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The Galaxy lose 2-0, failing once again to come back from giving up the first goal, trailing at halftime.
The stat has been repeated all week. The Galaxy are winless with giving up the first goal, and winless when trailing at half time.
They haven’t done much to try and change that fact. After a 12’ goal by Davy Arnaud of Kansas City, the Galaxy have managed a whopping total of 0 shots on goal. The Galaxy are leading the Wizards in attempts, 4 – 3, continuing another trend of dominating possession but having nothing to show for it.
Neither keeper has a save, with KC’s lone goal to only shot on goal. As one writer quipped to me during the cookie dash, their keeper could have been checking his facebook status on his iPhone and had the same result.
The Galaxy have had all the Corner attempts, 6 to Kansas City’s 0, while Kansas City has been fouling like a forgotten egg, 9 fouls to he Galaxy’s 5.
Edson Buddle hasn’t had a shot, while Mike Magee managed one. The Galaxy’s best attempt was a shot from Birchall outside the box that sailed high.
Now, onto the second half.
Los Angeles Galaxy (13-4-4, 43 pts)
1 Donovan Rickets GK
28 Sean Franklin DEF
4 Omar Gonzalez DEF
22 Leonardo DEF
2 Todd Dunivant DEF – back from brief injury
7 Chris Klein MID
11 Chris Birchall MID
10 Landon Donovan MID – Captain
26 Michael Stephens MID
14 Edson Buddle FWD
18 Mike Magee FWD
___________________
Reserves: Saunders, DeLaGarza, Cazumba, Kovalenko, Lewis, Bowen, Kirovski
Juninho left off 18 man squad, had to return to Brazil for personal reasons.
Kansas City Wizards (6-9-5, 23 pts)
1 Jimmy Nielsen GK
2 Michael Harrington DEF
6 Shavar Thomas DEF
12 Jimmy Conrad DEF
17 Roger Espinoza DEF
23 Kei Kamara MID
4 Craig Rocastle MID
8 Stephane Auvray MID
22 Davy Arnaud MID – Captain
11 Ryan Smith MID
27 Birahim Diop FWD
__________________
Reserves: Kronberg, Aiyegbusi, Leathers, Myers, Jewsbury, Zusi, Bunbury
7:30 Home Depot Center, TV: PrimeTicket
Carson, CA -- The Los Angeles Galaxy (13-4-4, 43 pts.) welcome the Kansas City Wizards (6-9-5, 23 pts.) to the Home Depot Center where the Galaxy are 6-1-2 on the season. The Galaxy lead the all time series 21-16 with 10 ties. The first meeting between these two teams, in Kansas City back on April 24th, was a nil-nil tie.
The Galaxy are still in the lead for the Supporters Shield, but only have three points on Columbus after last weeks loss. Todd Dunivant and Gregg Berhalter have been upgraded to questionable. Dunivant is probable for Saturday's match, but Berhalter will stay on the sidelines with David Beckham.
"I don’t know exactly what it is. I don’t think the doctors know either," Arena said. "Nothing has changed since the last time we’ve seen him. He’s ill. We don’t know exactly what it is. That’s the job of the doctors."
Hungarian midfielder Zoltan Hercegfalvi is out with a right knee sprain. Chris Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, and Juninho are all on next yellow card warning.
The Wizards have only defeated the Galaxy once in the last five years, a 2-0 victory in Kansas city back in 2008, with the Galaxy taking 5 of 11 in that span. The last time the Wizards won in Los Angeles was June 5, 2004.
The last time these two teams met their defenses had only given up two goals between them, and once again the defenses were the tale of the game, with the Wizards having the only real chance off a rebound in the box, but Kei Kamara slipped and knocked the ball over the line with his arm. The Wizards lined up in a 4-1-4-1 formation, the last time these two teams met.
The Galaxy have lost two of their last three, with last weeks loss coming off a 4' goal by Chris Wondolowski off a ball in the box with Donovan Ricketts failed to either coral or have one of his defenders clear. Leonardo started in place of Gregg Berhalter and is likely to get the start again. Mike Magee will likely keep the starting spot he took from Tristan Bowen when he came off injury.
If the Galaxy are going to win Saturday, they are going to have to stop giving up on balls sitting in the box.
