Galaxy Fall to San Jose 1-0 at Buck Shaw

LA Galaxy 0, San Jose Earthquakes 1
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Buck Shaw Stadium – Santa Clara, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
SJ – Chris Wondolowski 8 (Bobby Convey 9, Arturo Alvarez 1)4’

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Omar Gonzalez (Yellow Card) 48’
SJ – Arturo Alvarez (Yellow Card) 54’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts; Sean Franklin, Omar Gonzalez, Leonard, A.J. DeLaGarza (Bryan Jordan 77’); Chris Birchall, Michael Stephens (Alex Cazumba 67’), Juninho, Landon Donovan©; Edson Buddle, Mike Magee (Eddie Lewis 59’).

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Jovan Kirovski, Chris Klein, Dema Kovalenko.

San Jose Earthquakes: Jon Busch; Tim Ward, Bobby Burling, Brandon McDonald, Bobby Convey©; Joey Gjertsen, Sam Cronin, Khari Stephenson, Arturo Alvarez (Ryan Johnson 77’); Chris Wondolowski, Cornell Glen (Geovanni 72’).

Subs Not Used: Alex Horwath, Steven Beitashour, Omar Jasseh, Brad Ring, Scott Sealy.

Notes:
• With the loss, the Galaxy are now 13-4-4 on the season and remain alone in first place in the Western Conference with 43 points. The Galaxy are still four points ahead of Real Salt Lake, who do not have a league game this weekend, for the best record in MLS and the conference.
• The Galaxy made two changes to the team that defeated New York 1-0 last week in Red Bull Arena, with Leonardo replacing Gregg Berhalter at central defense and Mike Magee starting in place of Tristan Bowen at forward. Both Berhalter, who did not travel, and Bowen, who did travel but did not dress, were experiencing flu-like symptoms.
• Magee was making his first appearance in the Galaxy Starting XI since undergoing Sports Hernia surgery in June. His last start prior to today came in Columbus on May 29, when the Galaxy beat the Crew 2-0. Magee played 59 minutes in that game before being replaced by Eddie Lewis.
• A.J. DeLaGarza made his second consecutive start at left back in place of Todd Dunivant.
• In addition to Berhalter, Bowen and Dunivant, the only other Galaxy player to miss the game through injury or illness was David Beckham, who remains on the Disabled List after undergoing surgery in March to repair a torn Achilles tendon.
• With his 17th start of the season, Michael Stephens extended his consecutive games-played streak to 21. Stephens, the Galaxy’s first round draft pick out UCLA, is the only Galaxy player to have played in all 21 of the club’s regular season games this year. Stephens played 67 minutes in midfield against the Earthquakes, he was replaced by Alex Cazumba.
• San Jose made six tactical changes from the last time they faced the Galaxy on July 22, including Tim Ward in for the suspended Jason Hernandez, Brandon McDonald moving to central defense in place of the injured Ike Opera, Bobby Convey moving to left back in place of the injured Ramiro Corrales, Joey Gjetersen starting at left midfield, Khari Stephenson starting in the middle of the midfield and Arturo Alvarez starting at right midfield.
• Chris Wondolowski’s goal in the fourth minute was the fourth goal the Galaxy have allowed in the first five minutes of a game this season. The fastest goal the club allowed this year came against these Earthquakes back at The Home Depot Center on July 22. In that game, Bobby Convey scored a goal in the second minute to give San Jose a 1-0 lead in a game that ended 2-2.
• Jon Busch, who made several key saves to protect the lead, made seven saves en route to his second shutout of the season.
• The Galaxy out shot the Earthquakes 18-15. LA also had 11 corner kicks in the game compard to just one for San Jose.
• This was just the third time that the Galaxy had been shutout in league play this season.
• Donovan Ricketts had four saves on the day.
• The Galaxy are now 7-3-2 in 12 games on the road this season, including 4-2-0 against the Western Conference.
• Neither Chris Birchall nor Juninho were booked in the game, meaning that both are eligible to play next week at home against Kansas City. Both players are one caution away from an automatic one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation.
• This was the Galaxy’s first-ever game at Buck Shaw Stadium. LA are now 14-14-5 all-time when playing their first MLS game at a new stadium.
• The attendance for today’s game was a sellout crowd of 10,799, a new Buck Shaw Stadium record.
• The Galaxy are back at The Home Depot Center next Saturday, August 28 when they host the Kansas City Wizards at 7:30 p.m. and can be seen live on Prime Ticket starting with Galaxy Live at 7 p.m.
• For more about today’s game, please visit http://www.lagalaxy.com/.