Just less than two months ago, Real Salt Lake came into The Home Depot Center and snapped an 18-game winless streak at the hands of the Los Angeles Galaxy. The manner in which they did it made it that much worse for the home side, as three breakaway goals led to a 3-0 RSL victory.
A lot of changes have happened in Carson since that game. Along with new head coach Frank Yallop came a new attitude. The Galaxy's level of play has improved and wins have followed. The cliché of "one game at a time" has been tossed around the Galaxy locker room during the change, almost out of necessity.
"We can't really focus on our record because we'd all slit our wrists and we're all embarrassed about that," said midfielder Pete Vagenas. "All we can do, starting last week, we just said 'let's be better than Kansas City, and then let's be better than New York, and we'll see where that leads us.'"
The next team on the list is Real, who return to Carson on Saturday night, and the players haven't forgotten the shellacking they took at the hands of last season's expansion side. In that game Kevin Hartman was left hung out to dry three times -- and he's expecting a lot more out of his teammates this time.
"At the end of the day we want to give an honest effort and I don't feel a three-nil loss at home to Real Salt Lake is an honest effort," said Hartman. "We need to make sure we come out and do better."
One significant difference from the last time Real came to town is that this time, the Galaxy will be able to count upon U.S. internationals Landon Donovan and Chris Albright. In addition, the Galaxy are getting healthier every day.
"We've yet to get our entire team intact. In the meantime, people have been coming around sort of pushing us around," said Vagenas of the team's struggles through the first third of the season. "So there is a little bit of a chip on our shoulders."
As overall health becomes less of an issue, fatigue could be the deciding factor on Saturday night. Los Angeles has the luxury of not having to travel, but both teams have had a crowded schedule this past week and Yallop promised his team little rest after their July 4 game. Tactics, and not fitness, have dominated training this week, as the Galaxy try to prepare themselves for their third game in a week.
"We'll rest them up. Obviously we have some tactical stuff to work on before we play the game on Saturday," said Yallop. "At this point I don't really put too much into the opposition. It's about how we play. I want to continue to play well."
The Galaxy have been playing well the last few weeks and will try and continue that Saturday. Treating their home fans to a second consecutive victory at the Home Depot Center will go a long way towards legitimizing their claims that things have done a complete turnaround in Los Angeles, and they're hoping that Saturday will serve notice to the rest of the league.
"We've started to build some momentum and I think people are going to start taking notice," said Vagenas. "It definitely felt like people were picking on us for a while and that obviously wasn't going to last."
Greg Daurio is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
