The Los Angeles Galaxy don't have another league game until Aug. 5, but that doesn't mean they are going to be taking any vacations. Tuesday night the Galaxy take on the Richmond Kickers in the U.S. Open Cup, a tournament that the USL side won in 2005.
The Galaxy have already had an early taste of what it is going to take to get back to a third consecutive final, having to battle through two play-in games before reaching the tournament proper.
Both of those games came against MLS opposition, and head coach Frank Yallop used a mixed lineup of regular starters and players who normally come off the bench. He's planning on doing much of the same on Tuesday at the University of Richmond Stadium.
"We will be making an effort to make some changes to the lineup, but not too many because we don't want everybody on the field that has just come back from injury," said Yallop. "We will make sure that we manage the minutes and have a nice sprinkling of experience and guys coming back from injury."
One player that is already penciled into Yallop's starting 11 is goalkeeper Steve Cronin. Cronin is the backup to Joe Cannon, but has started the Galaxy's other two Open Cup games this year and was the hero of the club's last Open Cup contest against the New York Red Bulls.
In that game Cronin made a number of huge saves to keep the Galaxy alive until they took care of business in overtime. Cronin is hoping not to have to come up as huge to lead the Galaxy to another victory.
"Hopefully our defense doesn't allow Richmond to get as many shots as New York did, and I don't think this team will be as difficult as New York," said Cronin. "At the same time I feel up to the task of doing what ever I can to help our team win."
While Cronin and the Galaxy aren't expecting the same level of play as they would from an MLS side, they are by no means taking Richmond lightly. The great thing about the Open Cup is that it gives lower division sides a chance to take on the top dogs, and for some teams, a win against an MLS team can make their season.
"They made it this far, and they are one of the better teams that I have heard of out of the USL teams," said Cronin. "I think they will have a pretty good home crowd since they are playing us. I expect them to come out with a lot of heart, and hopefully we will be able to deal with that right off the bat."
Greg Daurio is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
