Northward Bound, Galaxy Take Trade To Cascadia

With the largely forgettable All-Star Game in the review mirror, the Galaxy get to turn their focus to the upcoming roadtrip. The Galaxy get to do a plethora of firsts this trip, for starters, it's the first extended road trip to the Pacific Northwest in Galaxy history. They'll be playing in Empire Place and JELD-WEN Field for the first time in team history. The temporary Empire Field will be the 35th stadium the Galaxy will play in during their MLS history. All time, Los Angeles are 15-14-5 when playing in a stadium for the first time. The Galaxy won in New York and Philadelphia last year, breaking in those new parks, but lost in their first ever visit to Buck Shaw. Previously, Galaxy-Quake matches were held at the Oakland Coliseum.

While this is the first time the Galaxy will play Vancouver in an MLS match, they have faced the Whitecaps twice in friendlies. There was a 0-0 draw in Vancouver '07, and a 2-1 Whitecap win in Edmonton '08. Since the first wave of MLS expansion, the Galaxy are 14-6-3 against expansion clubs.

However, the bigger question is what the lineup in Vancouver will look like. David Beckham and Chris Birchall have to miss the match due to suspension, and Landon Donovan is a likely scratch with a right calf issue. Juan Pablo Angel was held out of the Manchester City friendly with a left calf contusion. Paolo Cardozo is listed as questionable with a right adductor strain.

So what say you? What kind of lineup/shape are you expecting on Saturday? What were your impressions from last nights all star game?