Real Salt Lake arrive at The Home Depot Center on Saturday aiming to put an end to a number of streaks. The Los Angeles Galaxy have two trends of their own they are looking to stop.
The Galaxy are currently on a two-game skid, having lost their last two games on the road to the New England Revolution and FC Dallas. In addition, the Galaxy have not won in three home games.
Winless as hosts at The Home Depot Center isn't something the Galaxy are used to since moving into their soccer-specific stadium. Their most recent home loss came at the hands of former boss Sigi Schmid and the Columbus Crew on April 22.
"Certainly, after having lost to Columbus at home in the final minutes of the game, it's important that we come back here and play well in front of our crowd and get a result against Salt Lake," said Galaxy head coach Steve Sampson.
The lack of success that the Galaxy have had on the road in recent seasons makes it doubly important for the Green and Gold to get things going at home this weekend.
"(Winning at home) is of the utmost importance," said club captain Pete Vagenas earlier this week. "No team in this league has ever been successful not being dominant at home. It's been a trademark of our team."
Another trademark of the Galaxy is beating last year's expansion teams. In 2005, Los Angeles posted a 6-1-1 record against RSL and Chivas USA. This year has been no exception. The Galaxy have just two wins this season, coming against Chivas and RSL respectively.
"One thing we did well last year is we grabbed the points against the teams we needed to grab points against," said Vagenas. "That's the mark of a good team."
Real Salt Lake come into Saturday night's game riding an MLS-record 18-game winless streak. They will also be playing without two of their starting defenders, Eddie Pope and Douglas Sequeira, who have left to join the U.S. and Costa Rican national teams in preparation for the World Cup.
If the Galaxy are going to take advantage of the weakened Salt Lake defense they'll have to do it without their offensive catalyst Landon Donovan who is also with the U.S. national team.
In addition, Sampson will have further lineup decisions to make after two key performers from Wednesday's 1-0 loss to FC Dallas -- midfielder/forward Joseph Ngwenya and midfielder Ned Grabavoy -- were traded to the Columbus Crew on Friday evening for midfielder/forward Kyle Martino, the MLS Rookie of the Year in 2002, and forward John Wolyniec.
Desperation is starting to creep into the minds of the Salt Lake players, who haven't tasted victory since August. Frustration has dominated the Galaxy so far this season as they just can't seem to find any consistency on the field from week to week. Something will have to give Saturday night in Carson when the two face off.
Greg Daurio is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
