Preview: Quakes head to LA for California Clasico

Bobby Convey vs. LA Galaxy 062511

THE HOME DEPOT CENTER, Carson, Calif.
10:30 p.m. ET
August 20, 2011 (WEEK 23; MLS Game 231)


The second installment of the original California Clasico is ahead on Saturday when the LA Galaxy entertain the San Jose Earthquakes at The Home Depot Center. The Galaxy last played in league competition two weeks ago, a 3-1 home win against FC Dallas. They are coming off a 2-0 win against Motagua of Honduras to kick off the CONCACAF Champions League. The Quakes are in the throes of a club-record winless run after a 2-1 home loss to Colorado.


REFEREE: Andrew Chapin. SAR (bench): Greg Barkey; JAR (opposite): Colin Arblaster; 4th: Alejandro Mariscal
MLS Career: 35 games; FC/gm: 26.4; Y/gm: 4.5; R: 9; pens: 4


INJURY REPORT: LA GALAXY — OUT: DF Sean Alvarado (R knee surgery); DF Leonardo (R knee surgery); GK Donovan Ricketts (L ulna fracture); QUESTIONABLE: FW Chad Barrett (R knee sprain); MF David Beckham (back spasms); MF Jovan Kirovski (L ankle sprain) ... SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES — OUT: MF Andre Luiz (L knee injury); DF Ike Opara (L foot injury); FW Alan Gordon (surgery); DOUBTFUL: FW Scott Sealy (R groin strain); MF Brad Ring (R shoulder sprain); QUESTIONABLE: DF Bobby Burling (L hamstring strain)


INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: SJ: Sam Cronin (through Aug. 21)
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: SJ: Bobby Convey, Alan Gordon, Brad Ring
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: LA: David Beckham, Chris Birchall, Landon Donovan, Omar Gonzalez, Juninho, Michael Stephens ... SJ: Sam Cronin, Jason Hernandez, Chris Leitch, Steven Lenhart


HEAD-TO-HEAD

  • ALL-TIME (47 meetings): Galaxy 24 wins (4 shootout), 71 goals ... Earthquakes 15 wins (1 shootout), 60 goals …Ties 8
  • AT LA (22 meetings): Galaxy 15 wins (2 shootout), 41 goals ... Earthquakes 4 wins (0 shootout), 27 goals ... Ties 3
  • The clubs played to a scoreless draw on June 25 at Buck Shaw Stadium in their first meeting.
  • Since winning the final meeting in Carson before their hiatus, the Earthquakes haven't come away from The Home Depot Center with a win against the Galaxy. LA has won twice, with one draw.
  • The Earthquakes have a five-game unbeaten streak alive at home against the Galaxy. The streak started Aug. 3, 2008, the second of three consecutive meetings at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
  • The original California Clasico, the teams had a pitched battle over the first 10 years of the league, meeting in the MLS Cup Playoffs on four occasions, including MLS Cup 2001.
  • Coaches record: Bruce Arena vs. SJ: P14 W6 L5 D3 ... Frank Yallop vs. LA: P19 W7 L7 D5


LAST MEETING (MLS)

  • 6/25: SJ 0, LA 0
  • The Galaxy finished the match with Mike Magee, a ninth-year forward, in net for the final 47 minutes while LA played a man down. The Galaxy survived after starting goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts left the match due to an fractured arm in the 24th minute and backup Josh Saunders received a straight red card in the 43rd.
  • Magee finished with four saves on the afternoon, with three occurring after the 80th minute -- though the Earthquakes nearly took an early lead, with Ricketts in goal, but Simon Dawkins' effort crashed off the woodwork. Quakes goalkeeper Jon Busch made one save.
  • SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES (4-4-2): Jon Busch - Steven Beitashour, Jason Hernandez, Bobby Burling, Ramiro Corrales - Bobby Convey, Brad Ring, Khari Stephenson (Anthony Ampaipitakwong 46), Ryan Johnson (Ellis McLoughlin 76) - Simon Dawkins, Steven Lenhart.
  • LA GALAXY (4-4-2): Donovan Ricketts (Josh Saunders 24 [sent off 43]) - A.J. DeLaGarza, Omar Gonzalez, Gregg Berhalter, Todd Dunivant - Chris Birchall, Michael Stephens, Juninho, Mike Magee - Miguel Lopez (Sean Franklin 66), Juan Pablo Angel (Chad Barrett 84).


