The line-up included two defensive midfielders, Birchall and Kovalenko, lining up just in front of the defense. I would think Arena went with this as a way of containing the potential speed of Chivas because they would come at us faster than last week’s opponent. Better to slow them down and counter attack rather than pushing the attack ourselves.

Just as our 4-4-2 became a 4-3-3 during periods of the game last week, this 4-2-3-1 was able to counter quite readily:

Buddle
     
Alex (DeLaGarza 78)    Juninho (Magee 62)          Donovan           

Birchall (Stephens 90)      Kovalenko

Dunivant          Leonardo   Gonzalez            Franklin

Ricketts

The first goal, by Edson Buddle, was a result of this ability to counter. A quick restart from Donovan found Sean Franklin open on the right flank. Franklin quickly picked out Buddle making a beeline for the penalty area. Chivas’ Michael Umana was unable to handle the speed and size of Buddle, as the striker headed the ball cleanly into the goal in the 7th minute.

As its become customary in these clashes, the two teams traded nasty tackles and trash talking through out. Buddle and Sacha Kljestan exchanged harsh words in the 25th minute. It doesn’t look like it ended well. Kljestan is probably not going to South Africa this summer as his National team stock has plummeted in the past year or so. For Buddle, however, his stock is rising fast and may be able to sneak onto the team as a late replacement for an injured Brian Ching.

For much of the second half, the Galaxy looked like they were waiting out the attacks of Chivas and bunkering for the long haul. I’m sure the tactic was to absorb and counter, but when the counter doesn’t come faster than the other side can anticipate, it starts to look tiresome. One instance in particular resulted in a skirmish in front of Ricketts goal that almost found the back of the net for Chivas. Fortune shined upon L.A. though, as Maicon Santos sent the shot over the goal.

But the Galaxy did have one final counter that resulted in Buddle’s second goal. Donovan intercepted the ball and got around the defender just in time to speed into the Chivas’ penalty area before slotting the ball into Buddle. Not so much a shot as a redirect, Buddle defly placed the ball into the top left hand corner in the 87nd minute. That was a hard shot to make and Buddle showed some real focus (World Cup team worthy, I might add) for such a late-in-the-game maneuver.

So, now, the Galaxy have started with two, rather easy, victories. Both were at home and both against teams that didn’t look as prepared for the season as Bruce Arena has his team. Yes, this Galaxy team has been together for well into last season but these players themselves all look much sharper and fitter than the players from Chivas and the Revs.

The true test of a successful opening season comes this Saturday when the Galaxy travel to Robertson Stadium in Houston. The Dynamo have one draw against Dallas and a victory over last year’s MLS Cup champions, Real Salt Lake. Game time is 5:30 pm PST and televised on Fox Sports West.

By the way, I’m sure I’m not the only one to notice how spectucular the field looked at the Home Depot Center. Hats off to the grounds crew for doing a tremendous job, and with no X-Games this year, the field should keep its appearance through out the season.

Though the scoreline didn’t reflect it, the Galaxy had many more opportunities to score than their opponents. We were constantly in their half and had a couple of fast breaks that should have been converted. The Revs spent very little time on the attack as they resorted to long balls through to their wingers. These were easily dealt with by a Galaxy backline that looked to be in mid-season form.

The Galaxy took the field in a 4-4-2 formation, with Kovalenko pulling back into the defensive midfield position. This was a good game plan, given that its our first league match. Its good to go with what you know and experiment later.

Buddle                      Donovan     

Lewis (Alex 26)   Juninho (Stephens 80)    Magee (Birchall 67)

Kovalenko

Dunivant      Leonardo   Gonzalez        Franklin

Ricketts

This set-up would push forward into their opponents half with the two wings falling back into a 3-man line with Kovalenko. Buddle and Donovan would have room to run on each side and up top while Juninho roamed right behind them.

The first and only goal (14th minute), from a free kick by Donovan, was a perfectly headed ball by Buddle on the right side of the penalty box into the opposite corner. Buddle is big enough to handle just about any defender in MLS. He made good on his speed and size to get free and place the ball in the goal.

The first accolade I’ll give, and man-of-the-match for me, was the Brazilian (on loan from São Paulo) Leonardo, playing centerback in place for Gregg Berhalter. He had several key stops and kept the Revolution from getting looks at the goal. In fact, I’d love to give MOTM honors to both central backs in this game, Omar Gonzalez and Leonardo. Gonzalez was already looking like one of the best backs in MLS last season and picked up right where he left off. Our central defense will prove to be a key factor to LA’s success this year.

