CARSON, Calif. - With its fate already sealed in the MLS Cup Playoffs, Saturday's result meant nothing for FC Dallas.
And with little to play for, FC Dallas came away with absolutely nothing.
The Los Angeles Galaxy routed FC Dallas 5-2 on Saturday in one of the Hoops' worst performances of the season. Landon Donovan scored two goals and Cobi Jones added a goal and three assists as FC Dallas fell to 0-9 all-time against the Galaxy at The Home Depot Center.
Still, the Galaxy will watch the MLS playoffs from home while FC Dallas moves on to play the Colorado Rapids next week in the Western Conference Semifinals.
FC Dallas coach Colin Clarke admitted that the team might have been looking past the Galaxy.
"It's human nature to do so," he said. "This game didn't mean anything to us. It meant a lot more to the Galaxy but it's still disappointing to let in five goals. It could have been more to be honest."
The five goals FC Dallas surrendered were the most the club has given up all season. Worse, it was against FC Dallas' regular starting defense of Bobby Rhine, Greg Vanney, Drew Moor and Chris Gbandi, each of whom has started at least 26 games this season.
The uncharacteristically porous FCD defense led to five Galaxy goals in a game the hosts could have produced twice as many.
Abe Thompson put FC Dallas up 1-0 in the 14th minute after the Galaxy missed on a couple of early scoring chances. Ronnie O'Brien could have put the Hoops up by a pair but Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman knocked away his breakaway attempt before O'Brien ever got a shot off.
Then, the floodgates opened. Donovan scored in the 25th minute after knocking in a pass from Herculez Gomez. Ten minutes later, it was Gomez's turn to score when he rifled a shot past Shaka Hislop off the right post and over the goal line. Then, Gomez found Donovan unmarked inside the six-yard box as Donovan gave the Galaxy a 3-1 lead heading into the intermission.
"Tonight was disappointing," Clarke said. "The first half we played like a team that wanted to get through the game and didn't want to get close to anyone. We've got to regroup, not panic, analyze things and put a team out that's going to get a result next weekend."
The marking did not improve much in the second half. Jones scored his 66th career goal in the 52nd minute when Paulo Nagamura found him unmarked in front of the net. Santino Quaranta added a late goal when he fired an open shot into the back of the net.
Arturo Alvarez scored one minute later but the damage had long been done.
Now, though, is not necessarily the time to rip the team apart because of one poor effort.
"We'll go in and have a look at it and make those decisions. We're not going to make any rash decisions. The team's been good all year and will continue to be good. It's the team that's gotten us here, gotten us to the playoffs and we've got a lot of faith in them," Clarke said.
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
