LA/SJ Running blog

Hi to all the fans who don't hate us. . .
I had planned to blog about Chicago and New England, but the parking situation here at the Home Depot Center was such a mess - it took me forever to get inside, so I missed the goals. I figure there's little point now. Once inside the stadium, I realized I left my binoculars in the car (essential for zeroing in on what swear words the players use), so I went back out to the parking lot. Crossing the HDC concourse, I ran into the entry march of San Jose fans making their way down to their seats "San Jose! San Jose!" They got a few jeers from Galaxy fans, but most of the LA faithful were too busy chasing down the elusive license plate holders that they're giving away tonight. A few Galaxy fans were downright puzzled. "Who are they?" a little girl wearing a Beckham jersey asked her father. Her father answered, "They're the fans of the other team, sweetie."
SJ - Joe, Jason, Ryan, Nick, James, Ronnie, Ramiro, Ned, Ivan, Kei, Shea
LA - Cronie, Chris, Sean, Vanney, Mike, Becks, Alvaro, McDaddy, Ely, LD, Gordy
Anthem has been sung - complete with pre-game fireworks that make this place smell a little like war.
Kickoff!
2- SJ has a FK - O'Brien serves it in, Cochrane heads it into goal - offside.
4 - For a team that supposedly has little offense - SJ has done ok in the early going - oops, Galaxy get a CK.
5 - Gordon gets to Beckham's service, but heads it high instead of down.
6- Nice Galaxy attack thwarted by SJ's experienced defense. SJ counter when Ely and Mike can't work the ball up on the sideline and Mike pulls Kei's shirt for five yards. Yellow card.
9 - GOAL! Gordon fights for the ball in midfield, manages to knock it into space near Landon, who threads a through ball for Beckham, who proves he can still run, at least faster than Joe Cannon. Landon is running, holding his hand up for the pass, but Becks just takes it on the run, hits past Cannon's charge - it's in the net. 1-0, Galaxy. Yep, that's Beckham's first MLS goal.
12 - Outside shot by Shea Salinas, over the bar.
14 - Allen crosses to Alan - but Gordy's header is wide.
17 - LD tests his old buddy Joe with an outside shot to the upper V. Joe snags it.
19 - It may not be especially sexy, but the Galaxy already look a whole lot better than they did in Colorado.
21 - Randolph with a diving, flying tackle - SJ corner. Corrales to take. Cronie punches the ball out, but it falls to Guerrero, who takes a shot - McDonald blocks it right in front of goal, Cochrane goes down fighting for it, but the ball is cleared for a corner. That one is cleared, too.
26 - The ball is in the box - oh, SJ's d takes care of it. Back to midfield.
27 - Becks fouls Corrales. It's midfield, though, so not much of a FK.
28 - The upper deck is pounding - when they stomp like that the whole stadium shakes a little. It's cool.
29 - Becks give and go with Klieny, then whips in a cross, Joe snags it.
31 - Midfield battle now. The Galaxy have a bit more possession, but they're also in their own half most of the time.
32 - Galaxy CK, Donovan to take. He gets a blue streamer thrown at him - the SJ section is over there. He serves the ball in, it gets hit into the outside netting.
34 - Alvaro fouled by James Riley - Alvaro writhing around.
36 - LA corner - Beckham takes, Franklin kicks wide of goal.
37 - GOAL! Becks returns the favor, sending a pass up to Landon, who catches the ball on the bounce and Joe off his line - LD gets to it first and chips him. The ball bounces merrily into the goal with Joe chasing vainly after it.
41 - Randolph with a nice move gets taken down in a nice spot for a FK - Beckham serves it into the box - Alvaro heads it - wide of goal. So close.
44 - SJ reporter is telling Luis and I how amazing the atmosphere here is. He says it feels like a game in South America. That's pretty high praise.
45 - Grabavoy is down. He limps up. Ely beat him to the ball, but he came in hard.
Halftime.
Well, two of the big guns are firing, and the defense is looking much better. So perhaps all is not lost for the Galaxy this season. Granted, SJ is an expansion team, but on paper at least, this squad looked stronger than the lineup Colorado put out. Also, SJ hasn't looked terrible, either. They're organized on the counter and making few mistakes. Like many predicted, though, they're not generating a lot of danger up front. On the other hand, though, there's still a whole other half to be played.
47 - Kei with a shot - Cronie dives - save.
49 - Galaxy look more scattered this half - SJ look to take advantage.
51 - G's holding off the SJ flurry so far, though SJ are having a good run of possession.
53 - Cannon beats Gordon to a dangerous ball outside the box, chests it away from danger.
54 - Should have been a dangerous chance for Gordon on an LA counter, but he's offside.
55 - SJ CK - Alavaro clears it.
56- Cannon with the ball hears boos from the LA crowd.
57 - SJ CK. Gavin Glinton comes in for Shea Salinas. CK cleared.
60 - Comedy - Great passing by the Galaxy works the ball up to Alvaro in the box, who lays the ball back for Gordon, who has stopped to tie his shoe - NOOO - be like one-shoe Stammler and keep playing Gordy! Tragic.
61 - SJ FK - cleared.
63 - The crowd has settled down considerably. They were trying to start the wave earlier, but that died out.
64 - Donovan on the run for a counter - he passes to Gordon, continues the run, Gordy shoots - right into Cannon. Ball bounces out. Ely can't quite reach it - SJ clear.
65 - Another LA counter, another Donovan feed, this time McDonald with a weak shot that Joe scoops up easily.
68 - SJ seemed befuddled as to what to do to score.
69 - SJ sub. Guerrero out, John Cunliffe in.
71 - What's weird is how the play has moved almost entirely to the left side of the field. Beckham hasn't touched the ball in a long, long stretch. He's walking around waiting.
72 - Tragic from Gordon. He gets a long pass and is in the box, but falls to his knees, untouched, before he can even get a shot off. Dang. That was poor. At least make Joe save it.
75 - Ruud hasn't made a sub yet.
76 - Gordon earns a FK - Becks tries to sneak a low pass to LD, SJ breaks it up.
78 - SJ attacks, but Landon breaks it up and counters, then gets taken down from behind by Kamara. Yellow.
83 - Gordon heads a pass over the bar.
85 - SJ corner. Cronin comes out to catch it. This match will do wonders for his confidence if he can keep the clean sheet. He's got a really painful GAA right now.
87 - Michael Gavin comes in for Mike Randolph.
88 - LA corner. Becks takes. Gordon puts a header on goal, but Joe saves it.
89 - LA counter, Becks threads a pass to Landon, who get in the box - SHOOT, Landon! Don't pass to - too late, LD passes to Gordy, who falls down in the box in front of the goal.
Final Whistle. 2-0 Galaxy