Trying to erase the disappointment of last season, it hasn't been the ideal start for the Los Angeles Galaxy. After being held scoreless by Houston Dynamo in their season opener, the Galaxy fell in their home opener to Dallas on Thursday night at The Home Depot Center, losing 2-1 with their lone goal coming just four minutes from the end.
Los Angeles dominated the run of play for the first 30 minutes of the game but failed to capitalize on their chances. The tables turned for 15 minutes and that's all that it took for Dallas to claim the full compliment of points.
Carlos Ruiz and Kenny Cooper scored eight minutes apart to close out the first half. Those two strikes held up to the final whistle to give Dallas the win, their first-ever win against L.A. at The Home Depot Center.
To the credit of the Galaxy they didn't hang their heads. They came out in the second half and kept the pressure on the Dallas back four, but could not break through until the late going. It was the never-say-die attitude that impressed Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop the most.
"I said it to them at halftime, 'We're two-nil down. Let's make sure that we don't let ourselves down, come out flat and get beat easily,'" said Yallop. "The guys showed character to get back into the match. The goal came too late for us to have a bit of time to get that second one. But effort-wise, I can't fault them."
The Galaxy were a bit shorthanded. Forward Alan Gordon is out with a stress fracture in his left foot, and Santino Quaranta, Quavas Kirk and Pete Vagenas were all nicked up enough to keep them out of Thursday's game. Still, Yallop wasn't going to use that as an excuse for his side's lack of finishing on the night.
"Not to use this as an excuse by saying this but we do have a few injuries at the moment that might have made a difference in our game this evening," said Yallop.
Yallop would continue to return to his team's injuries, but each time stressed that it wasn't an excuse for his team's performance on the night. One player whose playing time was the beneficiary of those injuries was rookie forward Robbie Findley. Findley scored the lone Galaxy goal and provided his side with a spark off of the bench in the second half when the Galaxy offense started to stall.
Findley scored a nice goal, heading home a Landon Donovan corner kick in the 86th minute after settling into the game a bit. Yallop spoke of his rookie's performance after the game.
"I think Robbie took 10 minutes or so to settle. He got about 30 minutes (of playing time)," said Yallop. "He's dangerous, he's a great athlete, he's brave and he showed that on the goal. It was a good leap, a good header. He's a young kid learning his trade. He's probably getting his time earlier in his career because of our injury woes."
For Findley, the goal was bittersweet. It's hard to celebrate one's first professional goal in a game that resulted in a loss for your team. That was the case, and Findley was soft-spoken about his strike.
"It feels great (to score). It was good service and I was able to free myself and get on the end of it," said Findley about his goal.
In addition to the lack of finishing, the Galaxy had another frustration creep into the match. There was a bit of controversy on the first FCD goal which came by way of the penalty spot. Ty Harden was victimized on the call when a Dallas shot hit his arm inside the penalty area, referee Terry Vaughn immediately pointing to the spot.
"It was a tough call to make, especially on the run of play. At home I don't think you get those calls," said veteran defender Tyrone Marshall. "I don't think (Harden) was playing the ball. I think it was ball against man. But the decision was made.
"Up until that point we had the run of play. This is how MLS is: dominate a team, they get two chances, get two goals and they win. They put away their chances; we didn't put away ours."
Greg Daurio is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
