Mike Magee

Less than two months after winning its second consecutive Major League Soccer title, the Galaxy begins preparations for a run at a third championship Monday when the team opens preseason training camp at the Home Depot Center. But as of Sunday night, it was uncertain whether captain Landon Donovan would be joining them. Donovan, who played 49 games in 48 weeks last year, complained of physical and mental fatigue during much of last season and has spent the last seven weeks contemplating retirement at age 30. He met Sunday with Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena, who is hopeful of coaxing Donovan back for the final season of his four-year deal with the team, one that earned him $2.4 million last season.

The Galaxy announced Tuesday that it has signed midfielders Mike Magee and Colin Clark and goalkeeper Brian Perk for the 2013 season. The signing of Magee, who played a key role in the team's successive MLS Cup victories, was a big one given the team's uncertain status in the midfield. With David Beckham retiring from MLS play and the return of captain Landon Donovan and Juninho uncertain, the Galaxy could enter preseason camp later this month without three midfield starters from last season.

The Galaxy lost a veteran forward Friday when it traded Edson Buddle to the Colorado Rapids. But it also gained a veteran midfielder and a solid goalkeeper, selecting Houston's Colin Clark and Columbus' Will Hesmer with its first two picks in Major League Soccer's reentry draft. Under the rules of the reentry draft teams are allowed to select players who are out-of-contract or have had their options declined by their current teams. Teams pick in reverse order of their finish in the most recent season.

SEATTLE -- Galaxy captain Landon Donovan, who has been plagued by injury all season, did not dress for the Western Conference final against the Seattle Sounders on a wet and chilly Sunday night at CenturyLink Field. The scenario the Galaxy faces -- it takes a three-goal lead into the second of two matches in a Major League Soccer playoff series that will be decided on total scores -- might have had something to do with that decision. But the weather conditions and the punishing nature of Seattle's artificial turf might also be a factor.

Mike Magee can smile about it now. But at the time, in the winter of 2009, he was burning the candle at both ends and his soccer career seemed ready to go up in smoke. "I was kind of living a bachelor lifestyle," says Magee, who enjoyed all of what New York had to offer during six seasons there. "Sometimes it was hard to focus and do the right things off the field. " Then, in quick succession, came a trade to the Galaxy, the birth of a child and a new perspective on life and soccer - both of which, Magee says, he enjoys much more now. "He has matured," says Bruce Arena, who coached Magee in New York then traded for him five months after taking over the Galaxy.

The Galaxy hadn't even left the field after Sunday's 3-0 playoff victory over the Seattle Sounders before the PA announcer informed the sellout crowd that tickets to next month's MLS Cup final at the Home Depot Center would soon go on sale. The Galaxy has a long way to go before it can think about playing in Major League Soccer's title game, much less playing it at home. But it certainly looked like a championship team in the first game of the Western Conference final, wrapping two goals from Robbie Keane around a second-half score from Mike Magee to take a commanding lead in the series.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Galaxy defender Todd Dunivant remembers one emotion washing over him Wednesday night when the clock finally ran out on a 3-1 playoff victory over the San Jose Earthquakes. "Relief," he said with a tired smile. Teammate Omar Gonzalez was a bit more effusive. "It just felt great to hear that whistle blow," he said "and to finally be over with those guys. " By dispatching the Quakes on aggregate goals, 3-2, in a two-game playoff series, the Galaxy now gets to move on to play some other guys -- either Real Salt Lake or Seattle -- in the Western Conference finals beginning Sunday at the Home Depot Center.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- When the Galaxy won the MLS Cup last year it gave David Beckham league titles in three countries, making him something of an expert on championships. So with the Galaxy 90 minutes away from the off-season entering Wednesday's Western Conference semifinal with the San Jose Earthquakes, Beckham was speaking from experience when he insisted everything that had happened in the previous eight months would mean nothing if the team didn't repeat. "There's no season that can be a success if you don't win any silverware at the end of it," he said.

Galaxy vs. San Jose When: 6. Where: Home Depot Center. On the air: TV: ESPN, ESPN Deportes; Radio: 1150, 1220. Regular-season records: Galaxy 16-12-6, San Jose 19-6-9. Record vs. Earthquakes: 0-2-1. Update: Midfielder Juninho didn't train Saturday after sustaining a lower-leg injury in the Galaxy's playoff opener against Vancouver, and defender Sean Franklin and midfielder Christian Wilhelmsson, who haven't played in a week, are listed as questionable. But the Galaxy will have Mike Magee, whose score against Vancouver was his fourth goal in his last five playoff games.

There have been times this season when the Galaxy has looked like anything but a champion. Good thing appearances aren't nearly as important as results when it comes to the playoffs, which the Galaxy opened Thursday by rallying for a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps at the Home Depot Center. Goals from Mike Magee and Landon Donovan during a four-minute span of the second half sent the defending MLS champions on to the Western Conference semifinals against the San Jose Earthquakes.