7:30, TV: Fox Soccer Channel
After what feels like an entire season of hype, today at the Rose Bowl The Los Angeles Galaxy are set to take on international super-team Real Madrid in a friendly match.
World Cup winners Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, and Xabi Alonso arrived together a few days after the rest of the team, but are ready to go. Casillas won the Golden Glove for the 2010 World Cup, had six saves in the final against the Netherlands, and was the first Spanish player to hoist the World Cup trophy. Kaka revealed recently that he played through the World Cup with an injury. The Brazilian star had surgery in Belgium on Thursday, and according to his doctor, his injury is "career threatening" so needless to say, he won't be playing in the game today.
Cristiano Ronaldo will be the events headliner. Ronaldo has scored 23 international goals. Since joining Real Madrid he's scored 35 goals, 26 in Spanish League play and 7 in European Champions League. In his club career, which began in 2002, he's scored a whopping 156 goals.
This game is more about celebrating soccer than it is about competition. Last years match against Barcelona at the Rose Bowl drew 90,000 and this year shouldn't be any different.
The Galaxy may not be looking for a particular result tonight, but after a putrid last ten days, a good showing will do wonders for the team's goodwill. Club America were able to score 2 goals in a 3-2 loss against Real Madrid earlier this week, so at least meeting that benchmark would be a good result for the Galaxy.
After all the talk of Landon Donovan needing to face tougher European competition after the World Cup, it will be interesting to see how the midfield battle of Donovan vs. Ronaldo works out.
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