Coming off a big week with home wins against Seattle in the US Open Cup and a league win against the rival San Jose Earthquakes, the LA Galaxy looked to build off the momentum of that win and finally get its season going.
However, that was going to be a tall task, as the Galaxy were on the road for its next three matches, starting on Wednesday against the Columbus Crew. Sure enough, Columbus didn’t make things easy for the Galaxy, as the Crew got a strike from Lucas Zelarayan at the midpoint of the first half, then Malte Amundsen demoralized the Galaxy with a strike just before halftime, and the Galaxy ultimately never recovered, as the Crew rolled on to the 2-0 win at Lower.com Field.
“We always knew it was going to be a difficult game coming here,” Galaxy Keeper Jonathan Bond said. “They’re obviously a good team who are confident and comfortable at home. I think we were a little bit overwhelmed first half. Just defensively, we couldn’t get any kind of shape or pressure on the ball. Most of the game was played in our half. We were doing a lot of defending.”
After buzzing around the Galaxy net for the first 24 minutes of the first half, the Crew finally broke through in the 25th minute. Cucho maneuvered past Galaxy defender Eriq Zavaleta at midfield, then played a ball that sprung Zelarayan down the left side of the field. Zelarayan took the ball into the penalty are, juked defender Jalen Neal to get himself free inside the box and fired a close-range shot past Keeper Jonathan Bond far post to give Columbus the lead.
The Crew then got an all-important second goal in the 43rd minute. Alexandru Matan received a ball from Darlington Nagbe, Matan, marked by Julian Aude, still managed to dribble into the penalty area towards the end line, then sent a shot cross into the six-yard box and Amundsen headed a ball past Bond at the near post to give Columbus a two-goal cushion just before the end of the half.
“The biggest issue for us in the first half was our impatience defensively,” Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney said. “They have good concepts and possession, and a lot of players who are very comfortable on the ball. And, we were kind of edging out to kind of press, but we weren’t really pressing at times.”
The Galaxy tried to get back in the match, buzzing around the Crew net for most of the second half, with its best chance to halve the Columbus lead coming in the 60th minute, when a shot by Daniel Aguirre inside the penalty area glanced off the far post and crossed the end line.
The Galaxy road trip continues on Saturday, as they face DC United at Audi Field.
