11Feb/110
David Beckham Loan Extended As Galaxy Plan Alliance With Tottenham Spurs
Tim Leiweke has been a busy guy lately. Last month, the AEG president and Galaxy owner unveiled a massive project for a new NFL stadium to be built in downtown LA. This week, he spoke to reporters in England via conference call and revealed that David Beckham’s training loan to Tottenham is possibly just the beginning of a new partnership between the clubs. “We have an existing relationship now,” said Leiweke. “Strategically you’ll see more of an alliance between us and Tottenham.” According to a report on ESPN Los Angeles, this partnership has the potential to include “player movement between the clubs.” As Leiweke put it, “We are beginning to think outside of the box on football, whether that’s David Beckham training with Spurs or maybe players from Tottenham coming to Galaxy.” Leiweke, who is also involved in the Houston Dynamo and the Chicago Fire, also hinted there might be a summer friendly played between the clubs. Leiweke also said he encouraged Beckham to go on loan with Tottenham in order to bolster the Galaxy’s relationship with Daniel Levy, the Spurs chairman. “There are other examples of conversations we’ve had with Daniel,“ he said. “In how to take that kind of cooperation and extend it to our team ...11Feb/110
Los Angeles Galaxy Ins and Outs, Feb. 11, 2011
Another day, another draw It seems that SuperDraft selection Paolo Cardozo may be better than advertised. Yesterday, Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy played the San Jose Earthquakes to a 1-1 draw at the Home Depot Center. Ike Opara scored for San Jose in the fourth minute of play, but Mike Magee scored on a set piece from Cardozo in the 84th minute. Up next for the Galaxy is training camp in Arizona. The team departs on Sunday, Feb. 13, with the camp scheduled for Feb. 14-22. Training includes matches against defending MLS Cup champions Colorado Rapids on Feb. 16 and expansion side Vancouver Whitecaps on Feb. 20 and 22. 2011 schedule arrived On Thursday, the club announced their schedule for the 2011 MLS regular season, which comprises of 17 home and 17 road games. The season begins with MLS First Kick 2011 at Qwest Field on Tuesday, Mar. 15. Six matches will be aired by ABC/ESPN and another five will be televised by the Univision family of networks (Univision, Telefutura and Galavision). The Galaxy's longest home stand is in July, when they host Seattle on Jul. 4, the Chicago Fire on Jul. 9 and the Columbus Crew on Jul. 20. The club's longest road trip will be in April, when ...10Feb/110
New York Red Bulls Release 2011 Regular Season MLS Schedule
Much like their energy-drink namesake, the New York Red Bulls are known for top-flight speed and performance under pressure. However, the upcoming year is expected to be grueling due to the expansion of the MLS regular season schedule to 34 games. Last season, each club played only 30 matches and the addition of four more is sure to be tiresome coming down the stretch in October. In determining the schedule, MLS commissioner Don Garber said the decision came down to two different approaches. One idea was to maintain the balanced format of 2010 in which every team plays the others the same number of times and the other option was to move back to an unbalanced schedule that promotes rivalries. It appears that the final selection was a combination of the two choices, as the Red Bulls play a balanced schedule, but have plenty of games against their natural rivals. The Red Bulls will be kicking off the season against the Seattle Sounders FC at Red Bull Arena on March 19 at 7:30 p.m. and then head to Ohio to battle the Columbus Crew on March 26 for their first road match. On April 9, the Red Bulls will continue their intense rivalry against the Philadelphia Union at PPL Park in a showdown that will ...10Feb/110
Football Greats: Ranking the Top 25 MLS Players of All-Time
Beckham. Angel. Henry. Marquez. Montero. Ferreira. Cummings. Ricketts. Wondolowski. Le Toux. Rimando. Coundoul. Buddle. Keller.These are just a few names when talking about some of the best-known players in Major League Soccer in the past few years.But who are the top 25 players to have ever competed in this league? Bleacher Report investigates.NOTE: Records are as of this publishing date.Begin Slideshow9Feb/110
Los Angeles Galaxy Ins and Outs, Feb. 9, 2011
