SuperLiga 2007 Live Blog: LA Galaxy vs. DC United

Tonight the LA Galaxy host DC United in the second semifinal of SuperLiga 2007, for the right to face CF Pachuca in the final, who beat the Houston Dynamo last night, and for a chance at the $1 million prize given to the champion.

Beckham is expected to play tonight, meaning that this is the first true chance for me to see him play in a Galaxy uniform.

of course, it wouldn’t truly be soccer viewing in America without Pablo Ramirez and the fine folks of TeleFutura.

10:01 pm: Uhhh…Where are the fans? This will almost certainly be Beckham’s debut at home in a game that really matters, the game will start in 5 minutes. Yet the Home Depot Center is nearly empty. Is LA traffic really that bad? Really?

10:06 pm: Wait a minute…Beckham is starting. BECKHAM IS STARTING! Do you hear that, Los Angeles fans? Get to the f—ing stadium already! Im; sure that David will have something to say about that after the game.

10:10 pm: The game begins, and the Galaxy are the first to attack. Unfortunately, the attack is not well organized, and United have little problem clearing the threat.

10:11, 3rd minute: Luciano Emilio had a pretty good chance at a goal there after Olsen’s shot was deflected. He just put a little too much air under it.

10:13, 5th minute: I hate to get caught up on this but the game is already underway, and the number of empty seats i see is simply unacceptable. What kind of message is MLS sending when Beckham is playing only his third game (and his second real game) in America and already we see half-empty stadiums? It’s just absurd.

10:16, 8th minute: One highlight with the fans: the cheap seats are full, and pretty vocal. The Houston Dynamo seem to have a far superior fanbase, however.

10:18, 10th minute: After the first two minutes, DC United has gotten more comfortable, and now they’re getting the good scoring chances.

10:20, 12th minute: A strike from 45 yards away almost goes in the net; only Joe Cannon’s outstreched fingers stop it. The ensuing corner kick is much less impressive.

10:21, 13th minute: Beckham gets his first real action of the night, a corner kick. It looked like Chris Klein might have had a decent shot, but he couldn’t find the ball and DC clears easily.

10:24, 16th minute: The Galaxy are playing bad defense right now. They had several chances to clear before bad passing forced them to draw a corner kick. Fortunately for them Joe Cannon catches the kick and ends the threat, but the defenders need to do a better job if they want to win.

10:26, 18th minute: That was exactly what MLS didn;t want to happen: Beckham goes for the ball and may have been hit in the ankle. But the ref gives him the yellow card. Looking at the replay, I can’t completely disagree.

10:29, 21st minute: Landon Donovan threads two defenders and sets up a good scoring chance that leads to a corner kick. Too bad nothing became of it.

10;31, 23rd minute: Whoever that guy with the bleached hair is, get rid of him. He’s been a big liability on defense. Wait, that guy is prized Portugese international Abel Xavier? Well, he’s doing a bang-up job, then!

10:35, 27th minute: The LA Galaxy get a free kick in good scoring range.

Beckham takes it and…GOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAZZZZOOOOOOOOO!!! That’s exactly what we’ve been looking for. He takes the free kicks, and goalie Troy Perkins is faked out so badly that he has no chance. The first goal for Beckham in America. And you know what, It’s exactly what we wanted to see: Beckham showing that he is on another level from nearly everyone else.

Oh yeah, LA leads 1-0.

10:37, 29th minute: The HDC is filling up, but nearly 30 minutes into the game I still see an unacceptable number of empty seats.

10:39, 31st minute: After Harden gets yellow carded and DC misses their free kick, Beckham very nearly gives United a penalty kick, as he appears to take down an opposing striker in the box.

10;43, 35th minute: LA had a really good chance there, but Mike Randolph tried to get a bit too fancy ad gave away the ball.

10:45, 37th minute: I have to say, it was great to see Troy Perkins get completely faked out by Beckham’s free kick, obviously having seen it in person for the first time, and simply throwing up his hands in frustration as the ball whizzes by into the net. The exact same reaction by 40 or so opposing keepers over the years.

10;51, 43rd minute: Finally, a referee who really, really will not tolerate any diving. Perhaps even to a fault, but I’m OK with that. Nothing against soccer, but if I wanted theatrics, I’d go to the movies.