LA GALAXY

The LA Galaxy return to league play after a weekend off, their last match an impressive 3-1 defeat of FC Dallas at The Home Depot Center. The Galaxy have 48 points from 25 games on the season, leading the Western Conference and the MLS overall table.


LAST MATCH

  • The visitors raced out to a ninth-minute lead after a splendid quick sequence. Zach Loyd found Maicon Santos near the edge of the Galaxy penalty area, and he then laid the ball off to Marvin Chavez, who ripped a shot off the crossbar and over the line.
  • The Galaxy notched the equalizer in the 32nd minute. Beckham swung a 40-yard free kick toward the right post, and after FCD goalkeeper Kevin Hartman and defender George John collided and fell, the ball bounced in the box and Omar Gonzalez easily headed home from close range.
  • The Galaxy doubled the lead in the 62nd minute on another Beckham free kick. This time, Gregg Berhalter headed it away from goal, but Juninho latched onto the rebound and hit a slow roller that bounced off the left post and rolled across the goal line.
  • The hosts punctuated their victory with an 81st-minute goal, again off a set piece. Beckham swung a corner kick in on goal and Magee smashed the ball into the back of the net.
  • Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena made three changes to the team that lost 3-0 to the Portland Timbers at Jeld-Wen Field. Gregg Berhalter, Mike Magee and Adam Cristman came into the team, for Chris Birchall, Michael Stephens and Juan Pablo Angel.
  • LA GALAXY (4-4-2): Josh Saunders - A.J. DeLaGarza, Omar Gonzalez, Gregg Berhalter, Todd Dunivant - Sean Franklin, Juninho, David Beckham, Landon Donovan - Adam Cristman (Juan Pablo Angel 78), Mike Magee (Michael Stephens 88).


TEAM NEWS

  • David Beckham recorded two assists in the win vs. Dallas, giving him 10 assists for the season, matching his MLS single-season career-high (also 2008). Beckham last had two assists in a regular season game on April 19, 2008 when he set up a pair of Landon Donovan goals in a 2-2 home draw with Houston.
  • "I don't think he's surprising anybody at this point," Landon Donovan said. "I think everybody knows what he can do, and it's our job to get in the right spot and make the right plays once he serves the ball. We did a good job of being really dangerous on all our set pieces, and he put the ball where it needed to be every time."
  • In the strike partnership of Mike Magee and Adam Cristman, Arena paired players who have not started together this season.
  • "[Magee] has a player like Adam next to him and it gives him a different type of role in terms of having the ability to pass and attack the box a little bit more," Arena said. "I wanted to go with that pairing up top and change some things. Those two played well."
  • With the pair of Magee and Cristman up top, Landon Donovan returned to a midfield role as Magee swapped for a striking position.
  • "We've been doing that for three years," Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said of Donovan. "There's absolutely nothing different. We've always been doing that. ... He helps fill holes that we have at times or he addresses other needs," Arena said. "It just depends. We've had a shortage of bodies as well. You've got to move people around and that's what unfortunately we've had to do the entire season."
  • But there will be a significant change to the attacking options going forward. The Galaxy signed Irish international Robbie Keane, last with England's Tottenham Hotspur — the club hopes he could be available for the weekend match.
  • "We're not as clean as we want to be in the last part of the field, not as dangerous, not as multi-dimensional as we need to be," Arena said. "We'd been looking to see if we could find another player we could add to the roster that has those qualities."
  • On Tuesday, the Galaxy began their CONCACAF Champions League campaign with a 2-0 win against CD Motagua of Honduras. Adam Cristman gave the Galaxy the lead in the 13th minute, then Landon Donovan sealed the triumph with a goal on the hour.
  • Here's the Galaxy team: Josh Saunders, A.J. DeLaGarza, Omar Gonzalez, Gregg Berhalter, Todd Dunivant, Sean Franklin (Chris Birchall 84), David Beckham (Michael Stephens 76), Juninho, Mike Magee (Miguel Lopez 88), Adam Cristman, Landon Donovan.
  • "We thought they would give us space but they played strong," Donovan said. "We knew that after 45 or 60 minutes, they would be tired because they played on Saturday, they had to travel here and we kept at it, kept at it and kept at it and got the second goal."


SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

The San Jose Earthquakes had their club-record winless streak stretched to 11 games, falling 2-1 to the Colorado Rapids on Saturday evening at Buck Shaw Stadium. The Quakes have 25 points from 23 games on the season, sitting in eighth place in the Western Conference.


LAST MATCH

  • The Earthquakes went ahead with the match a quarter gone. Chris Wondolowski deflected a cross from Bobby Convey on goal, but Rapids goalkeeper Matt Pickens was able to parry the attempt. The ball bounced into the air, but Joey Gjertsen was on hand to nod it home from close range.
  • But the visitors evened the score in the 39th minute. Pablo Mastroeni cut back a cross from the end line, hitting the left arm of a trailing Sam Cronin. Caleb Folan stepped up and drove the ball to his right while goalkeeper Jon Busch went the other way.
  • Cronin was later sent off in the 50th minute with a straight red card from referee Paul Ward, and the Rapids finally took advantage 18 minutes from the end. Jeff Larentowicz powered a low free kick through the wall and off Busch's hands for the eventual winner.
  • Earthquakes boss Frank Yallop made one change to the team that played to a 1-1 draw with the Portland Timbers at Buck Shaw Stadium. Khari Stephenson started up top in place of Scott Sealy.
  • SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES (4-4-2): Jon Busch - Steven Beitashour (Jacob Peterson 90), Jason Hernandez, Bobby Burling, Ramiro Corrales - Joey Gjertsen (Ellis McLoughlin 83), Brad Ring (Simon Dawkins 70), Sam Cronin (sent off 50), Bobby Convey - Khari Stephenson, Chris Wondolowski.


TEAM NEWS

  • The Earthquakes saw their league winless streak stretched to 11 games in the 2-1 home loss to Colorado, setting a club record. They had gone 10 games without a win, Sept. 8, 2004-April 16, 2005.
  • "I thought we played well. For some reason we're not getting the breaks, but we can't give up. I thought we played well enough to win for sure," said Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop. "Even after the red card we played well. You get up to a point where you run out of gas for that last little bit, but other than that I thought we outplayed them and were the better team. But it's no good when you don't get any points."
  • Joey Gjertsen scored his first goal since May 8, 2010 when he knocked home the rebound to open the scoring.
  • "We worked hard as a team there were stretches where we controlled the game, even when we went down to 10 men," Gjertsen said. "I think we controlled the ball well and had some good scoring chances. I don't know what it's going to take to get some luck to go our way."
  • The trip south to The Home Depot Center now starts a stretch of nine games where the Earthquakes will play seven away from home.
  • "It's never too late when you haven't been officially eliminated. We just have to pick ourselves up again and dust ourselves off and start to prepare for LA," said goalkeeper Jon Busch. "It's very frustrating when I see the boys in front of me and what they put into the game tonight and how well we played even with 10 men only to lose; it's very disheartening."
  • The Earthquakes did make a major addition for the stretch drive, picking up 6-foot, 195-pound striker Edmundo Zura, who was last with El Nacional in Ecuador.
  • "He's a powerful guy who can get behind defenses and has a good scoring record in Ecuador," Earthquakes GM John Doyle said. "We're looking for him to contribute, that's for sure."
  • The Quakes are currently shorthanded up top with Steven Lenhart still away on a leave of absence and Alan Gordon having just undergone surgery.
  • "He's as strong or stronger, faster than the guys that we have," Doyle said. "Frank [Yallop, San Jose head coach] hasn't had a selection of the guys he would have liked. This should give [him] a person to select from. We'll see how he fits into MLS, but he's been good in Ecuador and with their national team, and we're looking forward to having him."