LA Galaxy play AC Milan to a Draw in a Friendly Soccer match (7/09)
It was a warm 80 degrees at 7pm July 19, 2009 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. There was a sellout crowd of 27,000 people + and not a bad seat in the house. The stadium was full of families and young professionals ready to cheer or boo for their favorite professional soccer players. The game started off with the national anthem sung beautifully by Joanna Pissoti intertwined with fireworks. Both teams took photos next to each other and together before the start. Even the grass seating on the north side of the field was packed with fans.
There was a large Brazilian population at the game ready to cheer on their star athlete Ronaldinho every time he touched the ball. The Brazilians added a lot of excitement to the game by constantly cheering, booing, singing, dancing, beating a drum, throwing confetti or starting the wave. It was great to see the excitement and character of these people and this nation. AC Milan is in its preparations for the start of their European season while Los Angeles is in mid season.
Milan opened the scoring on a free kick by Davide Di Gennaro that was headed in by Thiago Silva from just inside the goal area. The Galaxy tied it on a beautiful Beckham long pass to Landon Donavon who made the defense and goalie converge on him before he passed to a wide open Alan Gordon for an easy goal. Gordon substituted for Edson Buddle who was limping in the first half. Newcomer Aleco Eskandarian has been a nice find while scoring some goals for the team. Milan finally took the lead in the 61st minute. Ronaldinho, a terror on the wing all night, found Mathieu Flamini all alone on the flank. He collected the pass and beat second-half substitute Leonard Griffin with a nice pass through the defender’s legs to Filippo Inzaghi, who in turn beat goalkeeper Josh Saunders for the easy score and 2-1 lead.The Galaxy, however, came right back four minutes later. Beckham sent in a corner kick that was headed in by Bryan Jordan for the tying goal and then he celebrated with a running flip.
The crowd booed repeatedly when David Beckham got the ball. Beckham did earn cheers by the end of the game, after his two remarkable passes, to give the Galaxy their only scores. There were even signs declaring "Go Home Fraud 23" held up before taken away by security. The LA Times reports a fan jumped onto the field and started giving Beckham some rude remarks after Beckham told the fan to come over here so he could shake his hand during a halftime incident. The fans were heavily booing him throughout the game but hopefully things will calm down when the Galaxy resumes its season and playoff run. Beckham played a great game despite the criticism and eventually got substituted for in the 75th minute. The LA Riot Squad section was out of line in my opinion being disrespectful to Beckham and the one fan that jumped onto the field was banned for life from the Home Depot Center.
The Galaxy plays at Kansas City on July 25th before the All Star game in Utah on July29th before another huge Friendly game vs. FC Barcelona at the Rose Bowl on August 1st. Coach Bruce Arena has the team playing very well and moving up in the standings.
More info and tickets at www.lagalaxy.com