10:55, 45 minutes: We’ve reached halftime, and LA leads 1-0 thanks to a wonderful strike by Beckham on a free kick. For the Galaxy to hold onto that lead, they will have to play better on defense, which they seemed to late in the half. As for DC United, they seemed to get several good scoring chances but not a lo of shots. They need to convert these opportunities in the second half. And no free kicks.

Until the second half, enjoy the ridiculous Spanish-speaking ads.

11:11, 46th minute: Start of the second half. Christian Gomez is in for DC United, replacing David Vanney.

11:12, 47th minute: GOOOOLLLLLLL!!!! Landon Donovan is left open downfield, and he gets a great pass from what appears to be Beckham, runs to the box, and hits a touch kick that get past the keeper and gives LA Galaxy a 2-0 lead, “y la fiesta de papelitos va a comenzar!”. United are in big trouble now.

11:16, 51st minute: Luciano Emilio gets a near perfect shot, a clearing right in front of the goal. But Joe Cannon is there to make the stop, and the ensuing corner kick does nothing.

11:18, 53rd minute: Emilio gets another chance, but once again Cannon gets in front of the kick, and Abel Xavier clears it out of harm’s way.

11:20, 55th minute: You may enjoy soccer, but TeleFutura knows what you really want: shots of hot chicks in the stands.

11:22, 57th minute: David Beckham gets an other free kick, and very nearly gets another goal to really put this game out of reach. Troy Perkins makes the right move this time, and just makes the grab save. The HDC crowd is really starting to get loud.

11:25, 60th minute: Brian Carroll ran right into Kyle Martino’s knee, and Martino is really hurting after that. I think he’s about to get subbed.

11;27, 62nd minute: The Galaxy really seem to be incontrol of this game now. Barring two goals from DC United, I won;t have to stay up until 1 am like I did last night.

11:28, 63rd minute: With the game well in hand, Frank Yallop decides to take Beckham out of the game. As he leaves the field to cheers, Beckham had about as good a performance as the fans could have asked for.

11:30, 65th minute: Chris Klein with a great run on the right side, sets up a pass to Martino in front of the goal…but he just can’t make it to the pass. Looks like that knee’s okay, though.

11:34, 69th minute: LA Galaxy continue to get great scoring chances in the second half. Either DC United is running out of gas, the Galaxy are finally playing at their talent level, or Beckham has done great things for this team’s confidence tonight. I think it’s a bit of each.

11:35, 70th minute: Cobi Jones comes into the game for Martino.

11:38, 73rd minute: Right now, it looks like Emilio is the only DC player who can penetrate LA’s defense. Where are Jaime Moreno and Christian Gomez?

11:40, 75th minute: While the game winding down, TeleFutura continues to intersperse action with girls in the stands. Is it a case of of the network playing to their audience, distracted cameramen, or both?

11:42, 77th minute: Looks like Mike Caso, #27 for the Galaxy, has a fan in the stands. The only question is, who’s Mike Caso?

11:44, 79th minute: Weird thought: with Beckham’s recent statements against FieldTurf, could that have been a reason why Beckham chose the Galaxy over the New York Red Bulls, who currently play on the faux surface of Giants Stadium? Could be one of the many factors, along with a second career, the warm weather, Scientology, and access to the best plastic surgeons available for his wife.

11:49, 84th minute: As you can probably tell by now, the Galaxy have pretty well chalked up this one. Down two goals, DC is still unable to mount a serious attack, and Emilio, their only true threat, is exhausted.

11:55, 90th minute: Landon Donovan needs to either a) get some minoxidil/finasteride or b) give up the fight and shave his head. Whatever hairdo he’s wearing right now, it looks completely ridiculous.

12:00, Full Time: That’s the end of the game, as LA Galaxy win 2-0. They will Face Pachuca for the SuperLiga Championship on August 29th.

Beckahm had a great game tonight. Still recovering from his ankle injury, he gave the fans just about all they could have asked for tonight. Consistent play, an insane goal on a free kick, a great assist to Donovan for the second goal, and a dominating performance by his team.

I’m definitely looking forward to the SuperLiga final in two weeks. Let’s hope he can play 90 minutes by then.