Courtesy of LA Galaxy
The Galaxy’s undefeated streak came to and end vs. the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night.
Not the way the LA Galaxy envisioned the night going.
After a great start to the restart of the MLS regular season, the LA Galaxy saw its run come to an end on Saturday night at the hands of the Colorado Rapids. Goals from Cole Bassett and Jonathan Lewis and a double-yellow card ejection were key for the Rapids, as they emerged victorious with a 2-0 result at Dignity Health Sports Park.
“They won the game and they deserved to win because they played very well,” Galaxy Head Coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto said. “We never were able to manage the ball as we wanted, as I wanted.”
The result was key in the Western Conference standings. The Rapids overtook the Galaxy and now sit in sixth place in the conference, one point ahead of the Galaxy, LAFC, Vancouver Whitecaps and Houston Dynamo.
Colorado took the lead in the 40th minute. It started when Younes Namli played a cross from the right side to Sam Vines on the left side, Vines took a touch before sending a long ball into the penalty area and Bassett one-timed a shot past Keeper David Bingham.
“I think we gave it to them way too much today, Galaxy defender Daniel Steres said. “We would win the ball, whether it was in their half or our, and within one or two passes, we would lose the ball and it was right down our throats again. So I think we kind of shot ourselves in the foot and created our own problems there.”
The Galaxy came out in the second half immediately looking for an equalizer. Ethan Zubak had two great looks at goal over a two-minute span. The first chance came in the 50th minute, as Efrain Alvarez sent a free kick into the penalty area, Zubak flicked a header towards the near post, but William Yarborough parried the ball over the end line. Zubak had another chance two minutes later, as Cristian Pavon played Sebastian Lletget into the penalty area, Lletget passed to Julian Araujo, who crossed into the six-yard box, Zubak touched a ball towards goal, but Yarborough again was able to make the save, as he parried the ball back into play.
Any chance the Galaxy had of coming back to win the evaporated over a six-minute stretch that began in the 72nd minute. It started when Araujo picked up a yellow card when he hit the chest of Kellyn Acosta after Acosta had sidestepped past Araujo. Three minutes later, Araujo was wrestling with Vines for possession of the ball, Vines ended up going to the ground, referee Ted Unkel whistled Araujo for the foul, Araujo protested the call, and Unkel gave Araujo his second yellow card, thus ending the defender’s night and forcing the Galaxy to play a man down the remainder of the match.
“The ref said something, but I think he is wrong, because I know Araujo and I know the kind of person that he is, and maybe he said something to the air and not to him,” Schelotto said.
Three minutes after Araujo’s ejection, the Rapids made the Galaxy pay, as Andre Shinyashiki played Braian Galvan into the penalty area, Galvan crossed into the six-yard box, the ball sailed over Bingham, Colorado’s Jonathan Lewis beat Steres to the ball and shot the ball into the back net. The goal initially was called back, as Galvan was ruled to be offside when Shinyashiki sent him into the box, but video review was initiated, and after review, the offside call was overturned in favor of a second Rapids goal, thus basically shrinking any chance of a potential Galaxy comeback.
“We defended alright, but we were defending too much because we weren’t good enough on the ball,” Galaxy midfielder Perry Kitchen said.
Saturday’s match is the start of a busy week for the Galaxy, as they head to Utah to face Real Salt Lake on Wednesday, followed by a Sunday night tilt at home with the Seattle Sounders.
