Gonzalez and Franklin at the front for the States

Defenders Omar Gonzalez and Sean Franklin played a key role in the USA's 1-1 draw with Chile at the Home Depot Center last Saturday. Franklin earned his first-ever cap as a member of the national team in the draw.

“It was definitely an honor to be playing with the national team,” Gonzalez said. “It was a fun game. The first half was so much fun and getting to see all the new guys out there was fun.”

“Nothing’s final until it’s written down,” Franklin said. “I was excited to get the start. I wanted to just calm down, not freak out too much.”

Gonzalez was quick to note that working with fellow defender and New York Red Bull Tim Ream, who had a fantastic outing for the USA, was key.

“We worked together the last week and I like playing with him next to me,” he said. “Hopefully that’s one relationship I would like to see again.”

For Franklin, it was a case of "so far, so good," but there's room for improvement.

“I think I did OK," he said. "I wish I would have done better attacking-wise, as far as some better balls being crossed, but I thought I did OK,” he said.

Defender A.J. De La Garza did not play in the game and was the only unused substitute.

News from the Training Camp...

On Monday, the Los Angeles Galaxy began training camp by hitting the weight rooms to work on their conditioning. The club won the MLS Supporters' Shield but is looking for bigger hardware on the way.

“We’re not satisfied with what we did in 2009 and 2010. (In 2011) we want to be better,” manager Bruce Arena said. “We think we have the right players, we know it’s not perfect but we think we have the ability to be better this year.”

“We won the Supporters’ Shield, had the most points in the league, had the third most points in MLS history, but that’s not good enough,” Franklin said. “Our ultimate goal is to win MLS Cup and that’s going to be our goal this year.”

“He (Arena) said we have expectations to win, and win championships,” said backup goalkeeper Josh Saunders. “That’s why we are here. Even with the Champions League, this year we want to win everything. Every competition we are in, we want to win.”

Adam Cristman, one of the acquired players from D.C. United, was disappointed by the complacency of the team and looked to fix that this year.

“On previous clubs I’ve been with, sometimes you would settle with winning the Supporters’ Shield and calling that a good year,” said Cristman, “but Bruce expects more and I think the rest of the guys do as well.”

Chad Barrett, another acquisition from Toronto FC, has never been hungrier to lift the MLS Cup, among other things.

“I’ve never been on a championship team and haven’t been to the playoffs the last couple of years,” he said. “I’m hungrier than ever and want to help this club do this.”

Three players were unable to make training camp this week. Juan Pablo Angel was still in New York preparing for the move, David Beckham was doing his own training at Tottenham Hotspur FC and Juninho was in Brazil. All three players are expected to be in camp within the next week or so.

One of the major tests used at training camp was the VO2 test.

“It’s kind of like putting on a snorkeling mask for the first time,” Barrett said. “It’s just not normal to breathe underwater and it’s not normal to run on a treadmill with a mask on. It’s harder to breathe and harder to run with, but I guess it’s a good test to see where we are at.”

The VO2 test is an endurance test that consists of a player running on the treadmill while wearing an oxygen mask. It is used in Europe, and this is the fourth consecutive season the Galaxy conducted the VO2 test.

“The purpose of today was to introduce new players to the returning veterans and get an analysis of where players stand physically,” Arena said. “I think all of those things were accomplished. 

“It (the VO2) gives us understandings of where players are starting at and allows us to use science to see where players are individually and where our team is as well.”

In addition, the players did a six-minute run while strapped to a wireless heart-rate monitor to get a base.

“Fitness early on is going to be longer in endurance,” said Ben Yauss, the Galaxy’s strength and conditioning coach. “We want to make sure we have the guys at the right intensity levels and make sure we are pacing them and pushing them accordingly.”

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