Beyond the hype and hoopla that surrounds the Super Clasico, Saturday's game is very important for the Los Angeles Galaxy. They are looking for their first win of the season, and it won't be easy to accomplish that against a very solid Chivas USA squad.
While the Galaxy have gotten off to a slow start this season, having scored just one goal in their first two league games, Chivas USA have blasted home six goals in three games. The top priority on Saturday for Los Angeles will be slowing down the potent attacking duo of Ante Razov and Maykel Galindo. It's a task that's easier said than done.
"Obviously we need to take care of Ante and Maykel. You also have other players like Johnny Bornstien who's scored some great goals in his time in the league," said Galaxy goalkeeper Joe Cannon, who will be looking to keep his second clean sheet of the season. "We need to play our game and defensively be strong, then offensively be good in the transition. If we learned anything from the Dallas game, it's that we can't let down for any period of time."
The Galaxy have managed to continue their tradition of having a stingy defense. Aside from a 15-minute lapse against Dallas, the defense has played well and conceded only two goals. Head coach Frank Yallop will be looking for his team to continue that run of form on Saturday.
"If you look at the defensive record so far, other than the slip-ups in the Dallas game, I've never felt that we've been completely outplayed and teams are getting tons of chances against us," said Yallop. "If we make sure that we're nice and organized in the back, make sure that we play as high away from the goal as possible and obviously not being too high where Ante and Galindo can use their savvy and speed to expose us, I feel that we can slow them down."
Yallop was quick to point out though that his side won't be coming out in a defensive posture.
"That doesn't mean we're going to sit back at all. We want to play forward," he said. "I feel real good that once we make some changes to our lineup, I feel confident that we can have a good attacking night."
It's that jumpstarting of the offense that could be a bigger challenge. Even after Yallop took over, while the Galaxy attack showed signs of being increasingly dangerous, the club still finished with the third-lowest goals total in MLS last year. This year, in three games in all competitions, they've still scored just two goals.
But the offense will get an injection of life, as several players have returned from injuries. It's likely that several faces will make their first appearances of the season for the Galaxy on Saturday.
Even without those faces, the offense has at least been creating chances. According to Landon Donovan, that is the most important thing.
"The concern for me is when you don't have chances. We had a lot of good chances against Dallas, a lot of good chances against Houston to score goals," said Donovan.
"I don't know if it's a confidence thing, if getting an early goal will help, getting the first goal will probably help, and then you see what happens. I don't think Dallas got near our goal in the second half the last game. That's more concerning for a team than when you are getting chances and not scoring."
Greg Daurio is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
