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Galaxy Advances

It looked like the better team won last night at Home Depot Center.

The NY Times has an interesting article, found here, about Beckham's renaissance with the Galaxy. A quote:

“Now I would say they really enjoy each other,” said Arena, who credited Donovan’s professionalism for mending the relationship. Donovan said it was Beckham’s renewed dedication to his teammates. He described how Beckham had addressed the Galaxy on the eve of Sunday’s match and had recently taken the players out to dinner to celebrate making the playoffs.

“He’s done a lot of things to show that he wants to be here,” said Donovan, who has assumed the role of captain from Beckham.

The article includes a reference to Bruce Arena acting like "Dr. Phil" to smooth things over between his high-strung stars. I'll be rooting for Houston to prevail, on general principles, but it's probably a good thing for the league that the Galaxy is not a total laughingstock anymore.

United 0 - Galaxy 0 August 22, 2009

This team has broken my heart on a number of occasions, but Saturday's tie-that-felt-like-a-loss was not profoundly wrenching.

It should have been, given that it establishes DC on a downward trajectory toward not making the playoffs for a second year in a row. Nevertheless, the result seemed preordained. Although the team looked more aggressive and coordinated than in other recent games--and it never gave up until the end--I simply could not believe that United would pull out a win.

Random observations about the Galaxy:

• David Beckham: a lazy bastard. He dawdled around midfield most of the time.

• Bruce Arena: has epic man-boobs. We're talking Zeppelins here.

• Cobi Jones: I saw this girl walking down the sideline in LA gear and thought, who's that girl on the field? Then I realized it was Cobi Jones, standing around expectantly like Landon Donovan's fluffer.