The Galaxy could actually be better in 2010 than what they were in 2009. (Getty Images)

We’re a little over half way home in our look at each Major League Soccer club this winter. So far we’ve hammered out Chicago, Colorado, Chivas, Columbus, DC, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, and Philadelphia in out preseason look ins.

So far this winter the LA Galaxy have had a similar offseason that we expected them to have. David Beckham went to Italy to be with AC Milan and Landon Donovan went to England to play for Everton until March. We knew going into the winter months that those things would happen. Unlike last year when there was a lot of bad press about loan moves for Beckham, this year was a little smoother for the two sides.

Aside from that Bruce Arena has made a couple moves since then and even with one draft pick back in January at the SuperDraft he came away with a solid draft grade by me and most people.

Let’s see how the Galaxy are looking right now and what else they need to do to their roster before the season kicks off.

Continue Reading…

As the playoff race has heated up in Major League Soccer, so have the goals that have been scored. This week we saw plenty of good goals but only a select amount were above the rest.

The best goal for me was either Sainey Nyassi’s run against New York or Brad Davis’ strike against RSL.

(Note QuickKicks on the league site did not have the Columbus/Chicago goals)

Order of video: David Beckham, Edson Buddle, Brian Ching, Yura Movsisyan, Brad Davis, Dax McCarty, Jimmy Conrad, Sainey Nyassi, and John Wolyneic.

Loads of goals this week in MLS. Some were good and others were so-so. Throw in a few PKs and it was a busy weekend in MLS.

There are plenty of goals this week, especially since we had a 6-3 game and a 3-2 game.

Order of video: Frankie Hejduk, Maicon Santos, Dave van den Burgh, Jeff Cunningham, A.J. DeLaGarza, Dax McCarty, David Ferriera, Jeff Cunningham, Edson Buddle, Chris Rolfe, Jamison Olave, Josh Wolff,  Steve Zakuani, Fredy Montero, Dwayne De Rosario, Conor Casey, and Nana Attakora

How's the tension between Landon Donovan and David Beckham? (Getty Images)

Let’s just say tonight’s clash in Giant’s Stadium will be an interesting one to tune into if you can. While the Red Bulls are embarking on one of the worst seasons in league history, the LA Galaxy are hoping their chances of reaching the playoffs for the first time in a couple years continue to grow as they get the return of David Beckham.

A lot of hype is going into this game due to the new book out by Grant Wahl (great read if you haven’t picked it up already). Thing is it probably won’t nearly be enough hype to get this game to the level it was two years ago at Giant’s Stadium when 66,000+ were on hand to witness an epic 5-4 clash between the Red Bulls and Galaxy. The Red Bulls won that first Beckham meeting.

This isn’t your 2007 Galaxy, nor is it your 2008 Galaxy. While Beckham has been off in Europe these last couple months the mix of young and old has served Bruce Arena pretty well. Even with only 24 points in the standings, the Galaxy are in playoff contention. That’s something the previous two Galaxy clubs couldn’t say at this point in the season.

I think we can expect a physical game tonight between these two sides. The biggest question will be how Beckham is used on the field for Arena. Currently the Galaxy do well by holding enough possession early to grab a goal and then allow their defense to sit back to get points.

The Red Bulls are faced with their 20th match of the season tonight. They are still a bit banged up with injuries here though several players are slowly starting to get healthy. Which may be good for their CONCACAF Champions League games but it may not mean they will be back for tonight’s game. Defensively the Red Bulls still have too many questions and that may be enough for Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle to do their work in front of the net.

I do see this game being closer than some would imagine with the way the Galaxy have played in recent weeks. The addition of Beckham makes it tougher for Arena I believe. The balance is there for him to step in and just play his game. But the bigger question will be how his teammates respond. I have no doubt the Galaxy will come through with points in this one but the points will most likely be a result of Donovan than Beckham.

New York will make it interesting as long as Juan Pablo Angel is finding space around the penalty box. If he can get just a little bit open I think he could be real dangerous against a fairly young Galaxy defense. In the end though I think LA returns home with a rare three points on an east coast road trip.

WVH Prediction: LA 2, New York 1

Time once again for the best goals of the week. Only a few to discuss this time out.

Order of video: Edson Buddle, Chad Barrett, Darren Huckerby, Kosuke Kimura, Brad Davis, Patrick Ianni

Freddie Ljungberg and Seattle are inching their way to the top. (Photo via Prost Amerika Soccer/Point Taken Photos)

Ah it was good to have a full day of soccer on Saturday (and parts of Sunday). Plenty of items to discuss today with the All-Star roster being anounced this afternoon. Until then it is time to wade through the week that was week 17 in Major League Soccer.

This was certainly a moving week for a lot of clubs. The eastern conference got just a little tighter with Chicago and Toronto inching up to the top while DC United was off this past week. Columbus isn’t too far behind either making the four team race a very interesting thing to watch as we move on towards the ladder part of the summer. Can we already say that it will be these four clubs from the east in the playoffs? I know KC and New England would love to have something to say about that but it is starting to look more and more like those two will be on the outside looking in this time around.

Out west things are even tighter with Seattle’s win over top dog Hosuton on Saturday and with LA’s win over HDC rival Chivas USA. Right now we are seeing as many as five clubs in the race out west with clubs like RSL starting to come around a little more here. Thing is I am wondering if RSL has enough to get back into the mix with the way LA has been playing recently. Continue Reading…

Plenty of good goals this week for you all here. I’ve put together the usual mix of goals that I thought were goal of the week material. A couple really jumped out at me like Arturo Alvarez’s goal against Dallas, as well as Omar Cummings’ game-tying goal against RSL.

If you think I missed a goal, please let me know below.

Order of goals: Taylor Twellman (New England), David Ferreira (Dallas), Arturo Alvarez (San Jose), Kenny Cooper (Dallas), Omar Cummings (Colorado), Edson Buddle (LA), and Stuart Holden (Houston).