The recent swine flu outbreak had no impact on the attendance at the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer game on the evening of May 2, when 21,006 fans and the next generation of players packed Home Depot Center in Carson, just a few miles south of Los Angeles.
Caribbean islanders in the crowd could take special price in the play of Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, a Jamaican native, who helped his team to a win against the New York Red Bulls.
Ricketts told CaribPress that this win was long time coming.
"With six games in the season, our first win was long overdue."
Asked how his team is now playing, Ricketts replied: "They are progressing nicely; defending well and attacking even better — slowly but surely we are finding our own."
The Galaxy home field advantage paid off when skipper London Donovan scored a first half penalty kick goal from a hand-ball foul on NY Red Bull's mid-field defender Seth Stemmier.
The 31-year-old Ricketts joined the L.A. Galaxy in December 2008 and is the club first goalkeeper out of Jamaica. He missed the first two games in the season due to a groin strain, but made his debut versus Chivas, USA on April 11th. During the match, Ricketts saved five goals against Chivas, which earned him the "Player of the Week" on April 13th. He is the 3rd Galaxy goalkeeper ever to win this award, joining Jorge Campos and Kevin Hartman in the club's history. The following game against San Jose ended with a 1-1 draw, marking the first time that the Galaxy have allowed just one goal in a two-game span since September 2007.
Since Ricketts returned from injury, his record is impressive. He is currently standing 3rd place among the leading goalkeepers in the League, with 16 shots, 14 saves and a goals-against average of 0.50. The current number one goalkeeper is Kasey Keller of the Seattle Club, 22 shots, 20 saves and goals-against average of 0.19.
Ricketts was a member of the first and only Jamaican national team in FIFA World Cup 1998 in France. In December, before joining the Galaxy, he was playing for his original club in Jamaica, Village United. He helped lead Jamaica to the Digicel Caribbean Championship and a berth in this year's CONCACAF Gold Cup 2009.
The 6 foot, four inch, 200-pound goalkeeper played in the European League for five years with Bolton and Bradford City. He was born 1977 in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and attended University of the West Indies, where he majored in Public Administration with a minor in Politics. He was six credits short of graduating before signed in 2004 to play for the Bolton club in England.
Sheannette Virtue is a writer for Carib Press.
Photos courtesy of Justin Pearson, Communications Manager, LA Galaxy
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