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Report: Galaxy trade Mike Magee to Chicago Fire for Robbie Rogers

2013-05-25T02:03:00Z

RIP #mikemageefacts. Steven Goff of the Washington Post is reporting that the LA Galaxy have sent Mike Magee to the Chicago Fire in exchange for the rights to Robbie Rogers. USA Today has already reported that Rogers has agreed to terms with the Galaxy.

It's happening, 2nd source says: Magee for Rogers, straight up #mls
— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) May 25, 2013

Magee is a Chicago native and reportedly wanted to return home. That part of the story was a shock to me. Rogers' side of the story is obviously more known. He wanted to get back into soccer and had been welcomed at training by the Galaxy and will be closer to his family in California.

Magee had six goals in 10 MLS appearances for the Galaxy this season (including three against the Fire on March 3) and he is only one shy of tying his MLS career season-high of seven goals which came with the MetroStars in 2003. Rogers last played in MLS in 2011 for the Columbus Crew. Rogers spent time with Leeds United and Stevenage (on loan) after his time with the Crew. Rogers has tallied 13 goals and 16 assists in 106 MLS appearances, all with the Crew.

We'll have more on this trade as details emerge.

USA Today: Robbie Rogers agrees to terms with LA Galaxy

2013-05-25T00:19:32Z

USA Today is reporting with two sources that Robbie Rogers has agreed to terms with the LA Galaxy. The story reports he's been traded from the Chicago Fire to the LA Galaxy, but does not list what he was traded for. He would have to have his rights traded to LA first, then LA would have to come to terms on a contract.

The sources in the article spoke anonymously as the deal has not been announced, and rumors have had the two sides hard at work to bring Rogers back to MLS. He's been training with the club for a few weeks now. Rogers is also quoted in the article, saying in an exclusive interview that he felt like a coward for not playing while openly gay.

In the article it talks about Landon Donovan as being one of Rogers' supporters. Robbie Rogers lists returning to the national team as an aspiration and one of the reason for his return to MLS.

Stay tuned this weekend to see if there's a historic announcement.

MLS Fantasy League: Week 13 picks

2013-05-24T19:36:19Z

Because after all, doing well in MLS Fantasy League is about more than picking the most skilled players.

Here's the full list of MLS call-ups.

I, for just one example, like to prioritize players on teams with home field advantage. Depending on the quality of the opponent, field surface, and crowd atmosphere, playing at home can increase the odds of a positive result for the home team 20 to 30 percent, sometimes more.

Home field advantage is one of several reasons why you need Jose Gonclaves ($6.0) on your roster this week, a player who's one confounding variable is that he happens to be on a bad team. The always active centerback scores lots of defensive bonus points and is 5th in total points among defenders for a reason.

The Revs are also a solid defensive team, so the possibility of clean sheets are high. And with their next three games at home, expect Gonclaves to rack up plenty of points.

Real Salt Lake also plays the next three games at Rio Tinto.

After a few injury-plagued seasons, Javier Morales ($8.4) is kind of a forgotten man, which might explain why he is easily the most underrated player in MLS Fantasy League. In the past 7 games, the Argentine playmaker has been absolutely tearing it up, scoring more points than any other midfielder including Graham Zusi ($10.4), and showing no signs of slowing down.

Somehow, only 4.5 percent of fantasy owners have Morales on their roster. Pick him up, before everyone else does.

If you don't have the cash to afford either one, I would recommend buying a Real Salt Lake or New England defender on the cheap. Nat Borchers ($5.3) and Andrew Farrell ($5.0) both work. Ned Gravavoy ($7.5) is also a clever option, just remember his two goals last week were against Chivas USA, so there's that.

Team name: Ben Fong-Torres FC (Almost Famous was on at the time)

Current rank: 305 (Up)

More LA Galaxy schedule analysis: Upcoming international absences

2013-05-24T17:35:06Z

Earlier this week we looked at the upcoming LA Galaxy schedule, pointing out that over the next eleven rounds LA will be the only MLS club without a bye week. That's significant as it'll be over this stretch that LA spends their matches in hand, and also because over this stretch every MLS side will have to deal with international absences.

More: LA Galaxy schedule analysis: No rest for the weary

If MLS has a dog days of summer, this is it. Now that international call-ups are fairly locked in, we can see what personnel will be available week to week.

