New York outscores LA; a game full of attack, bereft of defence but plenty of excitement and goals; 5-4 on Angel winner. 

 

A seriously packed Giants Stadium in East Rutherford; Beckham is a fan puller and the crowd was buzzing well before kick off.  A full MLS debut for the Englishman but the talent is deep with a Colombian, Honduran and plenty of home grown talent on display. 

 

New York stick with the less than durable Waterreus in goal, a back four of Freeman, Parke, Stammler and Leitch site behind Richards; a pacy winger; Mathis; a more direct approach then that of injured Reyna; Vide a solid battler; and van de Bergh; a flying Dutchman, Altidore and Angel provide a powerful, pacy and dangerous front two. 

 

Yallop pairs Pavon up front with Gordon; a nice combination of height and pace, Donovan plays out right, Harmse is the midfielder holder, Beckham will want plenty of the ball, Martino occupies the other flank, Klein, Harden, Jazic and Randolph provide scratch cover; a weak back line in the absence of Xavier and others, Cannon keeps goal

 

Harden's first touch is a poor back pass putting Cannon under pressure.  Angel is flagged when the ball goes deep. 

The first few minutes are scrappy, neither side settling and more giving the ball away then passing. 

Altidore beats Harden to a deep ball and is hauled down, Harden; being the last man; is really lucky to get away with just a yellow. 

Angel steps up for the free kick and blasts it low; a neat daisy cutter that beats a jumping wall, Cannon gets a weak arm to the ball before it goes in. 

LA gets a corner which New York clears behind, Pavon drifts away from his marker at the far post and heads back across goal for a quality equalizer, poor defending though. 

Without skipping a beat LA attack from the whistle, Beckham delivers a great ball in, fading to the far post, Pavon sneaks behind the last man and heads in his second.  The ball came to Waterreus but he was slow to react. 

 

Van de Bergh is lucky not to get a yellow with a two footed challenge to test out Beckham's ankle. 

harden is looking out of his depth at the back, Richards fires in a cross after good work on the right, it's just too high for an incoming Altidore. 

Donovan works the ball with Klein after a deep cross field ball; he cuts inside but sends his shot high. 

Martino plays in Pavon and the cross is only half cleared allowing Gordon a spectacular but wide bicycle kick. 

Jazic picks up an injury and is swapped for Glinton, Harmse drops back into the defence. 

New York look for the early ball forward; to test a makeshift Galaxy back line.  Angel is offside again on a long through ball; Cannon sends his kick back to Waterreus.  Angel delivers a ball to Richards out wide, the cross is half cleared and Mathis finishes the attack with a weak header; easy for Cannon to claim. 

Moments later Gordon is in on the far post; off a Beckham free kick; Wattereus makes a fine save. 

Van de Bergh cuts inside and finds Angel, he combines with Richards to apply pressure, the ball is played across then Mathis gets onto an inside ball, he turns and shoots at Cannon. 

The midfield remains a little scrappy with the focus being on attack.  Angel finds Richards, at the byline he tries to cut the ball back but it goes behind for a goal kick.  Angel heads a deep ball down to Altidore but LA clear. 

Pavon and Beckham and Donovan combine but the final ball sees the international offside. 

van de Bergh plays in Altidore, he and Angel combine on the left which LA clear behind, Angel gets in a shot from the corner but send it wide. 

Beckham plays in Randolph on the left but Richards tracks back to force a corner kick; Wattereus comes away with the ball after leaping with Gordon. 

Harden hauls back Altidore in the area but gets away with it. 

Freeman works the ball to Richards and his cross finds Angel but the header on is cleared. 

Donovan's ball finds Beckham wide right the ball comes into the near post with pace only for Pavon to fire wide.  Donovan works the middle again with a ball out wide to Pavon; the ball is crossed back in but goes behind for a goal kick.  Beckham plays a deep through ball for Pavon, the Honduran crosses and New York clear. 

Freeman gets forward in the right channel, his ball inside is met well by Angel, the shot produces a fins diving save from Cannon, the resultant corner is cleared. 

Glinton combines with Klein and the fullback delivers a cross to the back post which New York clear.  Pavon wins a corner kick off a defender but Donovan sends the ball high. 

Vide sends Richards free but Randolph tracks back, wins the ball and starts a Galaxy attack, Glinton feeds Donovan but the striker is profligate and passes up an easy chance with a wayward strike. 

Van de Bergh finds space on the left to deliver a great ball into the six yard box, Altidore comes flying in but he heads straight at Cannon, should really have done much better. 

Wattereus claims the cross from Martino after the wide player was played in by Randolph. 

Richards get the ball on the left and runs at the defence, he jukes and jives and is bale to get off a shot, the deflection carries it only as far as Mathis, and four Galaxy defenders stand and admire the ferocious volley that thunders into the top corner. 

