View from the Booth: Search for answers
Galaxy's questions will be answered with trip to Robertson Stadium
Related
Since LA are tied with Houston (and Chivas USA) atop the Western Conference table, Sunday's game should have a playoff feel to it. The Galaxy are 1-1-0 in their last two matches against teams that will be in the playoff hunt in 2009. A road loss in Columbus, followed by a win at home against the Fire, has to have fans wondering which LA team will show up this time around? Lets hope it is the latter. At this point in the season, taking on the Dynamo will be a solid gauge of how the Galaxy might respond in the playoffs. I hate to say the game is a must win, but winning Sunday might catapult LA to their first first place finish in the Western Conference since 2002. Anybody remember how that season finished?
Two players that will need to provide significant impact on the game are Landon Donovan and David Beckham. Both players will be returning from national team duties, with Donovan logging more minutes on the pitch, while Beckham has logged more miles. Either way it will be interesting to see how both of their bodies respond, specifically in a big game like this one. There is no doubt that both are capable of having a big impact on the match, the question is, will they? LA has typically not done well following matches when their "impact players" have returned from International duty. The match-up will be a tough one against a quality Dynamo' midfield. Brad Davis, Stuart Holden, Ricardo Clark & Co. are one of the best in the league at dictating the tempo of a game, and if they do it Sunday, it will make it very difficult for the Galaxy to get a result. The Galaxy are 2-2-1 in Houston in the last three years, but that won't matter come Sunday.
A few weeks back I was writing how great it was to see that LA had really solidified their back four. Just like the "commentator jinx" on the air in television, after I put that on the page, some things started to unravel. A.J. DeLagarza picked up a knock on his knee that forced the rookie to miss some game action, FC Dallas scored six times at the HDC, Todd Dunivant got beat at the back post against the Crew... bottom line, the defending was far from great. I would imagine that has to be an area of concern for Bruce Arena right now. The results have been a mixed bag over the last month, and words like consistency are being used less frequently to describe LA's defense. On the positive side, the return of Sean Franklin from injury has been a big boost. I was pleasantly surprised when Franklin came in to the starting line-up and proceeded to play 90 minutes in the victory over Toronto FC in September. Having options to choose from is always a good thing.
I would imagine that having some extra time off from MLS play has allowed some of the sore bodies on the roster to heal, a recharge of the batteries if you will. However, that does not always translate to putting on a solid performance on the field from the opening whistle of the first game following the time off. You would hope that this team would come out with great energy and emotion and ready to tackle the final two regular season games, and stride toward the playoffs with plenty of momentum on their side. After all, this year is completely different than the past three, LA is not fighting to possibly grab the final playoff spot. No, this team is fighting to put themselves in position to have home-field advantage throughout the postseason, maybe even raise the Western Conference trophy and, dare I say, earn a trip back to Seattle for MLS Cup...
I mention that the time off was certainly an opportunity for some of the injured players to heal up and be viable options come playoff time. Dema Kovalenko, a player that has missed significant time through injury, is an experienced player that could provide a good spark off the bench. Stefani Miglioranzi hopefully has healed up the groin strain that slowed him a few weeks back. In addition, one would assume that since Beckham was able to earn Man of the Match honors for England on Wednesday, the Achilles issue that forced him to sit out the loss to Columbus should be all cleared up by now. I'm sure there are others that had injuries that none of us are even aware of, but for those too, let's hope the time off from the grind of MLS helped heal the wounds.
I'm looking forward to the 90 minutes from Houston on Sunday, and I hope you will join my partner Jim Watson and I for the game on FS West (noon- PST). We should be able to answer most of these questions and the few others that we will come up with while we are on the air after the final whistle blows on Sunday afternoon. My hope is just that we uncover the right answers, and not come away from Houston with a whole new set of questions to address heading into the season finale against San Jose on October 24.
