Galaxy season leans on Beckham, Donovan, Ruiz

Cobi Jones hung up his boots at the end of last season, swapping them for a seat alongside Galaxy Coach Ruud Gullit, as one of his three assistants. But even Jones, for all his dozen years in Major League Soccer, can't tell what 2008 will bring.

The Galaxy opens its season in Denver tonight against the Colorado Rapids, the first of 30 matches that the team hopes will be followed by a decent playoff run and, if everything goes really well, a place in the MLS Cup at the Home Depot Center on Nov. 23.

It all hinges on three players: David Beckham, Landon Donovan and Carlos Ruiz. If they can lead, the rest of the extremely young -- and in some cases particularly old -- players will follow. Donovan, for one, thinks it's possible.

"It's been good, so far," Donovan said. "Fish [Ruiz] is easy to play with, and obviously David and I have played enough together now that we know what we're doing. I think having Carlos helps a lot because it takes pressure off me.

"He knows the game. He's a soccer player. As much as people talk about his goal scoring, he's a good soccer player. He sees the field. He sees the passes. He just knows the game. He knows where to be."

Since rejoining the Galaxy in January from FC Dallas, Ruiz has the sparkle back.

"He looks really motivated," Donovan said. "I don't know why. I don't care why. But he looks like he's here and he means it. He's been bringing it in training and in [preseason] games and he's done really well, so I'm excited."

Ruiz and Donovan have been charged with providing the goals. Both know what it takes. Donovan has scored 78 in seven MLS seasons; Ruiz has 97 in six seasons.

Beckham, meanwhile, is supposed to deliver the ball on a silver platter. He, too, knows what it takes.

"My job as a winger is to put the balls on the goal scorers' heads," he said. "If I create chances, then we'll score because we've got the quality up front. Carlos is a known goal scorer in MLS and he's a great player. If I put the ball in the right place, he's going to be on the end of it."

What Donovan is especially looking forward to is seeing how opponents cope with the triple-threat offense the Galaxy now has.

If opponents concentrate on defending against him, for instance, Donovan said, "then it gives David a lot of time on the ball and let's Fish get in the box. If they collapse around Fish, then it gives both of us [he and Beckham] time. I don't know how teams are going to deal with it."