Next week, round 14, and the following week the LA Galaxy will be without Omar Gonzalez and Robbie Keane. Round fourteen will see the Galaxy deal with a US Open Cup match in Carolina, and then the New England Revolution on the weekend. The Revs will be without Jerry Bengtson who's called up for Honduras. The forward has made nine appearances for New England this year, netting one goal in 716 minutes. LA draws the shorter straw on that one.

Round 15 see the LA Galaxy at Real Salt Lake once again. RSL will likely be without Alvaro Saborio and Abdoulie Mansally. Goalkeeper Nick Rimando was named as one of the six goalkeepers on Jurgen Klinsmann's US squad, but the purpose of such a big call-up was to allow MLS keepers to remain with this clubs unless needed. Barring injury to Tim Howard or Brad Guzan, Rimando should be in uniform for Salt Lake.

Round 16 sees LA get the weekend off but then take on the Portland Timbers at home on Wednesday. Should the Galaxy get a victory in Carolina they'll have a US Open Cup match the previous Wednesday, which they'll have to win without Jose Villarreal and Oscar Sorto. Sorto is actually gone now for a prep tournament, but then Villarreal will join up with the U-20 squad before the U-20 FIFA World Cup.

Villarreal will then miss round 16, 17 and 18. That's a long time, but Gyasi Zardes should be ninety minutes ready at that point. Certainly he'll at least be recovered from his left ankle sprain. Where Jack McBean will be on his recovery from a fractured left clavicle is less clear, but he probably won't be anywhere near ready.

Keane will have been back for a week when LA hosts the Portland Timbers, but Omar Gonzalez will just be returning. The Timbers will have had Donovan Ricketts and Ryan Johnson back from Jamaica duty for a week, but Rodney Wallace like Gonzalez will have a match the day before. Wallace has twelve appearances, three goals, and two assists for the Timbers this season.

Come the Junior Classic the following Sunday, the only absences will be injury related.

Landon Donovan second in weekly Castrol Index

2013-05-24T16:21:14Z

Landon Donovan unsurprisingly finished second in the Castrol Index for week 12, second only to Eddie Johnson's two goal and one assist player of the week performance. He still has a great deal of making up to do in the full list (he's currently sitting at 68), but if he keeps putting in performances like the one he had in Philadelphia that shouldn't be too great a challenge.

More: Landon Donovan has big Impact in win vs. Philadelphia

In our own Match Impact Rating, Donovan showed up with a 109.1 rating for his two assist one goal performance against Philadelphia. He didn't show up so well in New York, only managing a 29.5. Over the whole season, Donovan only trails Robbie Keane in MIR with an average of 44.2.

-Landon Donovan was second on the weekly Castrol Index

When I asked Castrol about their process, they pointed to all the positive events he had in the match against Philadelphia. To go with his goal he had a shot on target, both of which have benefits in the index. His passing was considered above average. He gave away the ball around the opposing penalty area on a few occasions, but had five successful passes into the box. Two of those successful passes into the box were assists.

The map gives us a visual idea of how well Donovan played against New York. This imagine was given to us by Castrol, with the blue representing good events and the red representing negative events. The black bar is Donovan's goal, the blue bar (right in front of goal, doesn't have a point on it) is Donovan's shot on target. Certainly in the midfield, the blue heavily outweighs any giveaway and on balls into the box it's about fifty/fifty.

Only the two assists resulted in shots on goal, but his cross in front of the face of goal from inside the box and two successful corner kicks certainly created opportunities.

Against New York, things didn't go as well for Landon Donovan. His only shot was an off target attempt which has no benefit. He only completed two passes in the box, while losing possession in the penalty area once. One performance his distribution was great, and then it was followed up with not so great.

The New York map is certainly more sparse. Actions on the flanks are almost nonexistent, showing how much Donovan had to drift after injuries to Juninho and Mike Magee. It's good to see a player all over the pitch, but typically it's good to be able to tell what part of the midfield they started from. The actions in general are sparse, and when they get into the opposing penalty area the red outweighs the blue. The red bar represents his off target shot.

Comparing his stat points in the two matches, Donovan didn't participate nearly as much in the match against New York as he did against Philadelphia. He finished with about half as many events both successful and unsuccessful. It suggests a player who was tired, as his stats correspond more closely with a player who didn't play the entire match. 180 minutes in five days will do that to a player.

