A quick look at the Western Conference standings shows a division that seems to be upside down at the moment. After three weeks, the Galaxy sit in the middle of the table, while their next opponent, the Houston Dynamo, are a point behind.
If the early results from this season have taught new L.A. head coach Ruud Gullit anything, it's that the league is very balanced from top to bottom.
The Galaxy aren't heading into Saturday's contest at The Home Depot Center simply because their guests have failed to win thus far this season. After all, Houston is the two-time defending MLS champions and the Galaxy are going to be treating them as such.
"You need to put the records aside when you're going out on the pitch. They're the defending champions. They're a good team," said rookie Brandon McDonald. "It's going to be hard, because they're trying to get their first win. We just need to focus and do what we need to do -- which is put the ball in the back of the net, defend well, and keep our team shape."
The Galaxy defense will have their hands full this weekend as well. Los Angeles has shown an early propensity to have defensive lapses this season, and while the Houston attack might have lost some punch in the offseason, it still features such weapons as Brian Ching, Ricardo Clark and Dwayne De Rosario. That duo has to be a focus for the Galaxy if they are going to get the full compliment of points out of Saturday's game.
"(Clark and De Rosario) are probably two of the better players in the league," said McDonald, who will be getting very familiar with the Houston duo from his role in the center of the Galaxy midfield. "We have to play as a group and come out and put everything together. If everyone's on their 'A' game, we should be able to put them away."
One thing working in the Galaxy's favor is that Houston has been weakened on the defensive side of the ball. Eddie Robinson will be serving the first game of a three-game suspension this weekend, taking a veteran leader out of a defense that has leaked goals this season. Add injuries to defender Craig Waibel and goalkeeper Pat Onstad that will keep them out of action, and Saturday's match has potential to be very high scoring.
The Galaxy will need all the goals they can get. They wasted several chances last week against Toronto and paid the price, and now in the third game of a four-game homestand, they can ill afford to leave any more points on their home field this early in the season.
With Houston coming to town, it won't be easy for the Galaxy to bounce back from last week's disappointment, but with the way this MLS season has played itself out so far, anything is possible.
Greg Daurio is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
