First place isn’t good enough for Los Angeles Galaxy. The club expects to be the best team on the pitch for every 90 minutes regardless of how well their season has progressed thus far.
Forget that the defending league champions are once again at the top of the Supporters’ Shield race with 30 points from 16 games. Throw out the window that they are unbeaten in seven MLS contests, including four wins on the trot to finish the month of May. All that anyone can talk about in Carson it seems is the scoreless draw against D.C. United at home last Friday.
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VIDEO: GOL TV Canada's Los Angeles v. Toronto preview.</p> |
“It was pretty awful to watch,” said LA fullback Sean Franklin, according to club writer Larry Morgan. “Watching on TV and seeing what the fans got to see, we can’t come out like that in front of our home fans.”
Former Toronto forward Chad Barrett offered “the whole team” was lacking energy. He and his Galaxy teammates have vowed to fix that on Saturday when Toronto pays a visit. Barrett insists everyone is “going 100 percent” in training this week.
For Toronto – still one of seven MLS teams that are winless on the road – they can take encouragement from the fact that Los Angeles, arguably the league’s most explosive side, has been held scoreless against TFC in the last three encounters between the teams. They’ve already met at BMO Field this season for a stalemate.
If Toronto does indeed possess a formula to subdue Los Angeles, it will be severely tested against what appears to be an additionally motivated first place side they will face on Saturday night (10:30 p.m. ET on GOL TV Canada).
MISSING PLAYERS
Toronto and Los Angeles may be far apart in league standings but both teams have squad issues to manage on Saturday. TFC is missing some key players, but the Galaxy will be without goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts and forward Landon Donovan – both are away at the Gold Cup. Additionally, Brazilian midfielder Juninho has returned to his native country to get married.
One star that should be in LA’s lineup is David Beckham. The Englishman isn’t worried about squad vacancies. “We just have to deal with what we’ve got,” Beckham told the club’s website. “We’ve got a great squad of players, we should be fine.”
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