Despite playing tired in New York, Donovan's combined performances were good enough for second in the weekly Castrol Index. Even if they hadn't counted his goal and shot on target in Philadelphia, Donovan's performance there would have been better than how he played in New York. Goes to show how an outstanding performance can make up for a lackluster one the following time out.

Of course, it also shows how an outstanding performance can contribute to a lackluster one next time out without proper rest.

Thanks to the Castrol Index, Opta, and Patrick Johnston for the statistical information provided.

Four Star Daily: Four Questions with Sounder at Heart

2013-05-24T15:00:07Z

With the LA Galaxy set to host the Seattle Sounders on Sunday night, we've asked four questions of Sounder at Heart about the Sounders' fortunes to date. You can read my answers to Dave Clark's questions over at SaH, while his answers to my questions appear below:

1) Seattle's in good form after a slow start. Is it simply shaking off the fatigue from CONCACAF Champions League, or is something else clicking?

Dave Clark: Three things have happened during this hot stretch. Eddie Johnson and Obafemi Martins are both playing, though Oba isn't starting regularly. They and Lamar Neagle are finishing, which has been huge. Seattle just was not converting at an acceptable rate until recently. Each has three goals during the hot stretch and Seattle could possibly have the best three headed attack in the league, even including healthy sets for San Jose and Sporting KC.

Lastly, the midfield defense is quite strong. Teams have to go through two natural defensive mids (two of Alonso, Joseph and Carrasco) as well as a wide mid that is a two-way player rather than pure attacker. This is leading to fewer passing lanes in the middle and rapid transition to attack from higher up the pitch. This change has helped the offense as well as an improved defense. With all of those things clicking Seattle is performing like the team people thought it was when they had it near the top of the preseason power rankings.

2) Eddie Johnson collects player of the week as Seattle finds the key against FC Dallas. What's he been doing right?

Dave Clark: Last year Eddie was all head. So much of what he did was from crosses and dead balls thrown into him about eight yards from goal. This year he's added his speed game back into his arsenal breaking away on all varieties of direct play. A defense that plays off of him will give him space to shoot. Playing tight means he can blow by them. Giving Seattle the opportunity to cross it into him and he's still got that great header that put him back into the National Team. He's better than he's ever been.

Seattle finally has variety in their attack. Plan A last year was a cross. Plan B was pray for Fredy to be awesome. Fredy isn't here this year. Plan A right now is Route One soccer and they are very good at it. Plan B is the cross. Rosales to Johnson is still as effective as ever.

3) Very difficult stretch for Seattle with an Open Cup tilt in between two matches in Los Angeles. Also, y'all are losing the aforementioned Eddie Johnson to international duty. How does Seattle push through? Is this the year Open Cup takes a backseat?

DC: Sigi Schmid has only thrown a full reserve out in a tournament when they've already been eliminated from it. They will send a mixed squad to Tampa and keep the rest in LA if I had to bet. Any player, coach and front office personnel that talked about getting knocked out of the CCL mentioned that they wanted to get back to that tournament. The US Open Cup is the quickest route for a Sounders return to international competition and will not be blown off. Plus they may want to add to their undefeated during MLS era Open Cup run.

4) DeAndre Yedlin seems to be showing well as Seattle's Homegrown signing. How's he mixing in?

DC: About perfectly. He still makes errors in positioning and needs to improve his crossing ability, but his speed means he can recover at a great rate. Yedlin is also pretty good at underlapping and running into the box leaving Mauro Rosales out wide. With his speed and decent touch this creates issues for defenses. He won't do it often, but when he does it creates a threat either from himself or the cross that Mauro puts into danger.

Significant injuries:

Osvaldo Alonso and Steve Zakuani are both going to be out for the Galaxy game.

Projected lineup:

Gspurning; Gonzalez, Traore, Hurtado, Yedlin; Carrasco; Evans, Joseph, Rosales; Martins, Johnson

LA Galaxy 2013 salaries and Match Impact Rating

2013-05-24T06:53:17Z

After roughly one-third of the 2013 MLS season has been played, I decided to compare the Galaxy midfield and forward player salaries against their Match Impact Ratings so far this season (part two of this series will look at MLS in general). The Galaxy's Designated Players have held up their end of the bargain so far although Robbie Keane did not make the 500 minute mark to be eligible for the MLS leaderboard. However, as you will see below, when Keane has been on the pitch (450 total minutes) this season he has well surpassed his MIR of 43.6 from 2012 which saw him finish ninth in MLS MIR.

