Ghosts of Joe Slovo

Folks, here's the link to my latest effort over at Soccer By Ives. (That's pronounced "Eye-ves" - it's Peruvian.)

The Galaxy lost at home to last year's worst team. Enough said.

Except I said this, to start things off:

Ugh.

Last week I said, "[A]ny team that can string together any sequence of passes in the midfield and has even half a striker will be big trouble."

I rest my case.

The fan trivia question at halftime (correct answer gets you a gift certificate for $25 in auto parts!) was, "When Cobi Jones scored the Galaxy's first ever goal exactly 12 years ago, what other current Galaxy player was also on the field?" The answer? Greg Vanney. Here's my trivia question for this past Sunday's game. "Which Galaxy player was beaten on every one of Toronto's goals?" You get one chance.

There were some bright spots on Sunday. The Landon Donovan – David Beckham connection is just coming into its own. If they both stay healthy and can deal with the disruption of international duty, they are going to give opposing defenses fits. Ely Allen was loads better this game than he was last week. Sean Franklin gave me no reason to wish for Abel Xavier or Troy Roberts to come off the bench.

Kick ass and put it in the net.

Faithful readers!

I am pleased to report that my first posting on Soccer By Ives, one of the biggest Major League Soccer-focuses blogs out there, has posted my first weekly article.

Here's how it starts.

I watched the thoroughly enjoyable, if not always compelling, LA-SJ game with one thought just lurking below all the action: "It's a really good thing San Jose plays like an expansion team." I loved watching the team play, especially after that mess in Colorado. But any team that can string together any sequence of passes in the midfield and has even half a striker will be big trouble.

On the one hand Thursday night's game showed a glimmer of what a Beckham – Donovan partnership can deliver; it was no accident that all the scoring came with them involved. On the other hand, if Alan Gordon is the other option up top with Carlos Ruiz injured, I'm getting flashbacks to 2007. Without the benefits of a misspent youth.

20 comments so far (and only 4 from me!).

Kick ass and put it in the net.

So, as my loyal readers know, I am something of a futbol junkie, with the perverse twist of being a futbol junkie for the domestic US-Canadian top flight league, Major League Soccer.

I've subjected both of you to many posts on this subject, but you can now rest easy on that score.

The owner of one of the biggest futbol blogs in the Unites States, Ives Galarcep, put out a call recently on Soccer By Ives, for 14 weekly correspondents to follow each of the MLS teams during the season, writing from a fan's perspective. I, who's obesession runs into such esoterica as actually playing the damn official MLS Fantasy soccer game, put in an application and a writing sample. And what do you know? Ives, who must have been suffering from a mild stroke or passing dementia, picked me to blog about the LA Galaxy.

So, starting next Tuesday you could be able to go to the site and see my 250-500 word musings on the beautiful game.

Kick ass and put it in the net!