Third Kit's Mega MLS Cup Preview

Possibly the finest and most publicized season of Major League Soccer concludes today with MLS Cup. The league-best Los Angeles Galaxy take on the Houston Dynamo, underdogs but two-time Cup winners.

The Galaxy have all the names (and money): David Beckham, Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane. The Dynamo’s best player—Brad Davis—will miss the game due to a hamstring injury. That doesn’t mean the Dynamo should be counted out though.

Check out the mega preview on Third Kit, breaking down the players to watch, how each team can win, how each team can lose and other important observations as all eyes in Hollywood are set on soccer.

Los Angeles Galaxy 2011 MLS Season Preview

AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez

The 2010 season was another year the Los Angeles Galaxy fell short.

Again with one of the most loaded teams in the league, the Galaxy was the top-seed in the Western Conference for the second consecutive season and won the Supporter’s Shield. However, they were bounced in the semifinals of the MLS Cup playoffs.

It appears management won’t settle for anything short of the franchise’s third championship, so the team brought in several big-name acquisitions over the offseason.

The team was dealt a rather large blow when breakout star and 2010 leading goal scorer Edson Buddle left Los Angeles for Germany. Who would pick up the goal scoring slack?

The organization acted quickly in not only replacing Buddle, but improving its entire stable of forwards. The Galaxy traded for Adam Cristman and Chad Barrett and acquired Designated Player Juan Pablo Angel—the New York Red Bulls’ all-time leading goal scorer—in the Re-Entry draft.

Angel may be 35-years-old and have some injuries that have bothered him in recent years, but he still was New York’s leading goal scorer not only last season, but all four years he was with the franchise. He is deadly as a penalty-kick taker.

Barrett is a nice-pickup for the squad. He’s only 25-years-old and put together a few solid seasons with Toronto FC and the Chicago Fire. With more experience and a better supporting cast to serve him up top, Barrett could be in store for a big year stat-wise.

The defense also got a new addition this year, adding Frankie Hejduk through the Re-Entry draft. He’s 36-years-old and hasn’t been relied on by the Columbus Crew or the U.S. National Team recently like he was in years past, but he can still play. He should help solidify the backline as well as continue to help young defensive standouts Omar Gonzalez and Sean Franklin mature.

The front office has done extremely well drafting players the past few years and has a good mix of youth and experience on the roster. Make no mistake about it though, the Galaxy are in a win-now mode. Angel, Hejduk and defender Gregg Berhalter are all towards the end of their careers. Landon Donovan, arguably the best player in league history, has been flirting with a move to Europe for a few years now. Also, David Beckham, the league’s first Designated Player, is in the final year of a five-year contract he signed with the team.

Maybe more important than the new additions, though, is the health of Donovan and Beckham. After multiple years of nonstop soccer with the Galaxy, their respective national teams and going on winter-loans, both of them finally slowed down this past offseason.

After playing year-round, Donovan, with his stock higher than ever thanks to his performance in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, decided he needed time to rest. He did not go out on another loan and did not play in any of the U.S. National Team’s games. Looking at his Twitter account, one could tell he was itching to be on the field. But the rest should serve his body well, and refresh him for the MLS season.

Beckham didn’t willingly sit out the winter months, but the Galaxy—fearing for his health after he tore his Achilles tendon with AC Milan last year—refused to let him out on loan. Beckham trained with Tottenham and the Galaxy hope the last season of his contract—and maybe with the Galaxy ever—will be his best.

So the team’s leading men are rested and should have their legs under them for the entirety of the season as the team makes one final push to the top.

The Galaxy resemble the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA. They should dominate the regular season and be a favorite for the championship heading into the playoffs. What will it take for them to get over the hump though?

They have lots of players with MLS experience on this team and plenty of leadership—Angel and Hejduk were captains of their clubs—to potentially rectify that reoccurring problem.

David Beckham joins the L.A. Galaxy in preseason. Video from YouTube.

MLS Loses Icon as Clint Mathis Retires

Clint Mathis, one of the memorable and beloved soccer players of his generation retired after starting Saturday’s Los Angeles Galaxy-Real Madrid exhibition match.

A career that spanned 13 professional seasons, Mathis was successful at the college, club, country, and international club levels. He had a nose for goal and carried along an iconic personality.

