The British media likened the Los Angeles Galaxy to a Sunday pub league team following their 3-0 loss against Mexico's Tigres UANL on Tuesday night. On Saturday, Galaxy fans had reason to raise a few pints and feel proud of their team's performance, despite losing 1-0 to Chelsea at The Home Depot Center.
"What I was really happy with is that we didn't freeze. The so-called 'pub team' did well tonight," said Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop. "I knew our performance (on Tuesday) was not us. It's always nice as a coach to see a team respond, and we responded tonight."
The biggest story on the night was the Galaxy and MLS debut of David Beckham, but beyond that, the team showed well against a Chelsea side that started as strong a starting 11 as one can find anywhere in the world.
The final statistics showed a 25-5 disparity in shots in favor of Chelsea, but in shots on goal, Chelsea's advantage was just 6-2. Point-blank headers on either side of the halftime whistle by Kyle Martino and Landon Donovan probably should have been put away, or at least on target, and Abel Xavier was denied a goal only by the fingertips of Chelsea 'keeper Petr Cech.
Overall, it was a performance that Yallop could be proud of.
"I'm very happy with the way they played tonight, and the way they handled the occasion," said Yallop about his side's performance. "I'm very happy with our determination in the match. I think it's a building block now."
Beckham didn't come on until the 78th minute. Having been an observer for much of the match, and having been a spectator for the match on Tuesday, he came away impressed with his new side's play.
"I think it was a good performance because when you're playing against a team with the quality of Chelsea where every player is comfortable on the ball, every player wants the ball and every player is capable of doing something amazing, to only lose 1-0 is good," said Beckham. "We had chances as well. I thought it was a good performance."
It wasn't all celebration after the match, however. The lone goal the Galaxy conceded came after they failed to clear a corner kick. Defensive mistakes have plagued Los Angeles all season long, and it bit them again against Chelsea. That was the one area of the game where Yallop came away disappointed.
"We should have cleared the ball better tonight. We've had situations in some games where we can't defend set plays. Whatever a team throws at us we seem to get punished for," said Yallop. "Tonight, against a team that scores a lot of goals from set plays, I thought we did well."
The attacking side of the game left a little to be desired as well. All season long the Galaxy have created chances, but failed to convert on a consistent basis. It was no exception against Chelsea -- while the Galaxy's chances were few and far between, they did have their chances to equalize, none more so than Donovan's missed header from point-blank range late in the match.
"(Donovan) didn't get the ball as much as possible, but that's a team thing, it's not just Landon. He should have scored, and he knows it," said Yallop. "He could have scored and tied the game late in the game. It was a great ball by Quavas (Kirk) and he's pretty disappointed with that."
Next up for the Galaxy is Pachuca in Superliga. Pachuca has been arguably the best team in the Americas over the last year, and Los Angeles will need to avoid an emotional letdown from the magnitude of Saturday's game if they are to build on the performance moving forward.
Greg Daurio is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
