There are two areas that the Los Angeles Galaxy's Bruce Arena feels will accelerate the club's progress to becoming the finished product.

Those two areas? Speed and passing.

Two of the key fundamentals behind sound ball control were the lesson of the day during Monday's training session at the Home Depot Center.

The week also saw defender Gregg Berhalter return to the pitch after being sidelined due to a neck injury and viral infection.

When asked about the upcoming match against the Philadelphia Union, Bruce Arena noted the challenges of playing in a venue like PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania:

"It will be tough," Arena said. "It's probably not a well-planned schedule in that sense. You play a match on Sunday night and travel cross country for a Thursday game, but it is what it is and the light at the end of the tunnel is that we have eight days, nine days off until out next game.

"I wouldn't say [Philadelphia] are a lesser team. I think that's a lesson to be learned from the league this year. I think Colorado can tell you that. I think Salt Lake can probably tell you from [their 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution on October 2], where they faced a really tough team.

"This game's going to be a real battle for 90 minutes and there's gonna be nothing easy about it. We gotta recover properly and get 11 guys on the field Thursday there that are ready to fight and scrap.

"I think at the time of year, any time you win a game, it's something you should experience in a positive way, and I think we have. The nice part of the game [on Sunday against Chivas USA] is that we dealt with a lot of adversity. We had to deal with a lot of poor decisions by the officials and we had to fight and scrap to get the three points, and we did that, so that's a positive.

"We all had in mind last week that these were two games that were going to come fast, and we wanted to sort of prepare for both," said team captain Landon Donovan on Monday. "The first one is now out of the way, and today we're in for a little treatment and we travel tomorrow, so it's gonna come fast.

"There's two parts: you physically have to get yourself back quickly, and with travel, it makes it difficult. Then, after especially an emotional and exciting game against Chivas it's how you get yourself going. But fortunately, we're playing in Philly, which has a great stadium, great fan base from what we hear, so I think we'll be up for it from that standpoint.

"It's not going to be easy with the big flight to Philadelphia," said Galaxy striker Edson Buddle, who leads the league in goals with 15. "It's gonna be a quick turnaround with the game on Thursday."

Buddle was wary of the Galaxy's ability to drop games against mediocre opposition, as seen with their dry stretch in July and August.

"We can't let our guards down," Buddle added. "We know that in this league, it's close. Every game is close, it's gonna be competitive and we have to compete early in the game to try and go out on the road [with a win].

"I think we realize now with how close [Real] Salt Lake are," Donovan said in regards to the Supporters' Shield race, "that we have to keep going. There's only three games left. We know Salt Lake have a difficult schedule. We got three very good games coming up [in Philadelphia, Colorado and Dallas], but if we can continue to build an advantage in the [MLS Overall and MLS Western Conference] standings, that's what we're hoping for and ideally, it wouldn't have to come down to the last weekend. Ideally, we can have it wrapped up so that we can rest and get ready for the playoffs."

Donovan could not hide his relief to be going out for one last jaunt outside Victoria Street for the regular season.

"Everybody feels good about what happened [on Sunday] and it's good to be on the road again. We've been home for a month now, so it's kind of exciting to get on the road, hang out with the guys in the airport and on the plane and have fun. It's good to be in a new environment and play an exciting game.

"I'm excited. It's always fun to play in a new place, a new facility, but it's exciting for us because the league is growing. And it's getting better and better. Everyone has said that [PPL Park] is great. The stadium in New York [Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey] was fantastic, and hopefully it's another good night for us."

Buddle looks forward to a enthused home crowd on Thursday night.

"It's gonna be cooler to see what those fans [in Philadelphia] are like," Buddle said, "introducing a new team, and being a part of that is great."

Kickoff between the Los Angeles Galaxy and Philadelphia Union is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. PT/8:00 p.m. ET and will be televised by ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.

INS & OUTS

Yohance to the Warriors, Yohance to the Warriors...

Galaxy defender Yohance Marshall will be unavailable for Thursday night's match against the Union, since he was called into the Trinidad and Tobago national team for a couple of international friendlies.

The Soca Warriors will be facing the Warriors of Bermuda on October 6 and the Reggae Boyz of Jamaica on October 10. Marshall has yet to play a full international match at the senior level, and T&T's match with Bermuda on Wednesday could mark his debut.

Marshall has a chance to become the second Galaxy player to earn his first cap this season.

Omar Gonzalez earned his first cap debuting against Brazil on August 10.

The other international players for the Galaxy have been given the green light to remain with the club this week.

Youth Academy Update

The LA Galaxy Youth Academy Under-14 teams earned victories last Saturday and will look to continue their winning form this weekend. The 3-0 A squad take on Deportivo Morelos, while the 2-1-1 B squad face Cosmos Academy West.

Goals from the Dhillon brothers of Justin and Sean, Eric Gonzalez, and John McBean paced the Galaxy U-16 to their 4-0 shutout win over Real Salt Lake Arizona, while goals from Eric Verso and Juan Gutierrez gave the U-18 a 2-2 draw with RSL Arizona.

After the U-16 and U-18 face off against the De Anza Force, they will face the Santa Cruz Breakers Academy on October 10. Kickoff at Cabrillo College for the U-18 is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. PT while kickoff for the U-16 is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. PT.

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