It wasn't the most exciting match of the season, but in the end the Galaxy managed to squeeze out a point despite generally poor play. The Los Angeles Galaxy drew with DC United, 0-0, and nearly put 20,036 people to sleep in the process. Interim captain David Beckham played too far back at times; drifted into odd areas; and generally didn't get things going. The play of Josh Saunders was possibly the only bright note on the night, making four saves, two of which are easy candidates for the highlight reel. The Galaxy offense was nothing to re-watch, managing only one shot on goal the entire match.
"We were poor tonight," said manager Bruce Arena. "No question about that. Only good thing about tonight is that we lost those games at home last year. I gave the players three days off this week and it showed, they never got going during the week. I think tonight's performance is absolutely poor. Gotta give our opponent some credit, but we were poor. There was no quality to our game tonight; passing was poor, effort was just okay. Just didn't get it done."
Juan Pablo Angel was a game time scratch, suffering a knock in Wednesday's practice. The Galaxy certainly missed Landon Donovan and Juninho's creativity, but that's not an excuse for the effort being poor. Juninho suffered a left ankle injury against New England, and had a hard time getting going tonight. David Beckham didn't have many targets up front, with neither Miguel Lopez or Chad Barrett really standing out. Adam Cristman made his Galaxy debut in the 83', but there wasn't much he could do in such limited time.
"[Landon Donovan]'s an x-factor for sure and we missed that spark tonight," said Todd Dunivant. We were pretty flat and we really didn't have any explosive plays out there and that's what he's known for."
The Galaxy have eight days to find that spark, as their next match is back at Home Depot Center next Saturday against Toronto FC. Hopefully by the the club has found a way to get more than one goal on target the whole match. Perhaps the most exciting thing that happened at Home Depot Center tonight was the appearance of Wesley Sneijder, who was taking a break from the Manchester United rumors in Los Angeles. His wife (a model) spent time with Victoria Beckham.
A short second may have been the Angel CIty Brigade calling Charlie Davies a diver. Charlie Davies had the matches best opportunity to score, beating last man Omar Gonzalez. Davies slowed up with just Josh Saunders to beat, Gonzalez was able to catch up with him, and Davies' falling attempt went wide right. Andy Najar had a great attempt in the 86', which Josh Saunders kept up with a brilliant diving save.