Ramblings of a Soccer Junky
Monday, August 22, 2005
  A leap for joy...
Did anyone else notice that leap Steve Sampson took with his arms raised in celebration as the ref blew time on Saturday at RFK? You can't tell me he wasn't relieved at that result. There's no doubt he's feeling the pressure to produce results and the complete lack of a win in any competitive match outside of So Cal had to be causing him to spend his evenings working on his resume.

Now, I've been a huge critic of Sampson's for a long time and I still maintain that he wasn't the best replacement Doug Hamilton could have found for Sigi Schmid, but I'm going to give Sampson some props here. The look of intensity and determination in Donovan's eyes after he scored the winner on Saturday told me the team, for once, was in the right frame of mine. LA did a great job of moving the ball around. Players found and moved into space while teammates found them in that space. Movement and passing was what it should be in DC on Saturday and they got the result they were looking for because of that play. As a Galaxy fan, I'm hoping this trend continues next Saturday in San Jose.

By no means has Sampson proved himself as Galaxy coach by this result, but it shows it's possible for him to guide a team in the right direction. There's still a lot of work to be done. Ty Marshall can't hold things down at the back by himself...but that's what it looked like he was asked to do at times on Saturday. The midfield still isn't working as a unit. But I'm going to enjoy the 3 points for now and hope this trend continues.

I was almost glad the Columbus - Dallas game was stopped for 40 minutes on Saturday. It was hardly the match I saw in DC later. Things didn't liven up until late and by then I was half asleep.

The match in Salt Lake looked entertaining...too bad I only got to see highlights.

Perhaps the reinforcements Chivas brought in might make a difference after all. Too bad it's too little too late.

And what was with Drogba's goal yesterday against Arsenal? Now that was a fluke...but it was a fluke that brought them 3 points against a difficult opponent.
 
Comments:
Yeah, we saw that game differently... I guess part of it was coming off the really good soccer that DCU has played over the last couple of games, and this team was causing be heartburn by the 15th minute. Not to take anything away from LA. They played decently (but not brilliant, just good, solid ball marred by some turnovers). DCU I felt was awful.
 
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An American who fell in love with soccer while living in Europe.

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Location: Hoosierville, IN, United States
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