Bradford Jamieson IV and the Los Angeles Galaxy struggled on Saturday night against the Colorado Rapids
Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Galaxy
<h4>Lackluster Galaxy lament draw with Rapids</h4>
by Ivan Yeo
You always take a point if you’re any soccer team. As the old saying goes, every point counts, especially when league titles and playoff spots are on the line.
Sometimes however, you have to wonder if you could’ve come away with something more if you had put in a better performance, and judging from the reaction of Los Angeles Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena and the Galaxy players following its 1-1 draw against against the Colorado Rapids at StubHub Center on Saturday night, certainly they were not happy with the performance they gave on Saturday night.
“The game was lousy, and everything about it was lousy,” a blunt Arena said after the match.
Not that you could blame them for not feeling satisfied. After all, The Galaxy came into the match on a three-match unbeaten streak and were facing a Colorado squad currently sitting in last place in the Western Conference, and had just flown 3,000 miles from New York to Los Angeles to play its third match in a week. So surely LA felt like three points were pretty much a certainty.
Despite playing on what had to be weary legs however, the Rapids showed they were not going to be mere foils for the Galaxy. Colorado caught a break in the 40th minute when Galaxy Center Back Omar Gonzalez won a ball in midfield, was pressured by three defenders, still managed to get a pass off, but it went to the Rapids’ Michael Harrington, who immediately sent a ball forward for Gabriel Torres and the striker sprinted ahead of LA’s Leonardo for goal.
What happened after that was predictable, as Torres ran inside the penalty area, keeper Jaime Penedo left his line and Torres shot a ball past Penedo, beating him far post to give Colorado the lead.
The Galaxy still were not able to break down the Rapids throughout the second half, but that started to change once Arena went to his bench, bringing in Stefan Ishizaki, Alan Gordon and Juninho, and the moves paid off for LA in the 75th minute, as the Galaxy got a corner kick, Ishizaki sent the corner into the penalty area and Gordon shot the ball past keeper Clint Irwin into the back net for the equalizer.
“I’m just in the right place at the right time,” Gordon said of his penchant for late goals. “I don’t know what the secret is and I don’t want to say it’s all me. I’ve been lucky to get these goals and that is great. [Ishizaki] played a great ball in. For most of these goals, I don’t have to do much, just get a head on it and hope it goes in.”
Colorado however weren’t fazed, and nearly escaped with the three points int he 83rd minute. Dillon Powers sent a free kick into the penalty area, Lucas Pittinari headed a ball towards goal, it bounced off the near post, but stayed inside the six-yard box and Sam Cronin slotted the ball into the back net for what looked like the go-ahead goal. The goal however was waved off, as Pittinari jumped into an offisde position just before Powers struck the free kick.
“The idea not to sit back after you conceded a goal and go after the game, this is everything that we talk about,” Rapids head coach Pablo Mastroeni said. “Who do we want to be? What kind of mentality do we want to have as a group? I think we fought hard and really didn’t really give up too many chances after we conceded and that for me is an important part to continue to build a good team here.”
Juninho, Gordon and Ishizaki, who had started LA’s last three matches, began Saturday’s match on the bench as Arena looked to conserve some energy as LA is beginning its three-matches-in-one-week stint and its next two matches are Real Salt Lake on Wednesday followed by FC Dallas on May 9. The Galaxy are also still without Robbie Keane, out with a groin injury and Colorado was on its own three-match unbeaten streak. Three draws however, which is what the Rapids had going into the LA game, is obviously not as impressive as LA’s two wins and one draw during that span, one more reason for LA to lament its performance on Saturday night.
“We didn’t play that well today,” LA’s Mika Varynen said. “In the first half, we created a couple chances that we could’ve scored, but overall we didn’t play that well and we didn’t get the ball forward. But luckily, Gordon saved us today and we were able to get a point.”
All that is now in the past for LA. A point is a point and now the Galaxy prepare for its aforementioned road trip. Points in those road games will almost be a welcome thought for LA, but you know they will do everything they can to ensure that if those matches end in draws, it will feel more like wins instead of losses.
“At the end of the day, all points are needed,” Gordon said. “Results are key, whether it’s a tie or a win. But we definitely wanted three points tonight and we didn’t play well enough to get that, but coming back is always a good sign.”
