TORONTO FC v LOS ANGELES GALAXY
BMO FIELD, Toronto, Ont., Canada
7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN2; CBC; FSN-W)
Aug. 5, 2007 (WEEK 18) / MLS Game #117
A pair of teams that currently sit outside the playoff group - but still have cause for optimism - come together at BMO Field in a special ESPN broadcast. Toronto FC are battling injuries and didn't return home from a six-game road trip with the best result, losing 3-0 to Chicago last weekend, but the Reds are still 11 points from the top of the Eastern Conference with a third of the season to play. The Los Angeles Galaxy are returning to league action for the first time in nearly a month, and while they sit near the bottom of the Western Conference, they have played 5-7 fewer games than every team above them in the table.
REFEREE: Mauricio Navarro. SAR (bench): Amato DeLuca; JAR (opposite): Hector Vergara; 4th: Steven DePiero
MLS Career: 7 games; FC/gm: 36.6; Y/gm: 4.7; R: 1; pens: 0
Games involving Toronto FC: P1 W0 L1 T0; FC/gm: 44.0; Y/gm: 5.0; R: 0; pens: 0
Games involving Galaxy: P1 W0 L1 T0; FC/gm: 42.0; Y/gm: 5.0; R: 0; pens: 0
INJURY REPORT: TORONTO FC - OUT: GK Greg Sutton (concussion); FW Jeff Cunningham (adductor); FW Danny Dichio (hip flexor); DF Marvell Wynne (hamstring); MF Ronnie O'Brien (knee); QUESTIONABLE: DF Nana Attakora-Gyan (ankle); DF Jim Brennan (ribs); DF Andrew Boyens (concussion) ... LOS ANGELES GALAXY - OUT: DF Chris Albright (R hamstring); MF Cobi Jones (R hip), DF Kyle Veris (R hip); QUESTIONABLE: MF David Beckham (L ankle), FW Edson Buddle (L Achilles); PROBABLE: MF Kyle Martino (L groin)
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: TOR: Maurice Edu
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: TOR: Andrew Boyens, Jim Brennan, Jeff Cunningham, Danny Dichio, Srdjan Djekanovic, Chris Pozniak ... LA: Kevin Harmse, Kyle Martino
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME: first meeting
• This is the first of two meetings between the clubs, the only one set for BMO Field. Toronto FC will make their final trip this season to the Home Depot Center on Oct. 13, having lost there to Chivas USA on April 28.
• The Galaxy are the only team Toronto FC has yet to play in their inaugural season.
• Coaches record: Mo Johnston v LA: P1 W1 L0 D0 ... Frank Yallop vs. TOR: first game
TORONTO FC
Toronto FC lost back-to-back games for the first time since losing their first four games ever, and failed to score for a third in a row, falling 3-0 to the Chicago Fire on last Sunday in their return to BMO Field. TFC and Chicago are now tied for sixth place in the Eastern Conference with 19 points (though TFC has played one more game), the two teams five points adrift of fifth-place D.C. United.
LAST MATCH
• Toronto FC were home again for the first time after six games on the road, winning one and drawing three on their travels. They were entertaining a Chicago Fire team that was winless in their last six games and had won just once since the start of May.
• It was Cuauhtemoc Blanco's league debut for the Fire, and he left his imprint on the game. In the 37th minute, Blanco stood on the ball before lofting a wonderful pass for a perfectly timed run by Ivan Guerrero down the left flank, and the Honduran controlled the ball in the box before whistling a drive over 18-year-old emergency goalkeeper David Monsalve for the opener.
• The Fire doubled the lead in the 58th minute, as Blanco was steaming forward but played a dummy on a pass from the left. It found Calen Carr at the edge of the area, who avoided no fewer than three TFC defenders diving in and hit a shot that deflected off two more players before dropping into the goal.
• Chicago finished off the rout in the 75th minute. Chris Armas played a freekick over the top and Chad Barrett ran onto it with no TFC defenders around. He sent a low cross to the back post where Floyd Franks came racing in to tap home for his first professional goal.
• Toronto FC coach Mo Johnston made four changes to the team that lost 2-0 to the Columbus Crew to round out the road trip. Marvell Wynne, Ronnie O'Brien and Jeff Cunningham were all injured and goalkeeper Srdjan Djekanovic dropped as David Monsalve made his professional debut as the "emergency pool hardship" goalkeeper, while Maurice Edu returned from suspension and Andy Welsh and Danny Dichio both came into the team.