Mathis was a star for four years at the University of South Carolina. He scored 53 goals and added 15 assists in 58 total games, was a two-time All-American, set the school record as a sophomore with 25 goals in one season, and led the team to the NCAA tournament all four years.

His goal scoring prowess really progressed in Mathis’ time with Major League Soccer.

After being a first round draft pick of the Los Angeles Galaxy in 1998, Mathis finished his rookie season with five goals and 10 assists, establishing himself as a rising talent.

In 2000 he was traded to MetroStars where he quickly solidified his presence as one of the best playmakers America had produced.

The MetroStars had a dismal 1999 season but were instantly uplifted with Mathis’ arrival. He scored 13 goals and 13 assists in 21 games with the team that season, including an MLS-record five goals in one game against the Dallas Burn, en route to leading the team to the MLS Cup semi-finals.

The following season he won the MLS Goal of the Year (which would later be nominated for Goal of the Decade) for his incredible 60-yard run through defenders and bottom corner finish.



While Mathis was a member of the team through 2003, because of injury, national team duties, and transfers overseas and within MLS, Mathis would not make a significant return to the MetroStars, now renamed the Red Bulls, until 2007. His last goal with the club came in a thrilling 5-4 win over the David Beckham-led Galaxy in front of 80,000 fans at Giants Stadium. It also happened to break the franchise-record for goals scored in all competitions, at 45 (Juan Pablo Angel later broke Mathis’ record).

Mathis would finally win an MLS Cup championship with Real Salt Lake in 2009. His role was heavily reduced with the team, appearing as a substitute, but would play a key role in winning the championship match. With the score tied 1-1 after overtime, Mathis was selected to take the first penalty kick in the shootout and converted.

In 11 MLS seasons Mathis scored 67 total MLS-competition goals with the Galaxy, Red Bulls/MetroStars, Real Salt Lake, and Colorado Rapids.

He also made an impact overseas, acting as a goal scoring threat with Hanover 96 in the German Bundesliga and for Ergotolis in Greece. Mathis scored in his debut for both clubs and he scored four goals in his first five games with Hanover.

Mathis’ biggest goal of his career came in the 2002 World Cup. Representing the U.S., Mathis started the second game of the group stage against host-nation South Korea and scored after collecting a ball from the air and slotting it into the bottom corner, to give the United States a 1-0 lead and eventually a 1-1 draw.

Mathis’ goal scoring abilities absolutely captured the attention and imagination of soccer fans in the States, but it wasn’t the only thing about him. Mathis had quite a bit of personality to him that really made him remarkable.

In fact, it was a second personality that endeared him to fans.

Mathis adopted an on-field personality known as Cletus. Cletus was brash, was honest, and had flair. He would help Clint celebrate his success, but also would cause him to make some poor decisions. But all in all, they made Clint recognizable.

He was the cover story for Sports Illustrated's 2002 World Cup preview issue.

After Mathis scored his first goal with the MetroStars, he lifted his jersey to reveal an “I Love New York” t-shirt, expressing his dissatisfaction that the Galaxy got rid of him as well as making New York his new home and earning credit with the home fans.



Not only did Clint score in the 2002 World Cup, but he also sported a Mohawk that scored him instant recognition.

As for Cletus’ bad influence, he reared his ugly head while Clint was with Hanover.

In his second season with the German club, there was a coaching change and the new manager kept Mathis on the bench. One game, Mathis was used as a substitute in the last few minutes of the game yet almost immediately scored the game-winning goal. As for his celebration, Mathis ran to the sidelines in front of his bench and tapped his wrist, referring to a watch, how late Mathis entered the game, and what he could have done with more time.

Mathis started the next game, but never played for the team again afterwards.

All things considered, Clint or Cletus, goals or benchings, Mathis was a special individual. He had talent galore and was an entertaining character.

MLS and American soccer in general will miss a man that made such an impact on the game and an impression on its loyal fans.



Photo Credits.
Top: AP Photo/Yonhap, Jin Sung-chul
Left: AP Photo/Bill Kostroun
Right: AP Photo/Christof Stache

Los Angeles Galaxy 2010 MLS Season Preview

AP Photo/Gus Ruelas

A Landon Donovan missed penalty kick in the shootout prevented the Los Angeles Galaxy from winning the MLS Cup in 2009.

For the regular season and playoff Western Conference champions, it may have been just the beginning of more disappointment for the club.

