This Is The Los Angeles Galaxy: Leonardo

This is Part 21 in a series of articles on the players that make up the 2010 Los Angeles Galaxy. Throughout history, there have been many well known people with names that start with Leonardo. There's the Italian Renaissance scientist, architect, botanist, musician, anatomist, inventor, engineer, sculptor, roboticist, geometer, writer, and painter known as Leonardo da Vinci.Moviegoers the world over are familiar with one Leonardo DiCaprio. The Fibonacci sequence is credited to Italian mathematician Leonardo of Pisa. And for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fans young and old, the katana-wielding Leonardo is recognized as the leader of the heroes in a half-shell.There are many football players that go by the name Leonardo. One of them is José Leonardo Ribeiro da Silva, a defender who plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy. At 1.88 meters, he provides an imposing presence to the team's reliable backline.On loan from Sao Paulo FC, Leonardo is part of a trio of imports (the others being Alex Cazumba and Juninho) that look to help the Galaxy return to the 2010 MLS Cup.José Leonardo Ribeiro da Silva was born on February 8, 1988 in São Paulo, Brazil. Like Alex Cazumba and Juninho, Leonardo went through the Sao Paulo FC youth ...

LA Galaxy’s Donovan Ricketts Plays Robert Green in Revolution Loss

Ladies and gentlemen, the Los Angeles Galaxy are officially in a slump. I repeat, for the first time this season, Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy are in a slump. After the 2-0 pratfall with the reserve side against the Seattle Sounders FC in the 2010 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the futility has shown to be contagious. Now—could you believe this—it's the starters who don't show up ready to play. A 2-0 defeat to the New England Revolution at Gilette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts? Seriously? Has the world ended or has Real Salt Lake's chances of pipping the Galaxy (11-2-3, 36 points) for the Supporters' Shield late taken a huge upswing from the unlikeliest of teams? I will let you know this: it's both, but even worse, it has to do with two more things that I am very disgusted about: the Galaxy's inability to defend the set piece late and Donovan Ricketts' pulling off a Robert Green. Marko Perovic's goal in the 67th minute was a thing of beauty. No question about that. A clinical shot, and Ricketts was not going to get to that. However, the howler in the 75th minute was one to be damned. Donovan Ricketts, why hast thou forsaken us? This is ...

LA Galaxy vs. New England Revolution: A Play-By-Play (and Other Miscellany)

T-180 minutes to kickoff: Time to play those starters for the rest of the year, Bruce Arena. Maybe you can play the schmos on the reserves if we tear apart the first leg against Puerto Rico good enough. The Los Angeles Galaxy gave away a 2-0 victory to the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday in the 2010 U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinals. I don't think this reserve team is ready for prime time, given how poorly they performed. Time for the starters to show the reserves how to show up against a Major League Soccer opponent. T-170: Lineups...   LOS ANGELES GALAXY Manager: Bruce Arena Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Colors: White tops with blue and gold accents, white shorts, white socks     1 Donovan Ricketts     2 Todd Dunivant ---- 16 Greg Berhalter ---- 22 Leonardo ---- 28 Sean Franklin     11 Chris Birchall     88 Alex Cazumba ---- 19 Juninho     26 Michael Stephens     14 Edson Buddle ---- 17 Tristan Bowen     Substitutes:     12 Josh Saunders GK 20 A.J. De La Garza DEF 6 Eddie Lewis MID 7 Chris Klein MID 8 Dema Kovalenko MID 9 Jovan Kirovski MID 21 Alan Gordon FWD     NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION Manager: Steve Nicol Formation: 4-4-2 Colors: Navy blue tops with red accents, navy blue shorts, navy blue socks     1 Matt Reis     30 Kevin Alston ---- 5 Emmanuel Osei ---- 25 Darrius Barnes     17 Sainey Nyassi ---- 21 Shalrie Joseph (C) ---- ...

Superliga Preview 2010- Who Will Be The New Champion?

  The MLS has only two cups outside of the MLS Cup. The SuperLiga and the U.S. Open are those two. The U.S. Open comprises of only soccer teams from America, but not just from the MLS at the same time. The SuperLiga is a competition between the MLS and Mexico's Premier Division. The three past years of the SuperLiga have seen two Premier League Mexican teams win, Pachuca(2007,1st champion) and UANL Tigres (2009, 3rd champion) and one MLS team win, New England Revolution (2008, 2nd Champion). Out of the three champions, two return this year which would be the Revolution and Pachuca. Past runner-ups have also returned, including the Chicago Fire and the Houston Dynamo. The SuperLiga happens before the start of the Mexican Premier Division's season. Let's get to the preview.   Group A- Houston, Puebla, Pachuca, and Chivas USA Houston Dynamo One of the tougher teams in the MLS make their third appearance in the SuperLiga. Pros: They are a very defensive team and have proved such. They can easily win games if they are able to keep up their defensive prowess. Cons: They have struggled as of late, losing five straight games. Key Players: Brian Ching, who has scored three goals since his return from the ...

World Cup Having A Positive Impact On MLS Attendance

ESPN has seen a 36% increase in its ratings compared to the World Cup four years ago as suddenly soccer became a sport that the mainstream media covered. But the question that Major League Soccer probably wanted answered was did the interest in the world cup translate to more fans going to MLS games? The answer to that question is yes. CSNE.com  had some MLS attendance data that nine out of 12 MLS teams to have hosted a match since the World Cup started saw attendance go up from its last pre-tournament figure. From the article: "The return of Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle to MLS action on Sunday also marked the LA Galaxy's first match since before the World Cup. Twenty-seven thousand flocked to the stadium to welcome the duo home from South Africa, a mind-boggling 37.5 percent increase over the Galaxy's 2010 average attendance coming into the match. On the field, the twice-teammates showed their camaraderie when Donovan assisted on a Buddle goal early in the 19th minute as the Galaxy improved to 11-1-3 on the season with a 3-1 win over Seattle Sounders FC. The hookup furthered Buddle's and Donovan's respective MLS leads in goals and assists, as each has ...

