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Ricketts solidifying Galaxy defenseGoalkeeper has yet to lose game in nine starts with LA
By Larry Morgan / MLSnet.com Staff
CARSON, Calif. -- Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts was signed by the Los Angeles Galaxy during the offseason to help shore up a defense that allowed an MLS-high 62 goals in 2008. To say he has met those expectations could be the understatement of the year.
The Jamaican international is fourth in the league behind Seattle's Kasey Keller, Houston's Pat Onstad and Chivas USA's Zach Thornton with a 0.89 goals-against average and has yet to lose a game in nine starts. The Galaxy (1-1-9) also are on a nine-game unbeaten streak heading into Saturday's game at Toronto FC, thanks in no small part to the 6-foot-4, 205-pounder who gives the Galaxy their most dependable netminder since Kevin Hartman several years ago.
The soft-spoken 31-year-old said he takes more satisfaction in the team's improvement rather than his own progress to date.
"It's been good so far," he said. "I would have liked to have some more in the win column instead of the draws, but I'll take it.
"I like my back four and they defend well. I think this is a nice team and we're moving in the direction we want to go."
Ricketts joined the Galaxy last December and is a veteran of more than 100 games with Bradford City of England's League Two. He also was a member of the 1998 Jamaican World Cup team and had been with his original club, Jamaica's Village United, when he decided to come to Southern California.
Ricketts said he had a great deal of respect for MLS prior to his arrival -- "I've always thought it was a good league, and it's only going to get better," he said -- and Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena thought highly of his new netminder after facing him while he was coach of the U.S. men's national team.
Nothing has changed in that regard.
"I think he's terrific," Arena said. "He does all the things you want a goalkeeper to do. He has a strong kicking game, he throws the ball well, he communicates well, he has good range on crosses and he's a fabulous shot-blocker.
"I don't think he has a weakness."
Gregg Berhalter, a veteran central defender who signed with the Galaxy in early April after a long stint in Germany, also has been impressed.
"He's been great," said Berhalter, who faced Ricketts in international matches with the U.S. team. "Definitely a calming influence on the team. He goes about his work and is a quiet leader by example. But when a word needs to be said, he says it.
"I would say he doesn't have any weaknesses. That's a great way to sum up his strengths. He can do everything, in my opinion."
Ricketts was slowed by preseason groin and shoulder problems and didn't make his regular-season debut until week three, a 0-0 tie with Chivas USA. He has one other shutout, a 1-0 victory against the New York Red Bulls on May 2, and has allowed more than a single goal only once, in a 2-2 tie with Real Salt Lake on May 6.
Ricketts said he is confident his injury problems are behind him, although he is no stranger to such adversity. He said he once had a similar stretch in England, where he broke a metatarsal in his foot, broke his right big toe and then injured his elbow.
But he learned to fight through those setbacks, just as he has done this season.
"I've been able to play through the injuries, so that's a good thing," he said. "It was frustrating at first, but hopefully (the injuries) are gone.
"We're just taking it day by day. I'm feeling good right now, and hopefully that will continue to the end of the season."
Larry Morgan is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
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