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| Pedro Leon scored his first goal for RM |
Line-Ups:
Real Madrid: Dudek (Casillas: 46'), Sergio Ramos (Arbeloa: 46'), Albiol (Pepe: 46'), Garay, Drenthe (Marcelo: 46'), Lass (Gago: 46'), Mahamadou Diarra (Xabi Alonso: 46'), Granero (Cristiano Ronaldo: 46'), Di Maria (Pedro Leon: 46', Alvaro Morata: 88'), Van der Vaart (Canales: 46', Alex Fernandez: 90'), Benzema (Higuain: 46')
LA Galaxy: Ricketts (Perk: 46'), Berhalter (Leonardo: 63'), Franklin (De la Garza: 63'), Gonzalez (Jordan: 76'), Dunivant (Lewis: 70'), Juninho (Klein: 63'), Stephens (Cazumba: 70'), Birchall, Donovan (Kirovski: 63'), Mathis (Bowen: 25'), Buddle (Magee: 46')
Goals:
- 40': 1-0: Dunivant: Horrible set-play defending from Real Madrid allowed Dunivant to put the ball in the goal after a lot of confusion.
- 45': 2-0: Landon Donovan (P): Drenthe kung-fu kicks Juninho, gives the penalty, Donovan sends Dudek the wrong way and slots in coolly.
- 52': 2-1: Gonzalo Higuain: Gonzalo Higuain gets a sublime pass from Cristiano Ronaldo, Pipita scores in between the keeper's legs and the comeback is on.
- 62': 2-2: Gonzalo Higuain: Pipita recieves the ball back in the box from Gago, after Garay's header is saved and cleared out of the box, Gonzalo Higuain switches from the left to the right foot and curls it from the outside of his right foot, sublime finish.
- 71': 2-3: Pedro Leon: Gonzalo Higuain combined with Sergio Canales and started the move, brilliant return back-heel pass from Canales sets Higuain free, Perk saves, the ball falls to Pedro Leon who is outside the box, remontada, Pedro Leon scores his first goal for Real Madrid.
Highlights:
Post-Match Interviews:
Jose Mourinho: "I liked the team's mentality" (Source: Real Madrid Official Site)
Sergio Canales & Pedro Leon: "Mourinho is very professional" (Source: Real Madrid Official Site)
Injury Update: Pepe
Kepler Laveran Lima Ferreira, "Pepe" finished the match against the LA Galaxy with discomfort on his left soleus and has possibly sustained an injury. Further tests are pending.
(Source: Real Madrid.com)
Notes:
I don't like the kick-offs so early in the morning, and I hate it even more when I miss one half of the game due to that, but after reading a lot about the first half, I'm glad I missed the first half, if I had seen it, it would have been a very crappy start to my day. Don't worry though, I won't be so off about the first half in this post, as I know quite a bit about that half now, thanks to the highlights, the comments on Real Madrid Offside, AS, Marca & Defensa Central. I like to give researched information to my readers.
- Set-piece defending was awful in the first half, quite unlike a Jose Mourinho team, might be due to the fact that Sergio Ramos and Raul Albiol have only joined a few days ago and might still be in vacation mode. And also the fact that Drenthe can't defend.
- Royston Drenthe can't defend, the kung-fu kick on Juninho that resulted in the penalty is one of the many examples of that. I can't defend Ricky anymore, he has to be sold, not loaned like I advocated previously.
- Rafael Van der Vaart can create, and he needs someone to finish the chances he makes, Di Maria and Benzema need to improve their finishing.
- Granero's ideal position isn't on the wing, neither is it as a playmaker just behind the striker, he will be much more suited in a withdrawn central midfield role just ahead of the defensive midfielder.
- Cristiano Ronaldo is for the lack of a better word amazing, the Cristiano Ronaldo that passes the ball to his team-mates is a treat to watch.
- Gonzalo Higuain is a phenomenal forward and those who said Pipita isn't Jose Mourinho's type of striker have to start eating their words because Jose Mou has been nothing but full of praise for the Argentine's link-up play and smart forward runs.
- Sergio Canales is ________________. (Fill in the blank with your favorite adjective that you use to describe someone who is awesome!). I can't get enough of him, I want to see him play again and again, he was one of the reason I didn't want the match to end!
- I have a very strong feeling Pedro Leon will start over Angel Di Maria when the season starts.
Next on the pre-season schedule, Bayern Munich, European timings, I won't miss this. I hope Real Madrid give a better performance defensively in Germany. Hala Madrid!
Pedro Leon is better than Di Maria.
ReplyDeleteCanales is.. just... he's ... so... just... AWESOME!! And he's still only 19!
Pipita great as usual, Cristiano could've done better but his passes were fantastic, Benzema needs to improve...
Hala Madrid!
Yeah Canales is JUST 19! :)
ReplyDeleteCristiano could have done better scoring wise otherwise he was amazing, involved in build-ups and stuff, I'm so glad we bought him from Manchester United.
