You can forgive the LA Galaxy if they felt a little confused regarding the definition of a handball these past three weeks.
Three weeks ago in its home opener against Vancouver, handball was a factor in VAR overturning two Galaxy goals that forced them to settle for a draw. On Saturday evening against the Seattle Sounders, handball was a factor again, as a cross that went off the elbow of a Sounders defender inside the penalty area was not called a handball, and that situation was a factor in the Galaxy falling to the Sounders 2-1 at Dignity Health Sports Park.
Not that that situation was the only contributing factor. Lou Chu was also a force for Seattle, assisting the opening goal, then finding the back net himself on the Sounders’ second goal. Even after Jalen Neal pulled one back for the Galaxy, Seattle was able to hang on.
The incident at question occurred late in the match, with the Galaxy desperately chasing to salvage the point. Riqui Puig sent a cross towards the the penalty area with Nouhou Tolo marking him, Puig’s cross clearly hit off the elbow area of Tolo, but referee Allen Chapman apparently did not think the contact was incidental, and allowed play to go on. Video Review did take a look at a play, but they apparently also did not seen enough to call Chapman to take a second look. Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney simply could not contain his frustrations anymore.
“I believe this… is in the silhouette. This, is in the silhouette. This, is not in the silhouette. This is a handball. When Dejan [Joveljić] takes one off of his chest and the referee is 25-yards back, making the call from behind the play, what is he doing? That’s two games ago. The last game, this is a ball that’s shot, it hits under the arm and goes that way, is a handball. That is not the silhouette. Three games in a row these guys don’t know what handball is. It’s getting to be obscene. Honestly. It’s ridiculous. And the game is about margins. They have VAR. They have the ability… they’re the only entity in the entire game that gets a redo. None of us else get a redo. They get a redo. And it’s three times they can’t get it right. That’s their job. That’s their job. And this, right now, we’re grinding. We’re in the margins. We deserve better. We deserve better. We controlled this game. We controlled the last game. We deserve better. Yes, we need to execute better. That’s on us. But what we deserve, we should get. That’s better. Those three… were not fair. And that’s frustrating. And I’m fighting for my guys. My guys are sitting in there, dumbfounded that they can’t get a call. And that’s why I’m sitting in here saying that it’s unacceptable by them. Unacceptable.”
Seattle grabbed the advantage in the 21st minute. Alex Roldan sprung Leo Chu down the left side of the field, Chu chased down Roldan’s ball into the penalty area, then sent a pass towards the six-yard box and Morris simply touched a ball past keeper Jonathan Klinsmann into the back net. Chu found the back net himself in the 35th minute, as he worked a one-two with Roldan, sliced inside and dribbled into the middle lane, then fired a shot from about 20 yards out that beat Klinsmann far post to double Seattle’s advantage.
The Sounders took the lead into halftime, but the Galaxy pulled one back in the 63rd minute, a corner kick by Tyler Boyd was cleared out, but the ball went to Raheem Edwards, who then fired a one-time volley from 25 yards out, keeper Stefan Frei made the save, but spilled the ball back into the six-yard box, and Jalen Neal was at the right place at the right time, as he slotted the rebound chance inside the six into the back net.
