Quakes/Galaxy press wrap

Before we say anything about last night’s match, we need to pass along our compliments to our colleague Tim Hanley, who wrote the following in his pre-game analysis:

Edson Buddle can handle the lone striker role and, for what it is worth, I like him. I think he’s underrated. Big, strong, good feet for the most part, although prone to the occasional poor touch. Buddle runs the channels well, and has a knack for scoring.

OK, he didn’t mention Buddle’s ability to head the ball — particularly the ability to head the ball accurately, even when he’s marked extremely tightly, as was the case on his second goal — but Hanley gets credit for identifying the key player on the night for the Galaxy.

Here at the blog, our assessment last night was that the match was a lot more even than the scoreline indicates, and we’re sticking by that opinion this morning. The Quakes had chances but suffered from an inability to put the ball on frame while Buddle was finishing even half-chances. The result goes into the books as a 3-0 loss, but unlike San Jose’s opening night loss to the Galaxy in Carson, there are at least a few positives to take from the match — Kelly Gray’s performance, for example.

Here’s Yallop’s take on things, from last night’s post-game press conference:

Here’s what Ruud Gullit had to say about the match, as well as his thoughts on Holland’s early success at Euro 2008:

Finally, here are the comments from Buddle and David Beckham:

Now, onto the press wrap:

- CLS photographers John Todd and Joe Nuxoll have posted a great gallery here.

- MLSnet.com has a match report from Center Line Soccer columnist Pete Ratajczak as well as a quote sheet and video highlights.

- The San Francisco Chronicle’s Tom FitzGerald checks in with his match report.

- The Mercury News has a match report from Elliott Almond and a column from Ann Killion.

- The L.A. Daily News goes for the big pun in their match report, headlined “Galaxy have a Buddle of joy.”