Across The Pond
David Beckham/LA Galaxy
LA Galaxy's winless run continued as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Chivas USA in the SuperClasico derby. Despite starting off the brightest, Galaxy found themselves 1-0 down after just 15 minutes thanks to a spectacular curling shot from Ante Razov from outside the 18 yard area. Galaxy had a chance to equalise with a free kick just outside the box - widely regarded as Beckham territory . It was in fact the former Preston midfielder who was brought down and took it upon himself to take the free kick. Despite the anticipation, his effort was drilled straight into the wall and was then cleared to safety.
Galaxy came out from the break with a point to prove and with Beckham being his industrious self, LA looked like they were always going to get themselves back in the game. Which they did, 72 minutes on the clock and finally Galaxy's pressure pays off, Beckham played a short ball in to Peter Vagenas on the edge of the area who then played a clever ball through to Buddle who slotted it home from 6 yards. A great move finished well. The goal seem to give them confidence and looked like they might sneak the win but it wasn't to be.
Although LA failed to get back to winning ways, then can at least take credit from their second half display and take that momentum into their next game which is against New York Red Bulls on Saturday 19th July.
Danny Dichio/Toronto FC
We head north of the border now to Toronto to catch up with Danny Dichio. Since our last instalment, Toronto had their second leg of their qualifying match with Vancouver in the CONCACAF Champions League to play as well as their MLS tie with Chicago Fire, both of course without the services of Dichio who had taken a knock.
With last week's 1-0 defeat in mind, Toronto were looking for revenge going into this CONCACAF qualifying match and wanted to prove they were the number one team in Canada. Toronto however, did not get off to the best of starts after going 1-0 down thanks to an Eduardo Sarango strike. A fierce shot from Justin Moose was parried by Greg Sutton straight into the lap of Moose who played in Sebrango for the striker to fire in the opening goal.
Determined to get back on a level playing field, Toronto came back from the break resurgent and came close to scoring just minutes into the second half through Maurice Edu. Toronto blatantly were missing the goal threat of Danny Dichio who had to watch on from the sidelines. The goal scoring responsibility was given to Edu and Ricketts who collectively gave Toronto the lead until just four minutes from time, Eduardo Sebrango got his second of the game to force a draw. As a result, Toronto now need to win their game against Montreal to go on to represent Canada in the CONCACAF Cup.
Getting back to the MLS, Toronto had a tricky tie in the form of Chicago Fire. Fire, minus Brian McBride got back to winning ways as they beat Toronto 2-1 thanks to goals from Chris Rolfe and John Thorringham for Fire and Abdus Ibrahim for Toronto.
Up next for the Reds is a friendly with Independiente on Tuesday 15th before welcoming the visit of the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday 19th