In the end it wasn’t meant to be for the Los Angeles Galaxy. They fought valiantly to put together an inspirational late surge but fell just a bit short. Sunday’s 1-0 loss away to the Chicago Fire effectively put an end to their 2007 season. Even David Beckham, who came on in the 58^th minute at Toyota Park, was not enough to get Frank Yallop’s side over the hump and into the post season.  Of note, yesterday’s match was the last appearance ever in a Galaxy shirt for Cobi Jones who was an original member of the Galaxy.

While it was a very successful season for the Galaxy at the gate, the fact still remains that Los Angeles have now gone 2 consecutive seasons without  participation in the playoffs. Yallop had legitimate reasons for not producing a strong campaign as manager. Except for Toronto FC, no other MLS club was  hampered as much  by the injury bug as the Galaxy. They were without their entire back line for long stretches of the season as Ty Harden, Chris Albright, Ante Jazic and Abel Xavier missed considerable time. Also, in midfield, David Beckham missed more matches than he actually played after joining the club in early July.

The silver lining is that Los Angeles was able to develop a nice core of young players who were forced into starting roles this season. Mike Randolph and Troy Roberts played well enough to actually come into next year’s training camp with a chance of challenging for starting spots. In midfield, Josh Tudela has established himself as a hard nosed ball wining midfielder who will be able to add much needed toughness to the club over the course of next season. With Beckham coming back, there will definitely be a lot of parts for Yallop to work with next season. The only question now is whether Yallop will actually be around to work with them.

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