalty area but the shot was blocked. Shortly after the Czechs got into the England Box and Milan Baros had a shot deflected into the back of the net by Ashley Cole.
England continue to pressurise the Czechs peppering the goal with shots that Petr Chech was more than competent to deal with. The Czechs were happy to play a counter-attacking game. However as a result of England pressure, a Beckham corner brought an unstoppable headed goal from Wes Brown to even the score on 45 minutes.
Emile Heskey came on to replace Defoe for the second half, and Bentley replaced Beckham. England got off to a sluggish start allowing the Czechs to have possession around the box, the defence struggled to clear the danger and the Czechs ended up with a free kick right on the edge of the penalty area. The free-kick was dispatched with consummate skill into the top-left hand corner of the goal to take the score to 2-1. Ferdinand made way for Woodgate, but the defence continued to look less than tight. Late in the game, England were allowed to push forward and managed to somehow force the ball over the line in the total mess of a goal-mouth scramble in the 90th minute.
Over all the performance was less than convincing and the team do not yet look like a complete team. They fail to look like a team with a plan A much of the time, let alone a plan B. No-one can doubt that the Czech Republic are a decent team, and just holding them to a draw should be seen in a positive light, but one can't help wishing for a more convincing performance almost regardless of the resulting score-line.

Capello names permanent captain

Fabio Capello has appointed John Terry as England captain for the upcoming World Cup campaign. Terry took over the role when Beckham stepped down from the captaincy and has now been given the chance to establish himself in the role permanently.
Capello had tried various contenders including David Beckham in the role during the friendly matches played since the Euro qualifier disaster. Chelsea skipper Terry aged 27 has 44 caps under his belt, and will be a popular choice with bost fans and players. Terry routinely displays committment beyond the call of duty often putting his own physical safety on the line.
Capello admitted that the choice had been difficult with Rio Ferdinand being a strong contender, Ferdinand get the role of vice-captain. Capello pointed to John Terry's 'big personality' as being the deciding factor.

Galaxy name new coach

Los Angeles Galaxy have announced that Bruce Arena has been named General Manager and Head Coach.

Arena led the U.S. national team to the FIFA World Cup twice, taking over as head coach in November 1998 and was in charge for nearly eight years. He has also won the MLS cup twice with DC United.

"I am very excited to assume this position with the Los Angeles Galaxy," said Arena. "I realize we have a lot of work ahead of us and I am optimistic that with the support of management, our coaching staff and the players, we will move forward to positioning this team to qualify for this season's MLS playoffs. My ultimate goal is to win championships and build a club that all of our fans will be proud of," Arena added.

Following the 2006 World Cup, Arena returned to MLS in August 2006, when he was named the Sporting Director and Head Coach of the New York Red Bulls.

Click for Full Story here:

Winding up for Wednesday

As expected, Beckham joins the England squad in preparation for the friendly against the Czech Republic on Wednesday. He will then fly on to Beijing to take part in the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games as an ambassador for London 2012.
in England team news, Jenas is in for the injured Carrick, Rooney is in, Heskey makes the squad, but Dean Ashton picked up an injury on Saturday after 'skying' a free-kick. Woodgate misses training but is expected to be fit for the game. Theo Walcott makes the squad along with Defoe. Beckham's next game in the MLS should be against New England Revolution on saturday 30th August if he gets through wednesday unscathed.

Chivas 2 Galaxy 2

Still waiting for that elusive win, Galaxy under new management got off to a great start after just eight minutes when Donovan was put clear and slotted the ball in the net for the opening goal. Galaxy failed to capitalise on this advantage once again, missing chance after chance and allowing Chivas to keep their hopes alive. Chivas came back into the game before the close of the second half with chances of their own, but the half finished 1-0 to Galaxy.
Chivas began the second period with intent and five minutes in drew level with a clever dummy in the penalty area leading to a unchallenged strike on goal. Fifteen minutes later, the Galaxy defence was bamboozled once more and the score was 2-1 Chivas... There was a suspicion of offside, but the ref let it go. This led to more chances for The Galaxy as they sought the equaliser, and it came eventually from the head of Alan Gordon after a high hopeful ball into the box from Jazic.
Galaxy take the SuperClasico and establish building blocks for the new set-up after the departure of Gullit, but they really need a win soon. Galaxy face the Chicago fire next Thursday, but England play a friendly against the Czech Republic on 20 August, so presumably Beckham will be heading for Wembley....

Gullit steps aside

LA Galaxy head coach Ruud Gullit will relinquish his post for 'personal and family reasons'. Saying that the move to LA has been more difficult than anticipated, he extended his thanks to the players and fans for their warm welcome. The club and Ruud have reportedly parted on mutually agreeable terms, but one is left wondering whether the recent bad spell of results has placed additional pressure on Ruud. In the UK, his position would have been questioned after four or five bad results on the trot such is the pressure of the Premiership.
Cobi Jones takes over in the short-term whilst the club look out for a suitable replacement - The new coach will need to turn the team back to winning ways. The first game without Ruud will be this Thursdays clash with Chivas USA.

Beckham wins award

I'm a bit late with this 'news' but thought I'd post it now as there is no game this week, next game will be on Thursday versus Chivas USA....
On July 17th, David Beckham was awarded the 'Best MLS Player' by ESPY (ESPN Network TV) after a fine start to the season. Things have slowed for The Galaxy since the award, but Beckham's contribution is still significant with his 5 goals and 8 assists recorded thus far. This award will sit alongside the many awards that Beckham has collected, along with his OBE and commemorative cap for 100 England appearances. This season will hopefully show that aside from the hype, Beckham has something to offer to the MLS, and this award is a significant step along the way.

Earthquakes 3 Galaxy 2

I was particularly interested to see how Earthquakes new boy Englishman Darren Huckerby would perform in the MLS, and he did not disappoint (unless you're a Galaxy fan!) by scoring a magnificent goal to put San Jose two -up against the Galaxy in the 40th minute. Before half-time though, a Beckham free kick came back to Beckham's feet giving him the chance to send another ball into the box and straight to Donovan's head to bring the score to 2-1.
Buddle evened the score on the 75th minute dancing through the defence and using his trusty left foot to beat the keeper, placing the ball in the left-hand corner. This could easily have been another unremarkable, undistinguished draw for The Galaxy, but the 90th minute saw a goal mouth scramble and The Earthquakes took the lead after peppering the goal with shots in quick succession. 3-2 the final score and The Galaxy are not showing the form that they did earlier in the season. There have been rumours of players coming in, and it's looking increasingly like Beckham, Buddle and Donovan are going to need some serious support if The Galaxy are to reach the play-offs this season.