Saturday, April 12, 2008

Preview: Los Angeles vs. Toronto

David Beckham and Landon Donovan have showed the rest of MLS how dangerous they can be when on the field together. On Sunday, they'll have a good chance to shine again when the Los Angeles Galaxy host lowly Toronto FC.
Los Angeles opened its season with a lackluster performance in falling 4-0 at Colorado on March 29, but the Galaxy's first home game provided a glimpse of just how dominating they can be with Beckham and Donovan.

Beckham scored his first MLS goal off an assist from Donovan, and later returned the favor as the Galaxy (1-1-0) beat San Jose 2-0 on April 3.

Beckham took a pass from Donovan at the top of the box in the ninth minute, and fired the ball into the back of the net. Donovan added his own goal from virtually the same spot late in the first half, off an assist from Beckham.

"It's great to score a goal. I love scoring goals. I'm usually on the other end assisting," Beckham said. "Landon assisted me, and then I assisted him. It's always nice getting goals.

"Tonight was one of those nights where I scored. I'm happy. We got some young players in there, so it's important that we won tonight."

First-year Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit has gone to a 4-4-2 scheme, allowing Donovan to play more as a striker and get more scoring chances from Beckham.

"We understand the game the same way. We see the game the same way," Donovan said. "Having played and trained together now, it's made it even easier. I know where he wants the ball and how he wants the ball, and he knows where I want it and how I want it."

The superstar duo will likely have more chances to score Sunday against Toronto, which has been outscored 6-1 in losing its first two games.

"In the first game, we were all over the place, from the back to the midfield to up front," Beckham said. "That's something that we've worked on."

Toronto (0-2-0) needs to work on stopping its opponents and putting the ball in the net. The second-year club opened the season with a 2-0 loss at Columbus on March 29 and fell 4-1 on the road to D.C. United last Saturday.

Toronto went 6-17-7 in its inaugural campaign last year, scoring the fewest goals in the league (25) while allowing the most (49).

It fell behind quick against D.C. last week, allowing two goals in the opening five minutes, and then went a man down after just 22 minutes when Kevin Harmse was sent off for a two-footed tackle.

"We conceded the two goals and then the game settled down a little bit and we created two chances - Jeff Cunningham had a great chance with the header and then you shoot yourself again when you got down to 10 men," coach John Carver said. "It's difficult playing against any side with 10 men."

Los Angeles went 1-0-1 against Toronto last season, posting a 2-1 home victory on Oct. 13 behind goals from Donovan and Edson Buddle.