"That's certainly a game that we gift-wrapped for them," Arena said. "No question about that. Our start of the game was poor and it cost us in the end. That's a game we really should have gotten three points out of. But we didn't, and there is nobody else to point the finger at but ourselves."
The other factor the Galaxy must contend with is playing relaxed when every team in the league wants to take a shot at them.
"We know every team that plays us as if it's their MLS Cup Final," Landon Donovan said. "They'll be more up for this game than any other game. Once we match that [intensity], we know we're the best team in the league and we'll let the other parts take over."
The Wizards find themselves in fifth place in the East, and are looking to continue the momentum from a 4-1 win against New England and parlay that into a playoff spot. Birahim Diop, who started his first game for the Wizards last week, scored twice in that game. Last year, Diop was playing for a New York based amatuer club called FDR United. His last appearance in MLS play was 8 years ago, when New York was still known as the NY/NJ Metro Stars. Doip played the target striker role, with Kei Kamara stayed wide on the attack as Teal Bunbury is still out on suspension. No word on whether Bunbury's suspension was a result of Algernon's bunburying.
The Wizards have lost just once in their last six games, but face a tough task on the stretch run, as six of their next nine games are away from home.
"We’re pushing the envelope a little bit. Like I said, performances are one thing, and results are another. We’ve had a lot of good performances as of late, if you look at our last six games," Vermes said. "It’s all about us finishing our chances. ... It’s not a question of whether we can create chances or not, it’s a question of whether or not we can finish chances. If we can score, we can take the pressure off of having to be clean on every single thing."
The win pushed them infront of New England in the Eastern Conference standings, and put them five points away from a wild card spot, with ten games remaining.
"This is very big. They had, what, 21 points and we had 20 coming in? We’re just trying to push up into a playoff spot. That’s what we’re playing for," Kamara said. "Winning a game like this, knowing we have an away game next week, it’s great for us."
Both LA and Kansas City share a dubious honor, with neither team recording a win after giving up the first goal, and neither team coming back from a deficit at half time.
Wizards Teach Galaxy Trick, Looking Terribly Ordinary
It was Kansas City's night from the beginning, from the moment captain Davy Arnaud scored in the 12', and the Wizard's never looked back, as they won in the Home Depot Center for the first time since 2004, to the tune of 2-0.
Said Coach Bruce Arena:
Chris Birchall showed the most life out there, with two fantastic chances on goal that went for naught. Birchall hasn't managed a goal this season and only has one assist, so the showing was a positive move forward for the Englishman from Trinadad and Tobago. Unfortunately, Birchall picked up a yellow for a reckless tackle while on warning, so he came out in the 77' to prevent him being sent off with a cumulative red, and he'll be suspended from the next match.
Landon Donovan played some brilliant balls forward, but with no one finishing them he'll stay stagnant at 11 assists on the year. Golden Boot frontrunner Edson Buddle didn't manage to find space for himself, trying the keeper only once the entire game.
When I asked Bruce Arena about Buddle's difficulties, he said:
Bruce went on to say that "The results of the last two weeks were not good. You can term it however you want; I'm not going to dispute history." It certainly wasn't the result Galaxy wanted, failing to score a goal and failing to gain any points in the standings, but the team still leads the race for the Supporter's Shield, as both Real Salt Lake and Columbus tied in their matches today, 0-0. The Galaxy face Columbus in their next home match on September 11th.
Bruce Arena didn't think it was a lack of effort that hurt the Galaxy, but that they were out-competed. Coach Arena said, "There's an edge an athlete has to have and tonight in too many positions on the field they made a few more plays that made all the difference."
The Galaxy did come out strong in the second half, with three shots on goal in a 15 minute span but Kansas City goalkeeper Jimmy Nelson made an excellent save on each shot, and coach Arena admitted that could have been the difference in the game.
Arena called the Wizards second goal, a 72' volley by defender Jimmy Conrad, who was being defended by Edson Buddle on a set piece, a bit of an accident, but the first goal was a repeat of things the Galaxy have seen repeated these last few weeks, confusion in the back, questionable offsides calls not going the Galaxy's way, and a net result of a ball in the back of the net.
Aug 28 11:23p by Josie Becker - 0 comments