• Here's Johnston's team (4-4-2): David Monsalve - Chris Pozniak, Andrew Boyens (Andrea Lombardo 46), Tyrone Marshall, Todd Dunivant - Carl Robinson, Jim Brennan, Maurice Edu, Andy Welsh - Danny Dichio (Joey Melo 67), Collin Samuel. Substitutes Not Used: Nana Attakora-Gyan, Adam Braz, Srdjan Djekanovic, Gabe Gala, Marco Reda
• After the loss, Johnston was clearly upset. "There's a challenge for certain guys in the locker room," he said. "There [are] no guaranteed contracts next year, i.e. Canadian guys, i.e. European guys. If you don't step up to the plate, there is no home run for you at the end of the rainbow."
TEAM NEWS
• The loss drops TFC to last place in the Eastern Conference, as they now trail sixth-place Chicago by two in goal differential. The Reds haven't scored in their last 282 minutes, in large parts due to injuries all over the roster.
• Defender Marvell Wynne will miss the next few games due to a hamstring injury. Midfielder Ronnie O'Brien will miss at least one more game thanks to a recurring problem with his right knee. Forward Jeff Cunningham might be sidelined for anywhere from a month to the rest of the season when he gets surgery with what Johnston described as a torn meniscus. Goalkeeper Greg Sutton could be gone for the season with concussion after-effects.
• Even the players who made Sunday's starting XI were less than 100 percent. Defender Andrew Boyens suffered a broken nose in training during the week, and forward Danny Dichio now has a strained hip flexor, which will also likely put him for as much as a month.
• "I don't think certain guys came into the team and stepped up," Johnston said. "These other guys need to step up or else they shouldn't be in this league. They've shown that maybe certain guys aren't good enough. When you're down, people know you have injuries. We made a lot of good trades, this team turned the corner, and then bang - the door shut."
• Said midfielder Carl Robinson: "People say we have injuries but I'm not using that as an excuse. We've got a squad, people who aren't in the team want to be in the team, they go and see the manager about being in the team and then they get a chance ... they'll get their chance now. Injuries you can't use them as an excuse, it doesn't wash with me and won't with the manager either."
• The one player Johnston singled out was goalkeeper David Monsalve, the 18-year-old added to the roster under the league's extreme hardship rules who made seven saves on 10 shots in his professional debut. Monsalve, a Toronto resident and Canadian under-20 national team performer, become the youngest goalkeeper to start a game in MLS history, about eight months than Tim Howard when he started for the MetroStars in 1998.
• "I felt the young goalkeeper played very well under the circumstances. Hopefully we'll sign a goalkeeper Tuesday or Wednesday we're in the market and we're very, very close on that part," Johnston said. "But we need outfield players, when you look down our bench there isn't much in terms of coming in and giving us a spark."
• On Friday, TFC completed the signing of goalkeeper Kenny Stamatopoulos, acquiring him on a free loan from Norwegian club Tromso. Stamatopoulos played with Kalamata in the Greek second division before moving to Sweden, where he played with Enkoping and FC Boden. He moved to Tromso in 2006. Stamatopoulos has won four caps with the Canadian national team, making his international debut in 2005 again Spain. His last appearance with Canada came in October 2006 v Jamaica.
LOS ANGELES GALAXY
The Los Angeles Galaxy last played a league match on July 7, coming back to claim a 2-2 draw with the Kansas City Wizards at The Home Depot Center. The Galaxy have 13 points from 12 matches, fifth place in the Western Conference, four points ahead of Real Salt Lake and five points in arrears of the Colorado Rapids.
LAST MATCH
• The Galaxy had won two of their last three after their 2-0 win on July 4 against Chicago, looking to put together back-to-back wins for the first time on the season. The Wizards were winless in their last five games, having scored just one goal in their last three after a 1-0 loss to D.C. United on the Fourth.
• The Wizards had been creating loads of chances without scoring, but they were the grateful recipients of a couple of misplays to score twice in the opening six minutes of the second half. In the 47th minute, Jack Jewsbury swung in a cross from the right and it slipped past clearance attempts from a couple of defenders. Substitute Yura Movsisyan trapped the ball, cut back and fired home a low shot.
• Then four minutes later, a cross came in from the left, and left Ante Jazic tried to head the ball to 'keeper Joe Cannon. But Cannon could only parry the back pass into the air, and Davy Arnaud snuck it to head home the rebound into the empty net to double the Kansas City lead.
• But the Galaxy started their fightback in the 61st minute. Carlos Pavon, making his first Galaxy start, fired a low shot from the left that caromed off the inside of the post and back out. But Cobi Jones came in to side-foot home the rebound.
