It was a night to remember at Giants Stadium. Los Angeles Galaxy superstar David Beckham started his first MLS game, picked up two assists before the match was 10 minutes old and played until the final whistle sounded. His team performed well for long stretches and scored four times. A crowd of 66,237 witnessed what coach Frank Yallop called "a great advert" for the sport.
But after losing 5-4 on Juan Pablo Angel's opportunistic strike at the death, it was a night Los Angeles will want to forget.
"We didn't deserve to lose the game," said U.S. international Landon Donovan, who scored an unassisted goal in the 71st minute to bring his side within one after Jozy Altidore's second-half pair put the New York Red Bulls ahead 4-2.
After falling behind on Angel's free kick four minutes into the contest, the Galaxy went up two 2-1 on two quick, Beckham-assisted Carlos Pavon strikes. They could have made it 3-1 on several occasions, but couldn't find the dagger they needed.
"We had chances when it was 2-1. I had a great chance," Donovan said. "It would have been nice to get into halftime 2-1. I think that would have helped us a lot."
Instead, Clint Mathis' volley in first-half stoppage time put the teams on level terms heading into the second stanza.
That's when Altidore took over. He finished clinically off a feed from Mathis in the 49th, then found space in the box to add another 21 minutes later.
It was not altogether surprising that the 17-year old had so much room to operate. The Galaxy's defense has been decimated by injuries recently. Abel Xavier (knee) remained on the West Coast, and fellow backs Troy Roberts (ankle), Chris Albright (hamstring) and Quavas Kirk (foot) were also missing. Then, Ante Jazic was forced to leave the game with an ankle sprain in the 17th minute.
"Defensively, after Ante went down, we had three guys playing out of position and against [Altidore and Angel] you have no chance, they're going to score goals," said Donovan. "They are two of the best in the league."
Beckham was particularly impressed with the Red Bulls youngster.
"He is a great player," Beckham said of Altidore. "They have a few good players that we knew about before the game and it was all about stopping them. We did to a certain extent but good players will always get chances. When he got his chances, he took them."
Following the loss, the mood in the visiting locker room was predictably sour. The Galaxy are clearly frustrated that, despite playing vastly improved soccer these last few weeks, the results still aren't going their way.
"To be honest I can't think of a lower point in our season just because of the way we fought and how we came out with nothing," said goalkeeper Joe Cannon.
Donovan agreed. "That's kind of been the story of the last few weeks for us," he said.
"The first part of the year we didn't deserve to win games. Now I think have deserved to get something out of a lot of games and we're not. You cant be mad at our guys, I thought we played well."
For his part, Yallop chose to look on the bright side. Beckham is finally playing major minutes and beginning to develop a good understanding with Donovan and Pavon. The team will play in the SuperLiga final at home against Mexican champs Pachuca on August 29, and it has another chance to pick up three valuable points in the league when their playoff chase resumes on MLS Primetime Thursday, at The Home Depot Center against Chivas USA.
"Our next game's an important one at home against Chivas to hopefully kick-start our season and get back into the hunt, at least point-wise, where we can look towards the playoffs," Yallop said.
Still, Donovan and his mates know time is running out. The Galaxy are still 12 points out of the final playoff spot, but the group of games-in-hand they once held is dwindling.
"It's getting late now," he said.
Doug McIntyre is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
