Surging United travel to L.A.

Jun 1, 2007, 21:05 GMT

Carson, CA - The Los Angeles Galaxy have made headline this season with the acquisitions of David Beckham and Abel Xavier among others.

It's too bad those players won't be available Saturday night when L.A. hosts a surging D.C. United team.

Because of injuries, suspensions and national team call-ups, the Galaxy will be limited to about 13 field players for Saturday's match with the aforementioned players not scheduled to join to team until mid-to-late July.

'We have guys on the squad with a lot of MLS games under their belts who aren't on the field right now,' Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop told the league website. 'We're desperate to get those guys on the field and get the guys we're going to bring on in June and July.'

In addition to the suspension of Kyle Martino for a red card he earned in a 1-0 loss to Colorado last weekend, the team will be without Chris Albright, Gavin Glinton, Alan Gordan and Troy Roberts because of injuries. Quavas Kirk is listed as questionable with an injury of his own. On top of those absences, Ante Jazic and Kevin Harmse will be missing because they are with the Canadian national team.

'What I like about the situation is we're going to find out about some players on Saturday because they're going to play and they're going to get some experience,' Yallop said. 'Hopefully we can get a result out of this and it will really bode well for us once we get everyone healthy and we get everyone in.'

D.C., on the other hand, will feature a full squad that is unbeaten in four contests, including three-straight wins after losing its first three games to start the season.

The re-emergence of 2006 MLS MVP Christian Gomez (two goals in the last three games) after a slow start to the season has helped United get back in the hunt in the eastern table. In D.C.'s last game, a 2-1 win over Houston, Gomez added an assist to go with his goal - the first time this season he has scored more than one point in a game.

'Teams, players go through stretches where things come hard. I mean look at Dwayne (De Rosario). He's a great player and tomorrow, he could score three goals. That's just how stretches go,' United head coach Tom Soehn said. 'Christian is going to find his way. He's the MVP of the league for a reason. He's here on our team for a reason. We start to see signs of that, when he's sending our guys through, he's going to be a big piece.'

After Saturday night's fixture, D.C. hosts red Bull New York on June 10 while L.A. play at FC Dallas a day earlier.

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