Galaxy deadwood

Here's how the rest of the Major League Soccer season plays out for Coach Bruce Arena (pictured at right) and the Galaxy:

They are at Columbus, at home against Colorado, at Houston and at home against Dallas.

For a team that is an abysmal 7-11-8 this season, winning even two of those games is going to be a challenge. But David Beckham, Landon Donovan and company have to win three -- and probably all four -- if they want to avoid missing the playoffs for the third consecutive season.

It starts in Ohio on Saturday, and don't think that Columbus Coach Sigi Schmid -- remember him, Galaxy fans? -- would not enjoy driving the final nail into the Los Angeles coffin.

The Crew has been transformed under Schmid, whose team is at the head of the entire MLS pack with a 15-6-5 record. For Schmid, who was fired by the Galaxy in 2005, the only thing better than beating the Galaxy this week would be winning the MLS Cup at the Home Depot Center on Nov. 23.

The game at defending MLS champion Houston on Oct. 18 is not going to be any picnic for the Galaxy, either. The Galaxy is 2-7-4 on the road in 2008 after going 3-8-4 away from home in 2007.

In fact, Los Angeles has won only 16 of 90 regular-season road games in the last five seasons, losing 50 and tying 24.

Statistically, then, a victory in Texas is not likely.

Between Columbus and Houston, the Galaxy is at home against Colorado on Oct. 12, but that's right in the middle of the next round of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

As a result, Beckham, Donovan and Ante Jazic likely will be missing for a key match against a Colorado team that also is fighting for a playoff spot and which banged five goals past the New York Red Bulls at Giants Stadium over the weekend.

It could all be over long before the season finale against Dallas, and Arena can then start doing the job he was hired to do: hauling away truckloads of deadwood and putting a real team on the field for 2009.

--Grahame L. Jones

Photo credit: Mark Avery / Associated Press