Galaxy play to a 1-1 draw with Timbers Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy continued their preseason with a match against the Portland Timbers at the Home Depot Center on Tuesday. Paolo Cardozo scored in the 47th minute off a delivery from Bryan Jordan from the right flank. Portland's Brian Umony scored an unassisted goal in the 50th minute to tie the match. Up next will be a preseason game with their California Clasico rivals, the San Jose Earthquakes, on Thursday, Feb. 10. After the match, the Galaxy will continue to train at the Home Depot Center until Sunday, when they take off for training in Arizona. Barrett raring for more production San Diego's very own Chad Barrett looked forward to the opportunity to increase his production as a member of the Los Angeles Galaxy. “It’s a happy place here” Barrett said. “Everybody’s just happy. I can see why it’s so easy. You wake up, the sun’s up. How can you be mad? “I’m just looking for the chance to get in there. I consider myself a starter in this league and I’m going to fight for my starting spot but I’m definitely going to have a lot of competition.” In terms of skill, Barrett feels that he emulates a ...6Feb/110
New York Cosmos: Los Angeles Futbol Club Ends Their Affiliation With the Cosmos
While the New York Cosmos celebrates the club's 40th anniversary, the Los Angeles Futbol Club has made the decision to end their affiliation with the New York Cosmos six months after the New York Cosmos announced the creation of Cosmos Academy East and West.Fielding teams from Under-9 through U-18 as part of the Cosmos, LAFC is based out of Pasdena, California. The club has been ranked the No. 1 youth club in California and is a top-10 ranked club in the United States.As part of their initial agreement, the New York Cosmos organization was covering the costs of registration fees, uniforms, coaches’ salaries and travel costs that families normally have to pay from their end.Who ends an affiliation with the most famous American Soccer Club in American Soccer History?An organization who (1) has a better deal with another party or (2) wasn’t happy with the affiliation. Odds are that we'll never know the reason because the Los Angeles Futbol Club were polite about terminating their relationship with the ...6Feb/110
Los Angeles Galaxy Ins and Outs, Feb. 6, 2011
Consistency expected from Galaxy defense While Los Angeles Galaxy manager Bruce Arena brought in nine new players to the team, a defensive unit that gave up only 26 goals in the regular season was mostly left intact. It can be said that bigger things are expected from the backline, which now has Ryan Thomas and Frankie Hejduk in the lineup. “It’s [Arena's] job to get things right,” goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts said. “It’s our job to do them right on the field.” Ricketts, the 2010 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, finished his initial campaign with an 18-7-4 record, 12 shutouts and a 0.90 goals average. “You never know with that stuff,” said defender Todd Dunivant. “You come out every day and do your job, and we did that last year. We came in every day and put in our work and throughout the year, we were the best team in the league." In spite of giving up critical defeats for patches of the regular season and the Western Conference Championship, Dunivant was optimistic. “We’ve had a very good defense the last two years," Dunivant said. "Last year it was one of the best all-time in the history of the league, and that tells you something. We had a ...3Feb/110
Los Angeles Galaxy Ins and Outs, Feb. 3, 2011
Lopez, Cardozo get to work Los Angeles Galaxy manager Bruce Arena salivated at the prospects of Paolo Cardozo's and Miguel Lopez's success this season during team training on Wednesday. “We’re hopeful they can add a different dimension to our attack,” Arena said. “We know Lopez is a quick, direct, aggressive attacker. He likes the ball at his feet and he’ll take people on. He can play as a second forward or perhaps as an attacking midfielder or wide midfielder. Cardozo has a good first touch, he plays quick and can score some goals for us. “I think with all these players, whether it’s the very elite player or players underneath that, I think there’s an adjustment they have to go through. You always have to reserve your judgment until we get going and see how they hold up. I’m hopeful they’re both going to help us.” “Without a doubt, the [Galaxy are] one of the few teams you hear about,” Lopez said in Spanish through an interpreter, “because of the stars with the team.” “I just know the league was growing,” Cardozo added, “and becoming more and more recognizable. This is a great opportunity, and I want to take advantage of it.” For Cardozo, the memory ...3Feb/110
MLS Expansion: 10 Best and Worst Places for Major League Soccer to Expand
Major League Soccer has come a long way from its humble beginnings at the dawn of the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Now there is talk of the league expanding to accomodate more teams.At one point in time, you may see as many as 25 teams taking part in this competition.Which markets deserve a shot at expansion? And which markets don't? Bleacher Report investigates.Begin Slideshow2Feb/110