It seems simple enough, a good entry pass and a good finish. For most of this young season, the Los Angeles Galaxy have struggled to find the second half of that equation. Turns out all the team needed was for Landon Donovan, David Beckham, Juninho, and Juan Pablo Angel to take a pass, as a no-name version of the LA soccer club bested Chicago Fire SC 2-1. This was the first time all season the Galaxy have scored more than one goal in a game.
The Galaxy's first goal came from a nice one two combination of Miguel Lopez and Chad Barrett. Lopez gave Barrett a solid entry pass from outside the box, Barrett gave the ball a touch then hit it left across keeper Jon Conway. Juan Pablo Angel was available for the match, but didn't come in until the 77'. Barrett didn't get a chance to score against his old club Toronto, but he received a fair amount of boos from the Chicago supporter's section which once cheered him on.
Without Donovan, Beckham, or Juninho, Paolo Cordozo had to be the man in the middle willing to shake things up. At certain points in the match, the Galaxy looked content just to keep possession at the edge of the final third rather than press on in. However, Cordozo did a fair job at occasionally providing that creative spark.
Omar Gonzalez's head came up with the second goal, off a Miguel Lopez corner kick; the goal was Gonzalez's second of the season. This wasn't the first good corner from the Galaxy, Mike McGee nearly had a goal but it took a bicycle kick from a Chicago defender to keep the ball out of the net. The second goal put the game out of reach for Chicago, who did manage to come up with a goal in the 89' off the foot of Dominic Oduro.
Not all was sunshine for the Galaxy however. Dominic Oduro got a yellow card for fouling Leonardo in the 90'. Oduro tried to pick Leonardo up, suggesting he was trying to waste time, but Leonardo was legitimately hurt and will be out for the rest of the season. Likely this means the pairing of formerly Maryland teammates Omar Gonzalez and AJ DeLaGarza in the back going forward. Paolo Cardozo also suffered a harsh play in the second half, and was taken out shortly after despite coming back onto the pitch.