David Beckham, the team’s designated player and the man media go in a frenzy over, will miss six months—two more additional months than he would have missed after his loan to AC Milan and a trip to the World Cup with England were up—with a torn Achilles tendon suffered in a Serie A match against Chievo Verona.

Missing Beckham is a two-fold problem.

He obviously is a talented player that really helps the team play at its best. Known for his pinpoint bending crosses and shots, Beckham has been very good in transition from defense to offense and providing great service to the forwards.

Although the Galaxy have played well without him in the past, when Beckham returned from loan last season he really pushed the Galaxy over the edge and made them MLS Cup contenders.

The second issue is what kind of fan support will they receive now?

Beckham was a huge draw for the team, both home and away, and generated a lot of income for the franchise. Without him, will the fans still come out to the games? Will Los Angeles have any interest at all in the team, especially if they start to struggle?

The Galaxy’s most important player, Landon Donovan, will also miss a month of the season for the World Cup.

After a successful loan stint at Everton this offseason and if he continues his good play on the pitch throughout the sport's biggest stage, he may be ready to make a permanent move overseas.

With the threat of losing the team's two most valuable players the Galaxy could be in danger of free-falling down the standings.

However, the Galaxy does have arguably the greatest American soccer coach in history in Bruce Arena. He's had success with the U.S. Men's National Team and has won MLS Cups with D.C. United as well as bringing the Galaxy there last year.

He's done so by building a roster of "his players", guys he's worked with before and has a good rapport with.

Since coming to Los Angeles, Arena has brought in fullbacks Todd Dunivant and U.S. international Gregg Berhalter to solidify a terrible defense, former U.S. international midfielders Eddie Lewis and Tony Sanneh, Mike Magee and Clint Mathis both of whom Arena coached in New York, and tenacious midfielder Dema Kovalenko who played for Arena in both D.C. and New York.

All these players are veteran players that know how to win, how to win with Arena's coaching and playing style, and can tutor the younger players. All these traits are important to help cultivate a winning environment.

Speaking of the young players, the Galaxy has struck gold the past couple of years in the draft.

In 2008 the Galaxy selected defender Sean Franklin out of Cal-State Northridge with the fourth overall pick. He played in 27 of the team's 30 league games and was named the Galaxy's Defender of the Year and MLS Rookie of the Year. In 2009 he started all four game of Los Angeles' playoff run.

In 2009 the Galaxy drafted Omar Gonzalez out of Maryland third overall. Standing at a towering 6'5", the rookie center-back started all 30 league games, played every minute of all four playoff games, and was also name MLS Rookie of the Year. This winter he was called into the United States training camp and impressed throughout his workouts.

The Galaxy hope to continue that trend with first rounder and number 16 overall pick Michael Stephens.

The midfielder out of UCLA has had an impressive preseason, scoring a pair of goals in scrimmages against the Bruins, and set up the game-winning goal in a friendly against Puntarenas. Stephens has said that he still needs to work on adjusting to the speed and physicality of the league, but he looks like he can be a solid contributor this season. His ability to play as a center midfielder or out on the wings should come in handy with the absences of Donovan and Beckham.

Arena has managed to build a solid core of role players and improving young studs around the talented but extremely expensive Beckham and Donovan. The big question that will be answered this season is how will they perform without the assistance of the Galaxy's two marquee players?

If no one is ready to step up, it could turn into another long season for Los Angeles.

To Care Or Not To Care

Photo Credit. AP Photo/ Rich Schultz

Tomorrow evening, David Beckham returns to the MLS when his Los Angeles Galaxy travel to New Jersey to play Red Bull New York.

The burning question: does anyone care?

The fans, the media, his teammates, Beckham himself, do any of them care?

When he first crossed the pond, some were claiming he would be the soccer savior in America.

While savior was an extreme title to give him, there was some legitimacy in the idea that Beckham’s name was popular enough that it had crossover appeal outside of soccer to draw more casual, or non-fans, to MLS and the sport as a whole.

Beckham’s arrival did generate a lot of buzz about MLS and soccer in the media and at the gates.

The Galaxy had the highest average attendance in the league, and when they were the visitors, the home team saw an incremental spike in attendance, like when over 66 thousand people showed up to see Beckham’s first trip to Giants Stadium against the Red Bulls. Beckham jersey sales also did well.