Eddie Lewis came up with a left foot contusion in only the 26th minute (a hard tackle from Kevin Alston), which meant that another São Paulo loanee would come on in the left midfield position. Alex Cazumba had some very good runs down the left hand side and seemed to work well with both Donovan and Dunivant. There’s definitely some potential there in terms of team chemistry.

I’ve saved the last Brazilian loanee for last. I’m sure Juninho has shown some attacking flair and ball control in practice, otherwise Bruce Arena wouldn’t be using him for games. But, he didn’t show too much here. For an attacking mid, he sure did find lots of time to be invisible. And, the times he did have the ball, he was as slow as you could get. I would much rather have Mike Magee (or, when healthy, Clint Mathis) playing in that role, given what we saw in this match.

This game didn’t show too much in terms of what to expect. First, Shalrie Joseph wasn’t patrolling the midfield for New England, and second, this New England formation and team was an experiment that failed radically. The next match, against Chivas, will show more in terms of how well our defense does and how Arena can put a team on the field to work against an opponent. I’m afraid any team could have done the job against the Revs tonight.

Many questions remain to be answered. Will Berhalter be able to win his spot back in central defense? It seems doubtful with how well Leonardo did. How long do we have the three Brazilians? Is Juninho really that slow or was it just jitters? What does Arena do with Jovan Kirovski and Alan Gordon? Gordon will be able to sub in for Buddle but I wonder if there’s any room for Kirovski here. When does Chris Klein take the field?

Next up is the Goats from Chivas USA on April 1st at the Home Depot Center. I hope its not an April fools … for the Galaxy.

G Steve Cronin
D Greg Vanney
D Troy Roberts
D Ante Jazic
D Sean Franklin
M Chris Klein
M Peter Vagenas
M Pires Alvaro  (Josh Tudela, 50)
M Ely Allen     (Mike Randolph, 67)
F Edson Buddle
F Alan Gordon   (Israel Sesay, 86)

G Steve Cronin (Josh Wicks, 45)
D Chris Klein
D Troy Roberts
D Ante Jazic
D Sean Franklin
M David Beckham
M Greg Vanney  (Mike Randolph, 65)
M Eddie Lewis  (Eduardo Dominquez, 81)
M Peter Vagenas
F Landon Donovan
F Edson Buddle

This team surely needed some senior leadership and Arena could trust some old-timey Nationals to provide it. He already had Chris Klein. Lewis signed the same day as Arena’s first game in charge, in August 2008. He brought Jovan Kirovski into the mix in October 2008. With the new season starting, Tony Sanneh and Berhalter came on board. The team started to look like the US National Team circa 2002, especially if you include Donovan and assistant coach Cobi Jones.

As a bit of trivia, I tried to find a U.S. National Team match when all 8 guys (Kirovski, Donovan, Lewis, Klein, Berhalter, Sanneh, Arena, and Jones) were involved but I couldn’t find any. I only looked at FIFA sanctioned matches so there could have been a friendly where all were there. Kirovski, Klein, Berhalter, Sanneh, and Jones (no Donovan or Lewis) all played for Arena in the World Cup Qualifier against Mexico in Azteca on July 1, 2001. Kirovski, Donovan, Lewis, Klein, and Berhalter (no Sanneh or Jones) played for Arena on June 21, 2003 in the Confederations Cup match against Brazil in Lyon, France.

The point of all this is just to say that we’ve finally got a good mix of players: a group of senior players, some established players (Dunivant, Magee, Buddle, Gordon), some promising new faces (Chris Birchall, Donovan Ricketts), and a couple of up-and-coming youngsters (A.J. DeLaGarza, Omar Gonzalez). I don’t know how all those salaries are staying under the cap, but we could make a serious run to the MLS Cup final. Its just amazing to me how the team has changed and how anyone thought that that team against Chicago a year ago, could do anything but stumble.

Just to give some perspective, here’s the lineup from the New England game again lined up against the team from the most recent match, July 16, 2009, at New York. Quite a contrast, me thinks.