 

Soon after the second half gets underway Pavon is hauled down in the area but the card remains firmly in the ref's pocket.  Beckham strikes a free kick at the wall from 26 yards.  At the other end Harden hauls back Richards but the referee remains silent; again.  Then Freeman brings Pavon to the fake grass but doesn't get a yellow. 

Vide gets forward and combines with Mathis but the chance goes over.  The next New York attack sees a far post ball fall to Altidore, this time the U21 star calmly slides it past Cannon for New York's third. 

Space starts appearing and time disappearing in midfield, no one wants to step on the ball and slow things down, and the play is scrappy as both sides play at a reckless tempo. 

Angel gets through the LA defence and fires in a shot from a wide angle which Cannon smothers; Cannon also deals with van de Bergh's cross; Mathis combines with Altidore, the play opens up for a deep run from Freeman, his cross is cleared but comes out to Vide who has a pop from distance; Richards ball in is cleared as well. 

Beckham and Donovan combine on the break, Donovan is pushed wide so cuts the ball back inside, Gordon has time and space for a shot but shanks it wide;

the field opens up for Glinton who finds Gordon with a pass, the ball is cleared behind. 

Veris comes on for Gordon so Harmse steps back into midfield and Veris goes into the back four. 

Altidore gets into a good position wide and is able to cut the ball back for van de Bergh, his shot is straight at Cannon, easy save. 

Donovan sees a deep ball go wide and Pavon sends a great ball in from wide which beats everybody. 

Altidore cuts the ball inside to van de Bergh who can only fire straight at Cannon. 

Pavon sees one cross cleared and his second is stood up at the far post but no one reads the ball's flight. 

Martino and Glinton combine to get the ball to Donovan; out wide; his cross finds Glinton who can only find the side netting. 

Beckham floats an easy to deal with ball into the area, Wattereus claims. 

Altidore gets the ball on the left of the area and cuts inside and rounds Veris and Klein before rifling a shot past Cannon for his second goal.  How one man could so easily beat two defenders remains a mystery. 

LA break quickly from the restart, Donovan occupies the channel with a pacy run, he manages to cut inside against a flat footed defence before shooting across Wattereus, the ball finds the far corner of the net for a quick LA reply.  Poor 'keeping. 

Beckham has a free kick but Clinton fires over.

Richards manages to get in a cross and van de Bergh heads harmlessly at Cannon. 

Beckham slams another free kick into the New York defensive wall. 

Glinton comes off for Buddle as Yallop; too late; tries to change things around again. 

Angel spreads the ball wide to Freeman, the full back's cross is cleared by LA; Richards forces a corner form his cross. 

Beckham fires another free kick at the wall. 

Galaxy full back Klein pushes up and fires a cross field ball out to Martino, who wins a corner kick.  It is fired in by the Englishman and Veris heads down and against the post, Buddle is the quickest man in the box and stabs home the rebound for the equalizer. 

Harmse gets a full blooded hack at Mathis but the referee doesn't show him a card. 

Angel works the right and finds Richards, the winger pulls it back for Freeman and Donovan; working hard in the last half; clears from inside the box. 

Mathis sees a long range shot stopped by Cannon, the ball spills wide and Angel is persistent, being able to win the ball and shoot from an acute angle, the ball spoons up Cannon and in for a late winner. 

Mathis and Altidore are brought off as late time wasting substitutions. 

 

Yallop played and tinkered but despite excellent games from Pavon and Beckham his side's poor defending let him down again; although Cannon was pretty good throughout.  The Englishman is already making LA first team better going forward and is developing a rapport with his team mates, all his creativity and goals aren't worth anything with a leaky defence. 

 

Arena will be happy with his attack but less than pleased with his goalie and back line.  Poor goals were given away and good goals were created, Altidore and Angel combine to create problems for any defence.  Mathis also provides an option when the craft of Reyna isn't working. 

 

Good refereeing; one the one hand; he did let the game flow; on the other hand he did it at the expense of several, yes several, yellow cards and two or maybe three penalty decisions.  Mr. Stott needs to understand that two footed challenges in football need to punished and not waved off a mere physical play.  Oh and Mr. Stott, if the last man gives away a free kick with a move like Harden came up with in the first half it is an Automatic Red Card, sheesh!?!

 

 

New York:-

Waterreus

Freeman

Parke

Stammler

Leitch

Richards

Mathis (Mendes 90)

Vide

van den Bergh (Wolyniec 84)

Altidore (Magee)

Angel

 

Bookings:-

Mathis

Vide

 

Goals:-

Angel 4, 88

Mathis 44

Altidore 49, 70

 

 

LA Galaxy:-

Klein

Jazic (Glinton 17; Buddle 76))

Harden

Randolph

Donovan

Harmse

Beckham

Martino

Pavon

Gordon (Veris 60)

 

Bookings:-

Harden

 

Goals:-

Pavon 6, 8

Donovan 71

Buddle 82

 

Attendance:-

66237

 

Referee:-

Kevin Stott