The New York Red Bulls take on David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy tonight at Giants Stadium. The English superstar is set to play his first game for the Galaxy this season, which might explain the larger than usual crowd tonight (though not the usual crowd for a Beckham game).
The Red Bulls will be looking to end their own miserable winless streak and has the strongest lineup they've fielded in months. Mac Kandji is back in the lineup, as are Albert Celades and Alfredo Pacheco.
Will that be enough to stop a streaking Galaxy team that is welcoming back Beckham and Landon Donovan.
I will be providing commentary throughout the night so please feel free to follow along here. As always, you are welcome to share your own thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action.
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FINAL- Galaxy 3, Red Bulls 1. The Galaxy streak continues. The Red Bulls misery continues. David Beckham makes his return, but Donovan reminds us that it's his team.
That's all for me tonight. Feel free to share your thoughts on the match in the comments section below.
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90th minute- PENALTY. LA with a handball.
SAVED BY RICKETTS!!!!!!!!! Angel has his PK saved. Figures, doesn't it?
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89th minute- Galaxy 3, Red Bulls 1. I suppose the Red Bulls can say they won the second half.
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88th minute- How does the referee not play advantage there? John Wolyniec was just robbed of a goal.
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87th minute- GOAL RED BULLS! Juan Pablo Angel converts the penalty. Weird call. An LA handball is called even though the ball fell to Wolyniec, who buried it into an open net.
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85th minute- Chris Klein is in for Eddie Lewis.
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84th minute- So the early score in the Donovan vs. Beckham competition? Donovan 1, Beckham 0.
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80th minute- Tonight's attendance: 23,238. The Beckham Effect is officially dead (okay, so maybe not totally dead, but dead-ish).
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79th minute- John Wolyniec comes in for Mac Kandji. Red Bulls fans are thinking, "At least he didn't get hurt."
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76th minute- John Wolyniec is ready to come into the game. Get ready for 3-1 (okay, I'm kidding).
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74th minute- Mike Magee is in for Eskandarian. Odds that Magee scores against his former team? 6-1.
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72nd minute- Birchall with some nice passes. That acquisition is going to wind up being a very good one.
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70th minute- David Beckham leaves the match, Chris Birchall comes in. Nice chorus of boos for Beckham. Sinisa Ubiparipovic has come in for Zimmerman.
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69th minute- I'm sitting next to "The Beckham Experiment" author Grant Wahl, who has avoided assassination attempts by David Beckham's people (kidding).
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67th minute- Edson Buddle with a blast that Cepero saves (more like has go right at him).
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66th minute- Zimmerman has moved over the the left flank for the Red Bulls. He's one of the few bright spots this season, a real promising player in a sea of disappointment.
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61st minute- Richards for Celades, who was largely invisible today. I have a feeling the Spaniard is wishing he had just retired instead of signing in MLS.
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60th minute- Celades with a soft header right at Ricketts.
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58th minute- Can LA be considered a legit title contender? Once you're in the playoffs anything is possible and any team with Donovan and Beckham on it is going to have a chance in the MLS playoff format. Check that, any team with Donovan, Beckham and Donovan Ricketts is going to have a chance.
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57th minute- Angel tries to beat two defenders near the line but watches it go out of bounds. He has to be miserable.
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55th minute- Dane Richards is coming into the match (insert Facebook joke here).
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52nd minute- Some Red Bulls fans with a sign that reads "We Deserve Better." It should read, "Nobody Deserves This."
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49th minute- It's time to start talking about LA and this recent winning streak. The playoffs are looking pretty good for Bruce Arena's squad these days.
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48th minute- Could this be Cepero's last game as starter? You have to wonder when Bouna Coundoul gets the start.
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47th minute- Here comes a Beckham free kick from long distance.
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46th minute- And we're back. No subs.
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HALFTIME- Donovan with a goal and assist tonight, not bad for someone who took the red-eye hear and got to Jersey in the morning. Maybe he should fly in the day of the game more often (well, then gain, maybe that only works against teams that are the worst in MLS).
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HALFTIME- LA isn't playing amazingly, but when they've gotten looks they've buried them. The Red Bulls have been awful at closing down shooters and while they have moved the ball around in stretches, and have had some very clear looks, they don't have a single goal to show for it.
