Galaxy Open Season with 1-0 Win Over New England

LA Galaxy 1, New England Revolution 0
Saturday, March 27, 2010
The Home Depot Center — Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Edson Buddle 1 (Landon Donovan 1) 6’

Misconduct Summary:
NE – Kevin Alston (Yellow Card) 17’
Ne – Joseph Niouky (Yellow Card) 41’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts; Todd Dunivant, Leonardo, Omar Gonzalez, Sean Franklin; Dema Kovalenko, Eddie Lewis (Alex Cazumba 26’), Juninho (Michael Stephens 80’), Mike Magee (Chris Birchall 67’); Landon Donovan©, Edson Buddle.

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, A.J. DeLaGarza, Chris Klein, Tristan Bowen.

New England Revolution: Preston Burpo; Seth Sinovic, Corey Gibbs©, Emmanuel Osei, Kevin Alston (Khano Smith 90’); Chris Tierney, Pat Phelan, Joseph Niouky, Sainey Nyassi (Zak Boggs 58'); Kheli Dube (Kenny Mansally 76’), Zack Schilawski.

Subs Not Used: Bobby Shuttlesworth, Darrius Barnes, Michael Videira.

Notes:
• With the win, the Galaxy are now 1-0-0 on the season, giving them three points. They are tied with the Colorado Rapids, Real Salt Lake, and Seattle Sounders FC for first place in the Western Conference.
• This was the Galaxy’s first win in a regular season opener since 2004, when Carlos Ruiz, Jovan Kirovski and Andreas Herzog scored in a 3-2 win over New England at The Home Depot Center.
• The Galaxy are now 5-2-1 in home openers at The Home Depot Center.
• The Galaxy were without Gregg Berhalter, Alan Gordon, Bryan Jordan, Jovan Kirovski and Clint Mathis, who all missed the game through injury.
• In the 26th minute, Eddie Lewis was forced to leave the game with a left foot contusion. He was replaced by Alex Cazumba.
• The Galaxy’s three new Brazilian players, Alex Cazumba, Juninho and Leonardo, each made their Galaxy and MLS debuts in the game after joining the club from Sao Paulo in December. Juninho started and played 80 minutes in central midfield, while Leonardo played the full 90 minutes in central defense. Alex Cazumba played 64 minutes after replacing the injured Eddie Leiws in the 26th minute.
• Galaxy rookie Michael Stephens also made his Galaxy and MLS debut in the game, replacing Juninho in the 80th minute.
• Edson Buddle scored the Galaxy’s first goal of the season, heading home a Landon Donovan cross in the sixth minute. Buddle is the fifth different player in as many years to score the Galaxy’s first goal of the year, dating back to 2005. In 2009, Landon Donovan scored the club’s first goal, in 2008 it was David Beckham, in 2007 it was Robbie Findley, and in 2006 it was Chris Albright.
• Buddle’s goal in the sixth minute was the Galaxy’s fastest ever goal in a season opener.
• With his assist tonight, Landon Donovan has now recorded either a goal or an assist in each of the Galaxy’s last four home openers, tallying a total of three goals and three assists in those four games.
• Donovan Ricketts made one save to keep the clean sheet. Last season Ricketts has nine shutouts, tying him with Kevin Hartman for the second most by a Galaxy goalkeeper in club history.
• Injured Galaxy midfielder David Beckham was in attendance at the match as he continues to recover from surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon.
• The attendance for today’s game was 21,376.
• The Galaxy are back in action on Thursday night when they host the Chivas USA In the year’s first installment of the Honda SuperClasico at The Home Depot Center. The game kicks off at 8 p.m. and can be seen live on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.