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:
“I just thought we got outcompeted tonight, at the start of the game. All this is about is fighting and scrapping and we lost that part of it, and I think that the outcome was the difference in the game. They played harder.”
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:
“There's certainly a real strong defensive focus on Edson. Edson to his credit, I thought he battled really hard in the second half. He's getting fouled a lot. I think it goes with the territory, I think he understands that, it is what it is. But I give the players that have been playing against him a lot of credit, they've dealt with him real well, and that means the players around Edson have to be sharper in their movements and their passing and that kind of thing and we're not getting that.”
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.