Mourinho ain't giving up on Benz, he says Benz will improve.
Yeah he said he can't only count on Pipita and Cristiano, Benzema needs to step in. Glad those transfer rumors are over.
ReplyDeleteMy friend attended the match. He said every time Cristiano touches the ball, the crowd goes wild :P
I just want to see more Madridistas leading the goals and assists table this season. They need to drown Messi, Villa and co.
The Madridistas will succeed, they just need to be humble, they are acting more and more like Barca these days talking about how many trophies they are going to win.
ReplyDeleteYeah the reception that Cristiano got was tremendous, and I saw the telecast, I can only imagine what was it in the stadium.
I want more of Canales, Xabi, Gago, and less of Diarras.
ReplyDeleteLass I can understand, you don't want to see, but you want more of Gago, really?
ReplyDeleteLass and Drenthe need to be sold Urgently...lass just runs and make fouls and do bad passes,,Gago has been good this preseason and xabi is amazing, i think we need a left back and a central nacho monreal and carvalho and we're set i hope the canteranos will get more playin time against bayern because of the international games
ReplyDeleteFinally someone who realizes what Lass is! I'm sick of him, they should just let him go, Juventus are reportedly interested in Lass. Gago, well okay, he's doing good, but it's just the pre-season. I've heard no news of Drenthe.
ReplyDeleteI would love Nacho Monreal, but Jose just ruled out the signing of Carvalho. The central defense is well covered anyway, just Nacho Monreal is good.
I went to the game, my first time ever attending the Rose Bowl (just moved to LA from NYC.) Making a rookie mistake, my g/f and I did not leave early enough (who knew an hour and 15 minutes wouldn't be early enough?) so traffic, combined with my g/f not being able to walk fast due to her broken foot and me forgetting cash for parking (doh!) led to us missing the first half. However, as a Madridista, I didn't miss much (except a chance to see Ramos play) but the second half was a sight to see.
ReplyDeleteCristiano Ronaldo is simply incredible. He is a superior athlete and when you see him in person he looks like he is playing at a different speed than anyone else, Real Madrid players included. I was extremely impressed by his ability to create and how crisp his passing was. Sergio Canales, Pedro Leon, Xabi Alonso, and of course, Pipita were the other Madrid players who stood out to me. Xabi and Pipita's play was expected, but I came away really impressed by Canales. His pace is superb. Pedro Leon was very solid and created some nice opportunities. It was also fun to see Xabi and Cristiano playing the "longball" game (excuse me if this isn't the correct term, I've been following Madrid since 2004 but I am still pretty new to the beautiful game.) There were times when Xabi would just lob a ball long and let Cristiano run after it. I wonder if this was just them toying with an inferior MLS side, but I would love to see them take some chances like that in La Liga.
As for our defense, Pepe impressed with the way he completely controlled balls in the air that came near him, the rest of our back 4 seemed bland otherwise. Iker is a pleasure to watch, and even though he didn't have much work in the second half, watching the way he leads the team was great to see. The way he re-groups the team and keeps everyone in line is an underrated aspect of his game.
Overall, I was a bit bummed when I got to my seat and found us down 2-0, however I was quite pleased to see our boys fight back and refuse to lose this match. Even though the Galaxy is an inferior team and certainly not as deep as Real Madrid, it was great to see us fight back and get the win. As for Cristiano doing better scoring wise, there were a couple of chances he probably should have converted, but there was a lot of traffic around his all night and he did an incredible job of creating space to create opportunities for his teammates and create shots for himself that I couldn't believe he was able to get on net.
Yup, the reception for Cristiano was amazing. He got just as many cheers as Donovan. There were a lot of Real Madrid supporters in attendance.
ReplyDeleteAgree with canterano. I have always defended Gago because I have always hoped he could play as well for us as he does with Argentina. But he seemed too timid on the ball yesterday and his passing was uninspired. I think I might have to concede that Gago might have to go elsewhere to fulfill his potential. It doesn't seem to be working out in Madrid.
ReplyDeleteThaks for sharing your experience of the game, I wish to go to a Real Madrid game one day too and your terminalogies were perfect. :)
ReplyDeleteXabi Alonso does that with everyone, his long sweeping passes are a head-ache for every team that faces him, expect to the see more of the same in La Liga too. Crisitiano should have scored but that's just asking too much because he's Cristiano, if there's any player who can be so expensive and still be called a bargain, it's Cristiano Ronaldo. We'll see more of Canales in the season, he's got a great career in front of him, might even win the FIFA Player of The Year in a few year's time.
Dude you're so lucky :)
ReplyDeleteJudging from the two matches we played, I have to say yes!....I just have to.... ;O....But we will see....
ReplyDeleteI think he was fantastic yesterday. (even though it was against a MLS opponent...)
ReplyDeleteThat's just 2 matches and don't read into the pre-season performances too much.
ReplyDelete