Real Salt Lake versus Los Angeles Galaxy
from the perspective of TrickHog (aka Patrick)
The L.A. Galaxy come into this game on a high, having soundly thumped their big inter-city rivals, Chivas USA, last week in a 5-2 romp. However, the team has struggled in the early part of this season, and shouldn’t feel too confident coming into Rice-Eccles stadium. In their only other away game so far this season, the Colorado Rapids crushed them, 0-4, so it remains to be seen how they will respond to this away game. Additionally, the Galaxy have played poorly the past few seasons on Turf fields and have a couple players with knee issues that might be prevented from playing because of the turf.
Any discussion of the Galaxy so far this year has to start by bringing up the disparity between the offense and defense on this team. Five games into the season, no team has scored more goals than the Galaxy, but, conversely, only one team has allowed more goals – the Galaxy even in goal differential with 11 goals for and 11 goals against. Landon Donovan, after being quiet in the opening match, has burst open the floodgates, with 8 goals in 4 games.
They say it takes a village to raise a child and I say it’ll take the entire RSL team to defend Donovan. Donovan has scored all of his goals playing as the withdrawn forward, which gives him space to face up against his defender and get a running start. And there really aren’t any defenders in this league with the foot speed to keep up with him as he makes those slashing runs. Right now, in one-on-one situations, Donovan is torching his defender, and with the improved service Beckham brings to the field, Donovan is putting them in the back of the net.
I think RSL needs to sandwich Donovan between their backline and midfield, assigning a midfielder to body him up and prevent him from getting the space he needs to operate. Yes, that might leave more space for Edson Buddle or Alan Gordon, but I think that would be the best game plan for RSL – keep Donovan (8 goals) contained and hope that Gordon (2 goals) or Buddle (0 goals) doesn’t beat you. Another reason to keep two bodies near Donovan is to close space quickly when he has the ball – his outside shot has really improved this year and he’s hitting with accuracy right now with either foot.
On defense, the Galaxy have been on rocky ground, showing some glimpses of quality defending, but invariably having at least two lapses in organization and shape in each game resulting in goals for the other team. Going into the season, we thought that the lack of speed in central defense would be our weakness, but the fact is most of the goals scored against us have resulted from defensive breakdowns – blown assignments, failures to properly clear the ball out of danger, and failures in one-on-one marking.
The one bright spot on defense has been the play of rookie Sean Franklin. The 4th overall pick by the Galaxy in the Superdraft, Franklin is the right back of the future for the Galaxy. But we’re living in the now, where are central defenders are old and slow, and Ruud Gullit has inserted Franklin into the center of defense, giving us an injection of speed and aggression that is needed. Yes, Franklin has made some mistakes, and will undoubtedly make more as the season grinds on, but his play in the back has been a revelation. At a generously listed 5’10” and 155 lbs., he makes Michael Parkhurst look like a giant, but Franklin’s speed, positioning and hops (he can get up pretty when challenging headers) have made him a serviceable central defender. He’s not the long-term solution (for example, see him get bodied off the ball by Brian Ching on Houston’s second goal a couple weeks ago) but until the transfer window opens, I think we’ll see Franklin in the center of defense marked up with the quickest forward on the other team. Against RSL I’m sure we’ll see him marking Robbie Findley.
As far as the Galaxy lineup is concerned, if players are performing well, Ruud likes to keep the lineup consistent, so I would guess we’ll see the same starting XI as last week:
---------------------Cronin
Klein-----Franklin------Xavier------Vanney
---------McDonald-----Franchino
Beckham-------------------------Randolph
-----------------------Donovan
----------------Buddle
The only question is Xavier. He skipped all the pre-season games played on turf (as well as some of the games late last season on turf). He’s got bad knees, and it’s not clear if he skipped the turf games just to give him some more time to get fully fit, or if he won’t play on turf games at all. This game will finally tell us which it is. If Xavier doesn’t start, expect Vanney to slide over and Michael Gavin come in as the left back. Hopefully, Xavier can start, because, despite his early season blunders, we will need his aerial ability against Dr. Duechar. If the central defense tandem is Franklin/Vanney, look for Duechar to really have an impact on this game.
Look for the Galaxy to play tough through the middle with the tandem of Franchino and McDonald. The Galaxy midfield has looked much more organized since the arrival of Franchino. Although the trade to bring Franchino was derided by most of the Galaxy faithful, the fact is prior to Franchino on the pitch our goal differential was –4. Since he’s been on the field, our goal differential is +4. That’s probably not all due to Franchino, but his midfield presence has contributed.
And I won’t bother talking about the contributions of David Beckham, because everybody already knows what he brings to the field.
This is an important game for both teams. With the East so strong this year, finishing in one of the top 3 spots in the West is the only guarantee of making the playoffs, so a game against a West opponent is truly a “six point game”. I won’t bother making a prediction, but when the Galaxy is involved, it’s always a safe bet to predict a high-scoring game.
