CARSON, Calif. --
The LA Galaxy will look to extend their winning streak to three on Saturday night when they host Alejandro Moreno, Guillermo Barros Schelotto and the Columbus Crew at The Home Depot Center. The match, which is presented by Sierra Mist, will kickoff at 7:30 p.m., with the first 5,000 fans entering the stadium receiving a Galaxy Collector's Series Soccer Ball.
The Crew are currently in second place in the Eastern Conference with a 7-4-1 record and will be looking to extend their unbeaten streak on the road against the Galaxy to five games, having gone 2-0-2 in their last four trips to LA to take on the Galaxy. Former Galaxy forward Alejandro Moreno leads the Crew, who are coached by Sigi Schmid, the Galaxy's all-time leader in wins as a coach, with six goals on the season, including two last weekend in a 3-0 road win over Kansas City.
Fans who cannot attend the game can catch all the action live on FSN Prime Ticket, starting with the 'Galaxy Live' pregame show at 7 p.m. Fans can also listen to the game live on the radio with Joe Tutino and Ralph Perez having the call in English on KLAC 1150 AM starting at 7:30 p.m. and Rolando Gonzalez and Celso Gaspar bringing you all the action in Spanish on ESPN Deportes Radio 1330 AM KWKW, beginning at 7 p.m.
Galaxy Injury Report
OUT - Charles Alamo (R-Knee); Josh Wicks (L-Knee Surgery)
DOUBTFUL - Peter Vagenas (R-Quad)
QUESTIONABLE - None
PROBABLE - None
Josh Wicks underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on Monday to repair a torn meniscus. He is scheduled to miss the next 4-6 weeks. Alamo continues on the second phase of his rehabilitation process and has begun jogging and plyometrics after undergoing knee surgery in February, while Vagenas will be monitored throughout the week, with his availability for this weekend being decided later in the week.
The Week That Was...
LA Galaxy
Saturday, June 14; Galaxy 3 - San Jose Earthquakes 0
Edson Buddle scored his second hat trick of the season, scoring a first half volley and adding a pair of second half headers as the Galaxy defeated the Earthquakes 3-0 in front of nearly 40,000 fans at McAfee Coliseum. Steve Cronin only had to make one save on the night to earn his second clean sheet of the season. With the win, the Galaxy extended their lead at the top of the Western Conference to three points with a 6-4-2 record for 20 points.
Galaxy Rios Under-20s
Sunday, June 8; Galaxy Rios 1 - Poway Vaqueros 2
The Galaxy Rios Under-20s suffered their first defeat of the season on Sunday, falling 2-1 to the Poway Vaqueros on the road. Travis Bowen scored the only goal of the game for the Rios, who are now in a three-way tie for first place in their conference with a 2-1-1 record and seven points.
Galaxy Team Notes
HAT TRICK HERO: Galaxy forward Edson Buddle recorded his second hat trick of the season on Saturday, scoring all three goals in LA's 3-0 win over San Jose. With the three goals, Buddle is now alone in second place in MLS with eight goals this season, leaving him one behind the league leader and teammate Landon Donovan who has nine goals in nine games.
The hat trick was the fourth of Buddle's career, placing him in a tie with Mamadou Diallo and Cobi Jones for the third most in MLS history. Only Stern John and Diego Serna have tallied more, each recording five hat tricks during their MLS careers. Buddle is just the third player since the 2000 season to record more than one hat trick in a season. Eddie Johnson tallied two hat tricks for Kansas City in 2007 and Amado Guevara had two for the MetroStars (now known as the Red Bulls) in 2005. Buddle is just the eighth different player in MLS history to record multiple hat tricks in one season. Buddle joins Cobi Jones (three in 1998) and Eduardo Hurtado (two in 1996) as the only Galaxy players ever to record more than one hat trick in a season.
BUDDLE NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK: As a result of his three goal performance, Buddle was named the MLS Player of the Week on Monday. It is the second time this season that Buddle has earned the award and the seventh time of his career. Buddle is now tied with Landon Donovan, Jason Kreis and Taylor Twellman for the fifth most MLS Player of the Week awards in league history. Jeff Cunningham, Cobi Jones and Ante Razov have the most with nine all-time awards while Carlos Ruiz has eight.
EDSON'S FIRST UP FOR GOAL OF THE WEEK: Buddle's first goal from Saturday night is one of five tallies that have been nominated for the Sierra Mist MLS Goal of the Week award. Buddle joins Danny Dichio (Toronto FC), Alejandro Moreno (Columbus Crew), Rohan Ricketts (Toronto FC) and Clyde Simms (D.C. United) as having been nominated for the award, which Buddle last won in Week 28 of the 2007 MLS season.
Click here to vote for Buddle or any of the goals: VOTE NOW !
BROTHERS IN ARMS: Troy Roberts made MLS history on Saturday night when he entered the Galaxy's win over San Jose. By entering the game, Roberts joined his brother Jamil, who was making his MLS debut for the Earthquakes, as the first brothers in MLS history to face one another in an MLS game. The Roberts brothers are the 14th set of brothers to play in MLS, but the first to play against one another.
