Monday marked Contract Deadline Day in Major League Soccer, meaning that all clubs (apart from the four still participating in the MLS Cup playoffs) had to announce which player contract options they’d picked up and which players they’d effectively cut.
The Los Angeles Galaxy’s abysmal season took another turn for the worse with Giovani dos Santos publicly turning on his teammates following a heavy defeat to Atlanta United on Wednesday. Like the rest of the Galaxy, Dos Santos has seen his numbers fall dramatically this season. After scoring 14 goals in 2016, Dos Santos has only registered six this campaign and the Mexican international knows where the blame lies.
Real Madrid came into their match against Real Betis Wednesday four points behind Barcelona in La Liga, needing a win.
Fortunately, they got Cristiano Ronaldo back from suspension, and he showed during the Champions League last week that he hadn't accumulated any rust during his break.
Thanks for playing, Los Angeles Galaxy.
One year before LAFC comes to town, the Galaxy have seemingly given up on the 2017 season with nearly a third of their fixtures remaining. The club announced captain and stalwart defender Jelle Van Damme was sold to Antwerp F.C. for $235,000 on Friday.
In a World Cup year, it’s only natural that national team regulars are put under the microscope every week. With only 23 spots available on the final World Cup roster, each and every week during the club season is a personal battle and test of merit. In that sense, no USMNT player has been failing as spectacularly as Los Angeles Galaxy forward Gyasi Zardes.
The L.A. Galaxy are in a major rut and everyone is piling on, from opponents to technology. In a 3-1 loss to the Portland Timbers on Sunday, the Galaxy were one of the first MLS clubs to have a goal disallowed by video review. Then the Timbers slammed home two of the best goals of the weekend to rub it in and spoil the debut of Jonathan Dos Santos.
L.A. thought it had scored in the 12th minute when Gyasi Zardes poked home from short range. But the officials checked the tape and discovered Zardes had handled the ball prior to the goal.
Jonathan dos Santos is officially an LA Galaxy player. The 28-year-old joins his brother Gio in California after sealing a move from Villarreal. He will immediately become either the best midfielder in MLS or very very close.
Welcome to Hollywood, @jona2santos! pic.twitter.com/kJQf3OydJl
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) July 28, 2017
Chances are, if you’ve done soccer, you’ll know about goals. But what are they? How does a goal become a goal and not something else? When will you know if you’ve actually seen a goal?
These are all good, valid questions. You see, all goals are created equal, but not really. Goals come in all shapes and sizes, and you never really see the same goal twice.
At the most basic level, a goal is a goal when the ball crosses the goal line in its entirety. That’s really what a goal is. That’s really the science behind it in a nutshell, I guess.
Brothers: you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them. After years of what may have been some separation anxiety plying their trades thousands of miles away from each other, Jonathan and Giovani dos Santos may play on the same club team again.
Before the friendly between the LA Galaxy and Manchester United Sunday, Galaxy mascot Cozmo pulled a little joke on United during warm-ups, displaying a sign that said "IT'S CALLED SOCCER" to the Red Devils.
I cannot tell you - it is literally impossible to convey - how much this photo means to me. pic.twitter.com/5t1uKCPbbx
— Will Parchman (@WillParchman) July 16, 2017