**LA Galaxy 2013 Salary and MIR**
Player	2013 Guaranteed Compensation	Points/90 Mins	MIR
Robbie Keane	$4.3 million	1.0	53.2
Landon Donovan	$2.5 million	0.79	44.2
Jack McBean	$101k	0.73	43.7
Gyasi Zardes	$173k	0.73	40.6
Marcelo Sarvas	$184.4k	0.38	36.5
Mike Magee	$191.7k	0.61	34.1
Charlie Rugg	$35.1k	0.71	34.1
Jose Villarreal	$48.4k	0.37	33.6
Hector Jimenez	$46.5k	0.60	32.1
Colin Clark	$80k	0	21.8
Rafael Garcia	$46.5k	0	17.4
Michael Stephens	$106k	0.54	16.1
Juninho	$290k	0.10	12

The immediate problem with the chart above is that it is not adhering to the 500 minute rule or else it would be very short: Donovan, Sarvas, Magee and Juninho. One thing that stands out is that the Galaxy have gotten some bang for their buck from younger players even if they haven't been first-choice selections. Seeing Juninho at the bottom of the list is disconcerting after his seven-goal campaign last season. The Brazilian has no goals in 2013 and is attempting almost nearly a half a shot less per 90 minutes this season compared to 2012. Juninho's rate of fouls committed is up slightly this season while his rate of fouls suffered has remained virtually the same as 2012.

While there might have been some concern with Donovan's fitness after his sabbatical (ahem, Klinsy), he is only slightly off his MIR of 45.3 from 2012, which was second in MLS only to Thierry Henry (47.8). Sarvas has stepped up his game offensively from last season with 0.20 more points per 90 minutes and 0.30 more fouls suffered per 90 minutes.

The most unfortunate thing about this list is what could have been for McBean. The 18-year-old was off to a flying start this season with a goal and two assists in 370 minutes of MLS play before fracturing his left clavicle against Real Salt Lake late last month. One is also left wondering when and where more minutes can be found for Zardes who has been a spark plug as a substitute, averaging 5.1 shots and 2.2 shots on target per 90 minutes.

Stay tuned for part two when we find out how the Galaxy compare to the rest of the league in value.

CONCACAFINATED: All US and Mexico berths locked up

2013-05-23T19:59:00Z

On the eve of the Liga MX final, several things have become clear about the next iteration of CONCACAF Champions League. As Mexico City rivals America and Cruz Azul face off, they'll not only decide the Clausura champions but which will go in Pot A and which will go in Pot B in Champions League.

Tijuana, LA Galaxy, and San Jose Earthquakes will be joined in Pot A by the winner of the Liga MX Clausura final. The Clausura runner up will join Toluca, Houston Dynamo, and Sporting Kansas City in Pot B. The US and Mexico teams in Pot B will have to face on of the Central American sides in Pot A. That currently includes Olimpia of Honduras, Comunicaciones of Guatemala, and Arabe Unido of Panama. All three of those sides have seen CONCACAF Champions League time before, Arabe breaking a two year drought.

Club America is a huge get for Champions League, with one of the top two most popular teams in Mexico qualifying for the tournament for the first time.

The winner of the Canadian Championship will get a spot in Pot B. The tournament final is currently awaiting the second leg, with the score 0-0 and the Vancouver Whitecaps hosting the Montreal Impact. Olimpia in Honduras won both tournaments of the 2012-13 season, so Victoria qualifies for a Pot B spot with the best non-champion aggregate record.

Pot C awaits Guatemala's Clausura champion as well as El Salvador's. The Caribbean Championship has already concluded. Old friend Puerto Rico Islanders have currently suspended operations, so joining repeat qualifiers Connection and Caledonia will be Haitian side Valencia.

Old friend Isidro Metapan will qualify as either B or C depending on El Salvador's Clausura champion. That championship is contested between CD FAS and Firpo on Sunday. In Costa Rica, Herediano and Cartagines face off on Saturday to determine whether Alajuelense ends up in Pot A or Pot B.

Currently the only Pot B opponent the LA Galaxy know for sure they could draw in their group is CCL first timer Victoria of Hondruas.