• Then a quarter-hour later Jones hit for his second. Landon Donovan claimed a cleared corner on the right and drove a low cross to the near post where Jones was racing in to tuck it into the corner and pull the home side level. It was the first multiple-goal game for the MLS original since Aug. 10, 2002.
• Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop made one change to the team that defeated the Chicago Fire 2-0 the previous Wednesday. Carlos Pavon made his first start with the Galaxy, coming in for Cobi Jones.
• Here's Yallop's team (4-4-2): Joe Cannon - Chris Klein, Ty Harden, Abel Xavier, Ante Jazic - Landon Donovan, Kelly Gray, Peter Vagenas, Kyle Martino - Edson Buddle (Cobi Jones 55), Carlos Pavon (Gavin Glinton 74). Substitutes Not Used: Steve Cronin, Alan Gordon, Quavas Kirk, Troy Roberts, Josh Tudela
TEAM NEWS
• Since the Galaxy were last seen in MLS league play, they have been busy. Three days after the Kansas City match, they traveled to Richmond, Va., and lost 1-0 to the USL Second Division (third tier) Kickers in the U.S. Open Cup third round.
• After David Beckham was introduced as a member of the Galaxy on July 13, and surrounding the MLS All-Star Game that featured Landon Donovan and Cobi Jones, the Galaxy played host to the World Series of Football at The Home Depot Center. In the first game on July 17, the Galaxy lost 3-0 to Tigres UANL as Francisco Fonseca, Walter Gaitan and Alejandro Vilalobos scored for the Mexican side. The Galaxy played a man down for the final 26 minutes after Chris Klein received a second yellow card.
• Then four nights later, John Terry's goal four minutes into the second half was the only one of the game as Chelsea FC defeated the Galaxy. David Beckham made his debut for the club, coming on for the final 12 minutes.
• The Galaxy did advance to the semifinals of SuperLiga, finishing atop Group A following a remarkable 6-5 victory against FC Dallas in the final group game on Tuesday. Goals from Alan Gordon (3 and 15), Chris Klein (12) and Kevin Harmse (18) staked the Galaxy to a four-goal lead before the game was a quarter old, but Arturo Alvarez started the FCD fightback just before the break. After a couple of incredible saves from Joe Cannon, Juan Toja (78) and Alvarez (82) brought FCD to within one, but Landon Donovan scored on a breakaway two minutes after to seemingly seal the game. Carlos Ruiz scored in the first minute of stoppage time to again cut the margin, but Carlos Pavon (95+) sealed the match before another goal, this from Abe Thompson (96+), rounded out the score.
• The Galaxy began their SuperLiga campaign with a 2-1 victory against Pachuca. Gordon gave L.A. a 50th-minute lead, but after Rafael Marquez Lugo pulled Pachuca level in the 78th minute, Donovan's deflection of a Cobi Jones shot gave the Galaxy the win. But at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Chivas de Guadalajara got second-half goals from Francisco Rodriguez (59) and Omar Bravo (82) to stroll to victory. Donovan scored two minutes from the end for the final scoreline.
• Here's Yallop's team in the SuperLiga finale: Joe Cannon, Ty Harden, Ante Jazic, Troy Roberts, Abel Xavier, Kelly Gray, Kevin Harmse (Quavas Kirk 55), Chris Klein, Peter Vagenas (Gavin Glinton 92+), Landon Donovan, Alan Gordon (Carlos Pavon 48+).
• "In our last two games, we didn't start that well," Yallop said. "We addressed that and couldn't have asked for a better start but didn't finish the game too brightly. Ninety minutes is a long time and I was pleased with our attitude to start the game and thought we went at them and started to test them out. We scored some very good goals early."
• It was the second time in as many years the Galaxy ripped apart the FC Dallas defense. In the regular season finale a year ago, the Galaxy scored five goals in a 5-2 win at The Home Depot Center.
• "Our finishing was almost perfect," Donovan said. "We can obviously defend better. We understood that if you got down 4-1 at home, you're going to come out flying to get goals back. They are a good team with good players and eventually, they are going to break you down."
• Since making his debut against Chelsea, the recurrence of his nagging ankle injury has kept Beckham off the training ground. He has been rehabilitating his injury, but in an effort to have him ready for the Toronto match, he did not accompany the team to Dallas.
• "It would be tough to put him in the lineup with what he's been doing. He hasn't been training with the team," said Yallop. "He may play some part in the game. We'll see. The chances are slim. ... He's getting better and (the ankle) is loosening up and feeling less painful. He just really wants to get rid of that real sharp pain. I saw him running and he wasn't limping. He's working out pretty hard."
