With Machon, Shakeup Likely for Galaxy
Martin Machon walked through Major League Soccer’s front door last week and into an immediate starting position with the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Now, the team has to decide which players to quietly usher out the back door.
The acquisition of the Guatemalan midfielder-defender puts the Galaxy well over the MLS salary cap of $1.3 million. But, as Danny Villanueva, the club’s president and general manager, pointed out Monday, right now it is a matter of numbers, not dollars.
Machon’s arrival at the Galaxy training camp in Guadalajara, Mexico, increased the team’s roster to 27. That figure has to be cut to 20 by March 28.
Speculation continues to surround the future of striker Eduardo Hurtado, the league’s third-leading scorer last season. Without categorically saying “El Tanque” would not be traded, Villanueva emphasized his reluctance to even consider such a move.
“As I’ve said all along, I’m very committed to keeping Eduardo Hurtado here in Los Angeles,” Villanueva said. “I believe he is the most potent offensive force in this league and I am not at all interested in moving him to another city.
“I will do a lot of gyrations and standing on my head with the [salary] cap figures before we get to that point.”
But if the Galaxy keeps Hurtado, along with its other marquee players, such as Mauricio Cienfuegos, Cobi Jones, Jorge Campos and Machon, the likelihood is that more than one or two of last season’s starters might have to be traded.
The numbers will take care of themselves. Of the seven players the Galaxy selected in the collegiate and supplementary drafts, only defender Danny Pena and goalkeeper Kevin Hartman appear to have a good chance of making the roster.
Villanueva said the Galaxy has been impressed so far by Hartman, the former UCLA goalkeeper from Palos Verdes.
“He’s looked quite sharp in a couple of our training sessions,” Villanueva said. “He’s got extremely good reaction and reflex abilities, as well as an extremely good vertical leap. He probably has a little more work to do on his foot skills.”
With Campos unlikely to rejoin the Galaxy until several games into the season while playing for his Mexican League ream, Atlante, Hartman will be pushing Campos’ backup, David Kramer, for the starting spot.
Pena, 28, a former Los Angeles Salsa player from Culver City, also appears to have a better-than-average chance of becoming a starter.
“Danny came within an eyelash of playing for the U.S. national team,” Villanueva said. “For a while, it was not at all certain who would make the [U.S.] team, Pena or Marcelo Balboa. That’s the caliber of player he is. I think he’s going to be a great player for us.”
If it keeps all its national team players, the Galaxy’s starting lineup would look something like this: Campos, Arash Noamouz, Dan Calichman, Robin Fraser, Pena, Jones, Chris Armas, Cienfuegos, Machon, Harut Karapetyan and Hurtado.
The bench would have to include the backup goalkeepers, Kramer and Hartman, but beyond that almost everyone else might be scrambling for a place. That includes such players as Ante Razov, Greg Vanney, Guillermo Jara and Mark Semioli, all of whom got significant playing time last season.
Compounding the problem for Villanueva, assistant coach Octavio Zambrano was at the recent MLS player combine in Rio de Janeiro and spotted two players who were invited to join the Galaxy in Guadalajara.
If either or both of them catch Coach Lothar Osiander’s eye, there will be more itchy necks in the coming weeks as players wonder just where the ax might fall.
