Galaxy to test the limits of ‘friendship’ in Saturday’s match against Real Madrid
Imagine the Lakers taking a break in the middle of their season to play a couple of international tournament games and an exhibition against a team from China. Or what if the Dodgers jetted off to the Caribbean for a few days at the end of July, then came home to play a pickup game at the Coliseum?
It would never happen.
Soccer, however, plays by a different set of rules. Which is why the Galaxy, in the middle of what could be its best Major League Soccer season in more than a decade, has suddenly taken leave of the MLS for a series of matches that won’t count in the standings.
They haven’t taken leave of their senses, though, since Saturday night’s friendly against Real Madrid at the Rose Bowl, expected to draw a crowd of more than 80,000, will mark the team’s most lucrative gate of the season.
By far.
And last summer’s midseason friendly with Barcelona did even better, drawing 93,137, the largest crowd for a club soccer match in U.S. history.
The money is nice, but the Galaxy will also use Saturday’s match to measure itself against one of soccer’s premier clubs, one that includes Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentine international Gonzalo Higuain as well as five members of Spain’s World Cup champions — goalkeeper Iker Casillas, midfielder Xabi Alonso and defenders Raul Albiol, Alvaro Arbeloa and Sergio Ramos.
Missing, however, will be Brazilian star Kaka, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery Friday. The striker is expected to be sidelined three to four months and Dr. Marc Martens, who performed the procedure, told reporters it could have been worse. Kaka, Martens said, put his career at risk by playing in Brazil’s final two matches at last month’s World Cup despite an “unbearably painful” meniscus injury in his left knee.
Kaka’s absence from Madrid’s lineup has done little to dampen the enthusiasm of Galaxy forward Landon Donovan.
“They’re big games when you play Barcelona, Real Madrid. They’re exciting for us,” said Donovan, the reigning MLS most valuable player and a starter for the U.S. World Cup team. “A lot of players never get to play against a Real Madrid. Guys around our league are really excited for the opportunity.”
But Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez acknowledged that such opportunities can detract from the task at hand, namely winning an MLS title. Two of the Galaxy’s previous three matches were a home-and-home series with a Puerto Rican club, part of the CONCACAF Champions League. And Gonzalez, Donovan and teammate Edson Buddle will leave the Galaxy after Saturday’s exhibition to join the U.S. national team for Tuesday’s friendly against Brazil in New Jersey.
As a result, the heart of the Galaxy will play five matches between July 23 and Aug. 13, only one of which will count in the MLS standings.
“It is tough going from league games, where every play matters, to these games [which are] just for fun and just for the crowd,” Gonzalez said. “It definitely takes a toll on our body. But we have a 25-man roster so we can move some people around. People that need rest, we can rest those guys and bring the young guys on.
“We can make it work.”
The Galaxy will also use Saturday’s match to say goodbye to Clint Mathis, whose balky knees are forcing him into retirement after 11 MLS seasons and an unforgettable goal against South Korea in the 2002 World Cup.
“It’s kind of a bittersweet situation. But more sweet because I’m looking at the long-term situation,” said Mathis, 33, whose start against Real Madrid will be his first of the season. “I think it’s the right decision for me personally. And for my family as well.”
While the Galaxy is bidding farewell to Mathis, Real Madrid is getting to know new Coach José Mourinho, who made his debut with the club Wednesday in a 3-2 win over Mexico’s Club America in San Francisco.
Mourinho said he is using the exhibitions to try out three tactical systems. And although that makes the friendlies a bit more important, Alonso says Real Madrid’s players, many of whom played in the World Cup, are fatigued as well.
“It’s really tough,” said Alonso, who will be joining the Spanish national team in Mexico next week for another exhibition. “Sometime FIFA will have to think about the interest of the health of the players because we are on such a tight schedule. It is really tough when you play 65, 70 games a season.
“You want to be among the elite. But you try to combine that competitive match with a respect of the professional.”
kevin.baxter@latimes.com