G Steve Cronin                       G Donovan Ricketts
D Greg Vanney                        D A.J. DeLaGarza
D Troy Roberts                       D Gregg Berhalter
D Ante Jazic                         D Omar Gonzalez
D Sean Franklin                      D Todd Dunivant
M Chris Klein                        M Eddie Lewis (Chris Klein 85)
M Peter Vagenas                      M David Beckham (Christopher Birchall 70)
M Pires Alvaro  (Josh Tudela 50)     M Stefani Migilioranzi
M Ely Allen     (Mike Randolph 67)   M Landon Donovan
F Edson Buddle                       F Edson Buddle
F Alan Gordon   (Israel Sesay 86)    F Alecko Eskandarian (Mike Magee 74)

Coming off a three game winning streak, the Galaxy were in a commanding lead by half-time, 3-nil. Goals scored by Eskandarian (3rd minute), Donovan (31st minute), and Lewis (45th minute) showed that the players are growing more confident and this reflects in their abilities to take chances. Either Eskandarian or Donovan should win goal of the week. The defense did a great job of staying organized and containing the overlapping runs of Jorge Rojas and Juan Pablo Angel. In addition to some outstanding saves by Donovan Ricketts in goal (man of the match, in my opinion), I can’t help but think that the defense is bolstered by knowing that there is such an outstanding net minder behind them.

Even though Beckham was not match fit, there was a noticeable difference in the way the team played with him on the field. I was more anxious to see how newly acquired Chris Birchall would do for the team. Having big man Edson Buddle and speedy Eskandarian up front were sure-fire targets for Beckham’s long passes over the top. This is a weapon put to good use when the opponent is someone like New York (and, by the way, a preseason, less-than-fit AC Milan). Birchall came in for Beckham in the 70th minute and showcased a “muscle-in-the-middle” mentality as well as some nice distribution that will be required for more daunting opponents. He will be a better asset to this team that Beckham’s long balls but you probably won’t hear that from Max Bretos or Christopher Sullivan on FSC.

The team is looking much better and more cohesive that they’ve looked in a long time. This is clearly a new direction for the LA Galaxy. However, something still lingers.

I’ve been reading the controversial book The Beckham Experiment and I’m probably only a third of the way through. Its all background material in the beginning but I think I can see where Grant Wahl is going with his thesis. I hope its the same conclusion that I’ve reached. As much as people like Alexi Lalas and Tim Leiweke preach about the virtues of exposure and that mere exposure leads to credibility in the American populace, I think it does the opposite. By turning the league into the latest brand of reality TV, it becomes one more thing we’ll forget about in less time that it took to “build the brand”. I know I’m not the first to come to this conclusion.

We’ve become accustomed to using popular culture as a way to communicate with one another. If I’m making small talk with someone, I might bring up a Seinfeld quote, or talk about what Conan O’Brien joked about the night before. They might bring up the latest contestant on America’s Got Talent. Its surface level news that won’t be relevant a year from now. By pushing MLS into the discussion this way, by just being on everyone’s entertainment radar, I fear we’re making it much less relevant in the long run.

Contrast that idea of exposure to what other professional leagues in the United States enjoy. They have their time on Sports Center and talk radio, not because they made their star players into multi-millionaires and pushed themselves in the water cooler discussion, but because they have a long history of being legitimate leagues and they’ve built their fan bases accordingly. Thinking about the long history of the established football clubs in Europe and South American, the idea of just pushing a brand onto a populace seems so strange. Maybe MLS doesn’t have the time to build credibility this way. Other sports would continue to push it out of the limelight. Maybe; maybe not. I would much rather continue with the growth that the league has enjoyed over its short 12 year history and hope for the day when recreational leagues and club teams translate into a wider adult audience. Kurt Streeter, at the LA Times, seems to think the same way.

My support of the Galaxy has waned, but not abated, since the arrival of Beckham. I’ve been a supporter since the very first season and to see what happened during the Lalas years (as a GM, not as a player) was heart breaking. Beckham was definitely a good addition to this team, but because of the salary cap, all of the supporting cast were journeymen players at best. Somehow, LA has figured out how to put a quality team on the field with two high-salaried spots for Donovan and Beckham.

Its become a love/hate relationship for me. I stand firmly with the Riot Squad in their booing of Beckham during his first game back at the Home Depot Center on July 19th, 2009. We, the fans, have been here since April. The team has been here. Where has he been? Off playing for another team. Why wouldn’t a real supporter “boo”? The people cheering were only cheering for him, not the team. That’s the point. He ought to feel ashamed, not comfortable. He put his career above the team in chasing the spotlight in Europe. Its certainly understandable that he would want to be back in the England national team but he signed a contract to play for the Galaxy – plain and simple. The Galaxy have played for half a season now and he hasn’t been around. That fact alone shows that his talk about helping the team doesn’t hold any water. If he wants to help the team, then help the team. If not, then get out. The rumor seems to be that he didn’t want to come back. Perhaps the people who are making tons of cash by his exposure here won’t let him go. Just another reason to call this league “Mickey Mouse”.

This team has taken a new direction. Hopefully, the management and marketers will too.

Elsewhere: Booing LA Galaxy Fans Tell David Beckham How They Feel at Bleacher Report