Galaxy Fall 2-1 to Newcastle in The Qantas Challenge

LA Galaxy 1, Newcastle Jets 2
The Qantas Challenge
Saturday, November 27, 2010
EnergyAustralia Stadium – Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia

Scoring Summary:
LA – Landon Donovan (Sean Franklin, Chris Birchall) 7’
NEW – Sasho Petrovski (Ali Abbas, Adam D’Apuzzo) 39’
NEW - Labinot Haliti (Kasey Wehrman) 53’

Misconduct Summary:
None

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts (Josh Saunders 46’); Sean Franklin (Chris Klein 63’), A.J. DeLaGarza, Omar Gonzalez (Gregg Berhalter 46’), Todd Dunivant (Eddie Lewis 46’); Chris Birchall (Dema Kovalenko 68’), David Beckham, Juninho (Mike Magee 72’), Michael Stephens (Alex Cazumba 57’); Landon Donovan© (Bryan Jordan 46’), Edson Buddle (Jovan Kirovski 46’).

Subs Not Used: Brian Perk, Leonardo.

Newcastle Jets: Matthew Nash, Tarek Elrich, Taylor Regan, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Adam D’ Apuzzo (Brodie Mooy 56’); Ruben Zadkovich (Marcello Fiorentini 46’), Kasey Wehrman© (Jacob Pepper 83’), Jobe Wheelhouse (James Virgili 76’), Ali Abbas (Kaz Patafta 46’); Sasho Petrovski (Zhang Shuo 56’), Marko Jesic (Labinot Haliti 46’).

Subs Not Used: Sam Gallaway, Mario Simic, Scott Pettit, Fabian Iacovelli, Jack Duncan.

Notes:
• With the loss for LA, the Newcastle Jets win the inaugural Qantas Challenge.
• The Galaxy are now 2-2-0 all-time against teams from the Hyundai A-League. They beat the Wellington Phoenix in 2007 and Sydney FC in 2008 while losing to Sydney FC in 2007 and now the Jets.
• The Galaxy are now 0-2-0 all-time in Australia.
• This was the Galaxy’s fifth and final international friendly of the year. They finished with a 2-2-1 record in those games, beating Puntarenas FC (Costa Rica) and Boca Juniors (Argentina) while tying CD Aguila (El Salvador) and losing to Real Madrid (Spain) and the Newcastle Jets (Australia). This was the only one of those games that was not played in Southern California.
• Landon Donovan gave the Galaxy a 1-0 lead in the 7th minute, re-directing a Sean Franklin cross over the line from close range with his chest. That was his second goal in the club’s five friendlies this season, though he only played in three of them.
• Chris Birchall was also credited with an assist on that goal.
• Juninho nearly doubled the Galaxy lead two minutes later, but his long range shot was adjudged not to have crossed the goalline by the referees, though video replays later showed that it had.
• Donovan Ricketts had to make his first save of the game a few minutes later, pushing a close range shot from Sasho Petrovski around his right post.
• Petrovski eventually equalized for the Jets in the 29th minute, heading an Ali Abbas cross past Ricketts from close range, tying the score at 1-1.
• Halftime substitute Labinot Haliti scored the eventual game-winning goal in the ** minute, shortly after coming on as a halftime substitute.
• Chris Klein each came on as substitutes, making the final appearances of their professional careers.
• Newcastle Jets owner Nathan Tinkler offered to donate $5,000(AU) to HMRI for every goal scored in the game, meaning that $15,000(AU) was raised for the charity.
• A total of 20 of the 22 players that made the trip to Australia played for the Galaxy, with only Brian Perk and Leonardo not seeing action.
• Only A.J. DeLaGarza and David Beckham played the full 90 minutes for the Galaxy.
• Tonight’s game was shown live on Fox Soccer Channel in the United States with a number of replays to be shown throughout the week. Check www.foxsoccer.com for a complete schedule of broadcasts.
• There was a sellout crowd of more than 23,000 at EnergyAustralia Stadium, which is the process of being renovated. This was the Jets’ biggest home attendance of the season.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.