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HALFTIME- The crowd here is booing Beckham every time he touches the ball. Not sure I get the logic when so many of these people are basically here because of Beckham. If you come out to a game just to boo a player then you're pretty hardcore.
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HALFTIME- Galaxy 3, Red Bulls 0. If the Red Bulls were a horse, someone would shoot it.
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45th minute- Another goal in the last minute of a half. Seriously? Can all 11 Red Bulls just stand in the net for the last minute of each half?
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45th minute- GOAL GALAXY!!! And it's Eddie Lewis with the blast, off a great pass from Donovan. Galaxy 3, Red Bulls 0.
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42nd minute- SAVE RICKETTS. TWICE. Rojas had a look at the whole goal but still has his shot stopped by Donovan Ricketts. Stammler with the first blast in that sequence.
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39th minute- Petke with a great tackle on Donovan, who just torched Pacheco.
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38th minute- THis game is in dire need of some drinking games.
Berhalter harsh tackles
Angel missed chances
Rojas turnovers
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34th minute- Beckham hits the wall with his shot. Here comes LA with a corner.
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34th minute- Beckham has a free kick from 33 yards out.
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32nd minute- Nothing Cepero or the back-line could do on that one either. The Red Bulls central midfield has to close LA down in the space on front of the box.
To be fair, it's been to extremely well-taken shots by LA.
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31st minute- GOAL GALAXY!!!!! Landon Donovan with a long-range blast. He crushes one from 30. Galaxy 2, Red Bulls 0.
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28th minute- Another long free kick from the right flank. Beckham plays it short to Donovan. They combine, but nothing comes of the sequence.
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27th minute- Beckham with a free kick from 45, dangerous. It's cleared away.
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25th minute- Rojas rolls his ankle and is receiving treatment on the sidelines.
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24th minute- Who gets torched for a goal first, Alfredo Pacheco or any other Red Bull?
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20th minute- Angel free kick is deflected for a corner. The corner is headed wide by Sassano.
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18th minute- Galaxy is known for sitting on one-goal leads, but with Beckham and Donovan on the field you have to think they'll keep attacking.
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14th minute- Red Bulls knocking on the door but can't make the final pass. Zimmerman and Kandji showing some early flashes.
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13th minute- For those who were asking, no, Posh Spice did NOT since the national anthem.
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11th minute- Who will step up for the Red Bulls tonight?
Beckham getting booed with every touch.
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10th minute- Donovan completes his first pass to Beckham. Nothing happens.
Berhalter just takes out Kandji, leading to a Kandji flip in the air. He gets a yellow.
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8th minute- Angel forces a save from Ricketts, earning a corner. Angel's the only attacking Red Bull showing anything early.
Corner is ruled out of bounds.
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7th minute- For those of you wondering, Landon Donovan arrived in New Jersey this morning after taking a red-eye flight from Los Angeles last night. He stayed in LA to attend the ESPY Awards.
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4th minute- Red Bulls are definitely regretting not trading for Eskandarian right now. Albert Celades lets him get by him. Not his finest moment. Eskandarian blasts a left-footer from 25 yards out. Someone should have told Celades not to give Eskandarian his left.
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3rd minute- GOAL GALAXY!!! and it's Alecko Eskandarian with the finish. WOW. Left-footed blast.
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2nd minute- Beckham lining up centrally, with Donovan on the right flank.
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1st minute- And we're off.
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PRE-GAME- The crowd is starting to fill out. Not a bad crowd for a mid-week game.
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PRE-GAME- Here is the Galaxy's lineup:
------------Buddle----------Eskandarian------------
-----------------------Donovan---------------------
Lewis----------------------------------------Beckham
---------------------Miglioranzi-----------------------
Dunivant----Berhalter---Gonzalez-----De La Garza
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PRE-GAME- If the Red Bulls are going to snap their losing streak, they have the lineup to do it (or at least as good a lineup as they could hope for). Here it is:
----------Angel----------Kandji--------------
Rojas------Stammler-----Celades----Zimmerman
Pacheco------Petke------Sassano--------Hall
--------------------Cepero------------------------
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PRE-GAME- Not the biggest crowd tonight, looks like 25K to 30K. Pretty disappointing for a Beckham game (though many of these fans are Beckham fans).
Ives Galarcep is an American soccer columnist for ESPNsoccernet.com and creator of SoccerByIves.net.
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