Troy Roberts played the final two minutes plus stoppage time in the second half after replacing David Beckham in the 88th minute, while Jamil Roberts came on in the 74th minute to replace Ryan Cochrane.
CLEAN SHEET CRONIN: Galaxy goalkeeper Steve Cronin collected his second clean sheet of the season and of his career on Saturday night. Both of Cronin's shutouts have come against the Earthquakes as he was also in goal for the Galaxy in the 2-0 LA win over San Jose on April 3 at The Home Depot Center.
In his first season as the Galaxy's starting goalkeeper, Cronin has played the full 90 minutes in all 12 of the Galaxy's games this season, collecting a 6-4-2 record so far with a 1.75 goals-against-average. Cronin's start on Saturday against the Earthquakes was the 18th of his Galaxy career, putting him into fifth place all-time in games started by a goalkeeper for the Galaxy.
RUIZ IS A RECORD BREAKER: Galaxy forward Carlos Ruiz scored four goals for Guatemala on Saturday night as they defeated St. Lucia 6-0 in the first leg of their CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying series. With the goals, Ruiz now has 39 goals for his country, making him the all-time leading scorer in Guatemala history, surpassing Juan Carlos Plata who scored 35 career goals for Los Chapines.
Guatemala will now advance to the next stage of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying as long as they avoid losing to St. Lucia by more than six goals when the two sides play the return leg of their series on Saturday at the LA Memorial Coliseum.
DONOVAN ON TARGET: The Galaxy's only other player to represent his country last weekend was Landon Donovan who scored once as the U.S. defeated Barbados 8-0 at The Home Depot Center on Sunday. Donovan was honored before the game for recording his 100th cap a week ago against Argentina and then scored his 36th career goal for the U.S. early in the second half, giving his team a 4-0 lead.
The U.S. will now advance to the next stage of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying as long as they avoid losing to Barbados by more than eight goals when the two sides play the return leg of their series on Sunday in Barbados.
LOOKING AT THE OPPOSITION: Saturday's game will be the first of two games this season between the Galaxy and the Crew, who will host LA on Saturday, October 4 at Crew Stadium.
The Galaxy are currently 1-3-0 against the Eastern Conference this season, including a 1-2-0 mark at The Home Depot Center.
The two sides split the season series in 2007, each winning at the other's home ground. The Crew earned a 3-2 win at The Home Depot Center in June while the Galaxy claimed a 2-1 win over Columbus in September, with Troy Roberts scoring the first goal of his MLS career in that game and Kyle Martino notching the game-winner in the 16th minute. However, the Crew lead the all-time series between the two sides with the Galaxy having just a 9-13-6 record all-time against the Crew. The Galaxy have not defeated Columbus at home since April 2004.
The Crew, who are coached by former Galaxy head coach Sigi Schmid, snapped a two-game losing streak this past weekend, defeating Kansas City 3-0 on the road. Alejandro Moreno, a former Galaxy forward, scored twice in that game to give him six goals on the year to lead the Crew, who are now second in the Eastern Conference with a 7-4-1 record.
GALAXY RIOS BACK AT HOME ON SUNDAY: Following their first defeat of the 2008 season, the Galaxy Rios Under-20 will be back in action on Sunday, June 22 when they host the Bakersfield Brigade at The Home Depot Center at 1 p.m. The game will be played on Field #5, with fans and media wishing to attend asked to park in Lot #10 or Lot #15.
DON'T MISS GALAXY DEPORTIVO EVERY WEEKEND: Galaxy Deportivo, the Galaxy's official weekly half hour show, is back for another year and can now be seen every weekend on two different stations. The show will first air on KWHY-22 every Saturday night at 6 p.m. with a series of features and interviews that provide insight into the weekend's game. Then on Sunday morning, Galaxy Deportivo will air again, this time on Telemundo-52 with the same in depth access, as well as highlights from Saturday night's match.
For the third straight year, Alejandro Navarro and Elmer Polanco will serve as hosts for the show, giving viewers an unprecedented level of access and insight to the 2008 Galaxy team.
PURO GALAXY HITS ESPN DEPORTES RADIO: ESPN Deportes Radio KWKW 1330 AM, the Galaxy's official Spanish language radio partner, is the place for all of your Galaxy news and information. The best place to get that information is on Puro Galaxy, the network's weekly, hour-long show that can tell you all you need to know and more about the Galaxy, airs every Saturday from 2-3 p.m., just in time to get you ready for the Galaxy's game on the weekend.
Rolando Gonzalez, who serves as the play-by-play voice of the Galaxy on broadcasts on KWKW, is the host of Puro Galaxy, and he will be joined by his fellow broadcasters and a series of special guests. So tune in each and every week and stay up to date with everything that is going on in the Galaxy.
MEDIA PARKING AT TRAINING: All media members are asked to enter through Gate D, off Victoria Blvd., and to park in Lot 17 when attending Galaxy training sessions. Members of the media who park in Lot 6 during training sessions may be ticketed by California State University - Dominguez Hills.
