SuperLiga finale

Pachuca faced LA in a half-packed Home Depot Center last night in a contest to determine the SuperLiga Champion. I watched much of the first half. At that point Pachuca controlled the possession, tempo, and real estate. But, much like the Dynamo too often, Pachuca couldn't leverage this control into goals.

For most of the second half, my face was pointed at the TV but my eyelids interfered with my view. I missed Klein's bicycle kick (quite impressive due to the timing and his age) until watching the highlight reel this morning. Likewise, I didn't see Donovan's missed PK that would have given LA the game. His kick wasn't particularly poorly taken (unlike many of his successful kicks down the middle during the Gold Cup), but the keeper guessed correctly and Donovan wasn't able to put the ball far enough into the corner. Unlucky.

I suppose the biggest news out of the game was that Beckham sprained his knee. It looks like he will be out for a while – longer than he was for his ankle. The injury occurred when Becks and Pachuca midfielder Fernando Salazar simultaneously tackled a loose ball just outside the Pachuca penalty box. Becks went in with his right foot, and the whole leg twisted with the counterforce applied by Salazar's foot. Beck's left ankle was the injured ankle, otherwise I'd think that it was his weak ankle that contributed to the painful torque on the knee. As it was, perhaps it was just misfortune. Salazar had to leave the match with a knee sprain as well.

This just in: in depth news analysis reports that when Beckham returned in overtime to watch the match, he was "dressed in a gray suit, white shirt and black tie."

In all seriousness, accolades go to the Galaxy for keeping themselves in the game, making a brilliant equalizer, and then having an opportunity to win the game with a single PK. Shame on Pachuca for controlling the game, but being unable to get the ball into the net versus a poor Galaxy side.(LA scored all of the goals in this one: one into the Galaxy net and one into the Tuzos' net.) Thing is, Dynamo fan that I am, I can completely sympathize with Pachuca's dominance coexisting with scoring anemia.

And shame on the so-called "Cathedral" of the MLS, the Home Depot Center. Only 12,500 tickets could be sold for the SuperLiga final in this supposed soccer-specific stadium because of parking concerns at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Apparently a lot of people want to park on campus at 8 PM on a Wednesday evening. This is a constraint we're going to have to make sure is NOT an issue with the Dynamo's eventual stadium. So many things to consider...

More Galaxy news...

Yahoo had this article about Alexi Lalas, the Galaxy GM, whining about how his master plan for the "Superclub" of the MLS has been undermined by a sudden appearance of games on the team's schedule. Surprisingly, his infectious whining has stricken a usually sane Andrea Canales, as well.

To this I say: balderdash. Is Lalas suddenly an unwilling victim of the scheduling? He sure spoke like he was integral to the scheduling process at the beginning of the season. And if the schedule is to blame, then why wasn’t the team racking up points in the early season when it had a mostly open schedule and plenty of chance to rest and recuperate players? And how is it that a lowly team like the Dynamo from a podunk village like Houston was able to zoom to the top of the standings when it was fighting through a schedule that included 3 games a week, some against high-caliber Mexican clubs? It seems that Lalas (and Canales) is trying to deflect blame when the finger should be pointed at poor management and poor players.

Now that the Galaxy have lost their only chance for a trophy and, with Salt Lake's victory over KC last night, have dropped to last place in the standings, AEG will probably begin taking measures to set up a better 2008 season. How do they right this ship?

Well, one of the biggest problems with the Galaxy is its random mish-mash of players who don’t comprise a coherent team. A couple of talented individuals can’t carry a team very far. Injuries have been a problem, sure; but even without the injuries there is an unhealthy randomness to the team roster. Perhaps less time should have been spent on developing a pretty new uniform, and more time spent on conscientious team building. This being the core problem of the team means that whoever is responsible for this mess should bear the consequences. Is Lalas or Yallop to blame? Based on past experience, I have to believe that Alexi is the culprit.

The track records of both Yallop and Lalas suggest who is to blame for the train wreck that is the Galaxy. Yallop has two MLS Cups after building the San Jose franchise from its bottom-of-the-barrel standing prior to his arrival, and he set the seeds for the club's success in 2005 and later as the Dynamo. Lalas has served as GM for 2 previous clubs, leaving each one in a state of, if not disarray, then definitely with no coherent strategy or defined identity. His handling of the Donovan loss was reviled by the SJ fans, and his inconsistency with the Metrostars left that club struggling for stability and required the new Red Bull ownership to throw a lot of cash at reversing the problem.

That suggests the Galaxy should fire Lalas to bring in a GM that has more intelligence and perception, even if it means fewer newsworthy sound bites. However, Yallop will probably get a pink slip too. If so, Yallop would benefit more than the Galaxy; the coach would easily be able to find employment in a less dysfunctional organization. Truth be told, if the Galaxy could bring in Jurgen Klinsmann, perhaps the Galaxy would benefit too. It would be interesting to see how Klins would do in the MLS, and his name has a certain cachet that the Galaxy — image conscious as they are — would love.

Yallop didn't help his own cause after he played an injured Becks all 90 minutes of a losing match versus Chivas after Becks had played all 90 of a match in England the day before. Perhaps Yallop was forced into that decision, but he's still accountable for it. And if it gets him out of the Galaxy organization, then he's the better for it.

And speaking of RSL...
Their new Argentineans proved their worth already in leading the team to a 3-1 victory over visiting KC. Wow, have the Lakers turned their ship around? We'll see. It'd be good to have a decent Salt Lake to contend in the Western Conference, but I'm not too pleased with how my fantasy team took a hit from last night's resurgence.

Here's hoping that the game took a lot out of KC's tank since we face them this weekend. On the other hand, that may NOT be a good thing; if they're tired and bunker in, our past experience with such tactics suggests we may not be able to crack the defensive shell. We've got to get a goal early, otherwise bad things could happen. We've got to defend our home turf too: on KC's last visit to Robertson (at the beginning of last year), they managed to win 2-1 off a late Burciaga laser.

One win gets us into the 40-point range, helps our cause for the Supporters' Shield, and surpasses our 11-win total from last season. Let's do it.