They were back. And as a result, the Los Angeles Galaxy are on the winning track once again.

With Edson Buddle and Landon Donovan fresh off their 2010 FIFA World Cup duty, the Galaxy were back in business again with a 3-1 victory over the Seattle Sounders.

It's about time the Galaxy are winning again.

They have had to deal with Landon and Edson's absence for so long that the team is calling, "Help! We're sending out an S.O.S. here! We're still the best team in Major League Soccer but we need some excitement still!"

They got it.

Early in the first half, the Buddlevan (Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle) Connection were locked in for the Galaxy's first goal. A solid corner from the Galaxy's No. 10 (Dononvan) found the No. 14 (Buddle), sending the sellout crowd of 27,000 to their feet as one.

Despite the win, it seems that Landon must still be feeling a bit winded from the media whirlwind.

“I’m tired," he said. "There was a lot of energy and emotion in the beginning of the game with the big crowd. We put a lot of energy into the first half and then got tired, but I’m really happy to be back and I’m really happy to be a part of this team again.”

"His injury is fatigue," Arena added. "It’s not a hamstring. He’s a little run down, and it showed tonight. If Landon was going to play his first game back from the World Cup, it was going to be in Los Angeles.

"If he needs some time off, we are going to give him some time off. It may be a decision we make this week. He may not be going to New England."

Cross your fingers, Galaxy fans.

Meanwhile, Edson Buddle was soaking it all up after scoring his 10th of the season.

“You hear talk that people were happy we were back and, like I said, we wanted to play well and get a win at home," Buddle said after the match. "Being that it was a sold out crowd, you want to impress the crowd so that fans come back on nights besides the Fourth.

“I wanted to get a goal especially coming back. First I wanted to play well but if a goal came I would take it and I’m happy with the result.”

Juninho also had a breakout game. How about this guy on loan from Sao Paulo FC? After scoring his first goal in the Galaxy colors against A.C. St. Louis a few days ago, he strikes yet again with a shot from distance that has to be MLS Goal of the Week material.

“For the first goal it is very important to show the fans that I am giving my all to them because they have faith in me," Juninho said afterwards.

That's the blistering Brazilliance that is just adding to the richness of the scoring attack options Mr. Bruce Arena has at his disposal, and they are diverse.

One more thing before we go to those ins and outs: poor James Riley. I am personally pleased that my prediction was right on the money, but who ever thought that it would come at an own goal?

You know, these types of things happen. Gotta shake it off and move on, but I have doubt in my mind Riley is hearing it from the Sounders FC faithful on BigSoccer.com as we speak.

Sounders manager Sigi Schmid was terse after the loss.

"LA was better than us," Schmid said after the match. "We were lucky to be able to go in half time down only one nothing. I thought they outplayed us in the first half really well. Our second half was better. We played with more energy. Obviously, they started off the second half with a great goal.

"There were a couple of instances before the goal where we could have pressured the ball and didn’t. I think that was the story of the night for us. We didn’t get enough pressure on to them, defensively, early enough."

Next up for Los Angeles is a trip to the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, Washington to face the Sounders one last time on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. PT.

The Galaxy will follow that up with a trip to Gilette Stadium to face the New England Revolution. Kickoff on July 10th is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. PT.

With that said, we move on to our...

Chicken Thief Number Four: Steve Zakuani

Guess who stole the chickens on Sunday night? Yep, it was Steve Zakuani of the Seattle Sounders. He was able to weave his way past Omar Gonzalez—who blew his assignment to perfection—and Gregg Berhalter—who did the same—en route toward slotting the shot past Donovan Ricketts.

As I said many times before, the best teams cannot afford to sleep defensively. It didn't affect the outcome either way, but a well played ball by a promising star of the future for Seattle.

“When you score with fifty minutes to go and you're one down it gives the team belief and I think we've got depth," Zakuani said afterwards. "We got a good chance and [Donovan] Ricketts makes the save and unfortunately we weren’t able to capitalize and they came out and got a third goal and that was the game for us. It definitely came at a good time and I felt like we could have pushed on it and maybe get the equalizer but it wasn’t to be tonight.”

Moving right along (and enjoy those chickens, Steve)...


Youth Academy Update

The Los Angeles Galaxy's U-20 side took on the Lancaster Rattlers at Antelope Valley High School in a USL Youth Development Super-20 League Pacific South California match.

In the end, the Young G's were just too good, taking all the venom out of the Rattlers early and often, 7-0. They face Chivas USA at 5:00 p.m. Monday at the Home Depot Center.

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