However, a few things really hampered his first season.

For starters, Beckham’s health was not 100%.

Knee problems, including a sprained right medial collateral ligament, kept him from making only seven appearances in his first season with the club, in which a handful he only came on as a substitute.

The Galaxy were also a terrible team.

Losing never helps a player’s profile, and Los Angeles lost a lot. They were eliminated from the playoffs, which meant one of the bigger stages of the MLS season would be without its biggest marketing tool.

Another disappointing aspect was the level of expectations that were placed, unfairly, on Beckham.

What non-soccer fans expected out of the player from the two biggest clubs in the world, Manchester United and Real Madrid, was for him to dominate the league and score a lot of goals.

What they didn’t understand was that that wasn’t the type of player Beckham was.
Beckham was a playmaking midfielder, a facilitator of the ball, with extremely good touch and a deadly free kick. He was not a goal scorer.

Spectators were building him up to be something he wasn’t, and when he didn’t deliver, they felt something was wrong with him and they were cheated by all the media hype.

What didn’t help Beckham’s case was that along with not scoring he was also not doing a great job of distributing the ball.

In his Galaxy career, he has only registered a total of 12 assists, certainly not what one would expect from a player of his caliber. Just last season, Columbus Crew midfielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto lead the league with 19 assists.

Nothing was worse, though, when Beckham was loaned out to AC Milan in the offseason.
One reason for the loan was because Beckham wanted to keep playing at a high level in order to continue to fight for a spot on the English national team.

While one can never berate a guy for wanting to play for his country, it is unfortunate that he would only be considered if he were playing abroad.

Things got uglier when he stepped on the field.

Beckham looked like a rejuvenated player. He scored two goals in his first four matches, assisted a number of others, and looked to be playing at top form again.

It was great to see a player who had been in MLS the past season and a half performing at a high level in the Serie A, but one couldn’t help but wonder why Beckham couldn’t perform this way in an L.A. uniform.

Where was this skill, talent, and production?

Why was it all of a sudden just showing up in Italy and not the states?

Then he pushed to extend his loan.

Beckham was supposed to return in time for the beginning of the MLS season. Yet he forced his hand into staying with Milan until the end of the Serie A season, not making him eligible to return to MLS until today. What Beckham really wanted was to be sold to Milan for good.

Now Beckham looked like a player who didn’t want to be a part of the league.

All his talk about being serious about doing his part to make America a soccer nation, and not just being another paycheck, seemed to be for naught. Comparing and contrasting his play in L.A. to Milan made him look uninspired on the field in L.A., and now he was backing it up with his contract dispute.

Beckham didn’t want to be here.

Recently, Beckham has made headlines again, but this time as part of the subject of a book.

The Beckham Experiment is written by Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl, detailing Beckham’s arrival in the states and impact on the game here.

One of the interview subjects is Galaxy teammate Landon Donovan. Donovan rips into Beckham and the perception that he didn’t want to be here.

"He's not shown (he's a good team-mate). I can't think of another guy where I'd say he wasn't a good team-mate, he didn't give everything through all this, he didn't still care. But with (Beckham), I'd say no, he wasn't committed,” said Donovan.

"Let's say he does stay here for three more years. I'm not going to spend the next three years of my life doing it this way. This is [expletive] miserable. I don't want to have soccer be this way."

While Beckham countered that he’d never been called a bad teammate anywhere he’s played, it’s tough to believe he’s been completely committed to MLS and the Galaxy.
He was much more explosive on the field at AC Milan, like playing for them mattered more to him.

Between the stark difference in play and his push to stay at Milan and be away from L.A., the team he is under contract for, has left a sour taste in many people’s mouths. Now that he’s finally coming back, it’s tough to tell if anybody cares anymore.

There will be some attention on the Galaxy-Red Bull game, especially two days after Wahl’s book came out.

How will Beckham and Donovan’s playing relationship be?

Will Beckham even be fit enough to play?

How much media coverage will the game receive?

Most importantly, will Beckham, after all this controversy, still be enough of a draw to bring fans out to Giants Stadium to watch a miserable Red Bulls team?

Beckham better put on a show in New Jersey like he did in Italy, because we know he’s capable, and if he doesn’t, this “savior” will become a fallen angel, and may take the intrigue of the league down with him if he isn’t careful.