It's not hard to make an argument that the Los Angeles Galaxy has been a bit bipolar this season. In league play they have managed just three wins in 18 games and have the worst overall point total in MLS. In stark contrast has been their level of play in SuperLiga. The same Galaxy squad with just three regular season wins has matched that total in the last month against the best competition North America has to offer.
The Galaxy managed wins against Pachuca, FC Dallas and D.C. United. Those wins were matched by a remarkable performance against Pachuca in the SuperLiga final on Wednesday night, despite losing on penalty kicks. The biggest question for Los Angeles is how to meld their SuperLiga play and league play into some form of consistency.
"We have four wins against MLS teams that aren't on our record, in (U.S.) Open Cup and Superliga," said Alan Gordon. "We have other wins. We beat Pachuca and took them to PK. We've had some success this year, but our record doesn't reflect it which is disappointing. We have a talented team and I don't think that we are by any means the worst team in MLS."
Facing Real Salt Lake on Saturday night at The Home Depot Center is a return to league play and a chance for the Galaxy to immediately climb back out of the MLS cellar. With the schedule that the Galaxy have been faced with in recent weeks, the club begins a bit of a home stand against RSL. LA has to win these games though, and that is the biggest trick.
"Our mentality has to be how do we play like (we did against Pachuca) every week," said Landon Donovan. "If you lose sometimes, you get unlucky, that's the way it goes. But that has to be the performance, not the Chivas USA game or the Colorado game. How do we get to that?"
How the Galaxy bounce back from the emotions of losing on penalties in a final and play three days later will determine their fate against Salt Lake. They have no choice but to react positively, or any chance of a postseason future could be lost. The loss of David Beckham doesn't help things any, but they still have one third of their season left to turn things around.
"We know what's ahead of us. If we can come out and start like we finished (against Pachuca), it'll be good for us," said Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop. "It's difficult."
There's no sugarcoating the situation that Los Angeles is in right now 13 points out of the eighth and final playoff position with just 12 games left on their schedule. It's now or never when Salt Lake comes to town on Saturday, and everyone at the club is feeling the heat.
As Alan Gordon put it: "You can't add any more pressure to us. We don't feel any more pressure."
Greg Daurio is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
