Gregg Berhalter

Galaxy-Chivas USA: In Sunday's Sports, captions on two photos from the Galaxy-Chivas USA game -- one photo accompanying an article about the soccer game, the other on the Day in Sports page -- misidentified Galaxy player Stefani Miglioranzi as Gregg Berhalter.

Bruce Arena might be among the smartest coaches U.S. soccer has produced. But innovative? Well, not so much. So it's a credit to Arena, whom the Galaxy hired as its coach in 2008, that as he has gotten older he has not only challenged some of the concepts he once held dear, but also tried things that, years earlier, he probably would have dismissed out of hand. And that, in a roundabout way, brings us to Galaxy defender Gregg Berhalter. As Arena and the Galaxy were licking their wounds after a disappointing end to last season, Arena approached Berhalter and asked if he would like to come back as a player-coach, a concept as rare in top-level professional soccer as it is in any other sport.

GALAXY TONIGHT VS. NEW ENGLAND When: 8. Where: Home Depot Center. Records: Season opener for both teams. Record vs. Revolution (2009): 2-0. Update: Left legs seem to be the early problem area for the Galaxy as the season begins. No fewer than five players are sidelined by injuries to their left knee or thigh. They are Gregg Berhalter, Clint Mathis, Alan Gordon, Jovan Kirovski and Bryan Jordan. — Grahame L. Jones

GALAXY TONIGHT VS. PORTLAND When: 8. Where: Home Depot Center. On the air: TV: Fox Soccer; Radio: 1150 and 1330. Records: Galaxy 3-1-3; Timbers 2-2-1. Record vs. Timbers: First meeting. Update: With defender Leonardo out for the season with torn knee ligaments, and defender Gregg Berhalter still recovering from a left knee injury that has sidelined him all year, Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena will begin putting together a new-look back line.

With $16 million worth of Major League Soccer salary on the field in the shape of only four players on Friday night, it figured that one of the quartet would make the difference. But the Galaxy's David Beckham ($6.5 million) and Landon Donovan ($2.1 million) and the New York Red Bulls' Juan Pablo Angel ($1.9 million) and Rafael Marquez ($5.5 million) did not play a leading role. Instead, it was the fastest man on the Home Depot Center field, New York's Dane Richards ($146,500)

Talk about your high-voltage games. On a night when the power failed twice at the Home Depot Center, Gregg Berhalter came up with just enough energy to score the winning goal in overtime Friday night to put the Galaxy into Major League Soccer's championship final. The final score read: Galaxy 2, Houston Dynamo 0, but it was Berhalter's name that went up in lights. The long-awaited goal came in the 103rd minute when David Beckham sent a free kick into the penalty area, Galaxy teammate Omar Gonzalez got a head to it and the ball bounced off defender Eddie Robinson.

Bruce Arena might be among the smartest coaches U.S. soccer has produced. But innovative? Well, not so much. So it's a credit to Arena, whom the Galaxy hired as its coach in 2008, that as he has gotten older he has not only challenged some of the concepts he once held dear, but also tried things that, years earlier, he probably would have dismissed out of hand. And that, in a roundabout way, brings us to Galaxy defender Gregg Berhalter. As Arena and the Galaxy were licking their wounds after a disappointing end to last season, Arena approached Berhalter and asked if he would like to come back as a player-coach, a concept as rare in top-level professional soccer as it is in any other sport.

When the U.S. takes the field against Germany tonight in its last meaningful soccer friendly before the World Cup, several players' immediate futures will be on the line. Three-quarters of the probable U.S. World Cup starting lineup will be absent -- because of injury or unavailability -- so the game presents a chance for reserve or "bubble" players to show they belong.

With $16 million worth of Major League Soccer salary on the field in the shape of only four players on Friday night, it figured that one of the quartet would make the difference. But the Galaxy's David Beckham ($6.5 million) and Landon Donovan ($2.1 million) and the New York Red Bulls' Juan Pablo Angel ($1.9 million) and Rafael Marquez ($5.5 million) did not play a leading role. Instead, it was the fastest man on the Home Depot Center field, New York's Dane Richards ($146,500)

Talk about your high-voltage games. On a night when the power failed twice at the Home Depot Center, Gregg Berhalter came up with just enough energy to score the winning goal in overtime Friday night to put the Galaxy into Major League Soccer's championship final. The final score read: Galaxy 2, Houston Dynamo 0, but it was Berhalter's name that went up in lights. The long-awaited goal came in the 103rd minute when David Beckham sent a free kick into the penalty area, Galaxy teammate Omar Gonzalez got a head to it and the ball bounced off defender Eddie Robinson.

Galaxy-Chivas USA: In Sunday's Sports, captions on two photos from the Galaxy-Chivas USA game -- one photo accompanying an article about the soccer game, the other on the Day in Sports page -- misidentified Galaxy player Stefani Miglioranzi as Gregg Berhalter.