Sounders Speak: Sigi Schmid Declares, “We’ve Got To Get Points!”

The MLS season has now passed the halfway point, and the Seattle Sounders need to launch a second half surge to maintain a reasonable shot of making the playoffs as the team was able to do in 2009 in its first season. The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup competition has found the Sounders performing successfully in the past two seasons.  Starfire Stadium at the team’s training facility in Tukwila has been a scene for great Sounder success with the latest chapter coming with last Wednesday’s 3-1 win over the L.A. Galaxy. As enjoyable as those U.S. Open Cup victories are, MLS competition is a separate entity.  Sunday night the Sounders reenter that sphere in hosting FC Dallas at the Xbox pitch of Qwest Field beginning at 7:30 p.m. This contest will mark the Sounders’ 25th consecutive sellout.  The team and its loyal fans know that time is of the essence if Seattle is going to move out of the second division ranks of the Western Conference, where it has yet to taste victory, and into the upper echelon of playoff teams. Coach Sigi Schmid was upfront about the importance of Sunday’s game. “We’ve got to get points!”  Schmid asserted when asked about the Dallas game.  ...

LeBron James Snubs New York, Thierry Henry Is Not a Bad Consolation Prize

Nothing will be able to fully heal Knicks fans of their broken hearts after LeBron James' choice to go to the Miami Heat (unless of course the universe folds and the Knicks win a ring before the Heat do), but New York could be welcoming another superstar in Thierry Henry. Barcelona have released the French star, and it has long been rumored that Henry will come to America to join the MLS, more specifically the New York Red Bulls. (The move is all but confirmed now with the Red Bulls set to unveil a new designated player on July 15th.) Right away comparisons to Beckham will be made, but this is a semi-different scenario. Henry doesn't quite have the star power Beckham does, and is going to New York rather than star studded LA. Obviously New York has some star power, but it's no Hollywood. So off the field, Henry won't be able to offer quite what Beckham offered, but on the field he should be able to provide more. At a time where soccer is probably at its biggest in the States, Henry can come into one of the biggest markets in the U.S. and put on a show for fans of the ...

Is Nate Jaqua a Key to a Seattle Sounders Resurgence?

During the first half of the season Seattle Sounders Coach Sigi Schmid has had to frequently piece together patchwork lineups based on numerous injuries sustained by his players. One of the key losses during this costly phase had been forward Nate Jaqua.  On July 7 at Starfire Stadium in Tukwila, WA, Jaqua served notice that he is back and a force to be reckoned with in the second half of the season as he booted home both scores in a 2-0 Seattle win over the L.A. Galaxy in the quarterfinal round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup competition before an enthusiastic sellout throng of 4,512. Last Sunday night in a 3-1 MLS loss to the host Galaxy, Schmid’s first half lament was that the Seattle defense was notably porous at midfield.  Jaqua was the first change he made as the second half commenced and there was a notable tightening after he entered the match. Since Jaqua was returning after a lengthy injury, Schmid understandably has brought him along gradually despite his bullishness in seeking to give him playing time. In one sense the U.S. Open Cup tourney activity has come along at the right time for the Sounders since Schmid has had an opportunity ...

Law Of One Spaniard In MLS At A Time: Miguel Angel Mista to Toronto FC

As the European transfer window comes to an exciting high point, Major League Soccer announces the signing of Spanish striker Miguel Angel Ferrer, "Mista", until the end of the 2010 season, as a second designated player. Mista, who has played for Valencia, Deportivo A Coruña and Atletico Madrid, has played near to 300 matches in Spain, including an amazing 2003/04 season for Valencia, where he managed to score 19 times in La Liga, and win the Spanish tournament, as well as the UEFA Cup. Mista began his career in Real Madrid's B team, but was quickly bought by Rafael Benitez's Tenerife, scoring 22 goals in three seasons. Valencia got ahold of the Murcian striker in 2001, and he did not disappoint. Five seasons and 40 goals with the team made him a favorite of the Valencian crowd, but a disappointing last season cut short his spell with the team from the East coast. The last four years for Mista have been even more disappointing; he scored three goals for Atletico in the first season, and did not even make it to ten games in the second. For Deportivo, he was slightly better, playing thirteen games each season, but only scoring once in every one of ...

Disgraceful Performance Dooms LA Galaxy Against Seattle Sounders, 2-0

Let me get this straight, Bruce Arena: I am getting word from Tukwila, Washington that your Los Angeles Galaxy reserve team did not take their contest against the Seattle Sounders seriously. They let a man by the name of Nate Jaqua salvage a win against your club, 2-0, in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Unacceptable. What were you thinking? Did you lose your mind by not starting Tristan Bowen at least, given that you chose to rest the players that would have allowed the guys to progress in the U.S. Open Cup? If this is the case, Bruce Arena, you should have forfeited this match. The Galaxy did not take this match seriously and had the mindset of "Oh whatever. After we swept them in MLS competition, we'll go with 'two out of three ain't bad.'" It's a asinine mindset, Arena. Why don't you take the U.S. Open Cup seriously? It would be a really good feather to go in the cap of the club, and it's not a difficult mindset to take. Instead, Arena, you go with a patchwork group of second-stringers who have no business being in a match like this, and eventually get run over by ...