Over the past couple of weeks the Los Angeles Galaxy have been nearly completely remade. Saturday night, it was truly in evidence as the Galaxy lost at home for the third time this season, falling 3-2 to the Columbus Crew.
Los Angeles has brought four new players into the fold in the last two weeks and traded or released four more in the same timeframe. Abel Xavier, Edson Buddle and Chris Klein all started against Columbus, none of those three has even been with the Galaxy for a full two weeks. Kevin Harmse also got a start Saturday, but has been away from the club with the Canadian national team for several weeks.
Add it all up, and it comes as little surprise that the Galaxy struggled to maintain possession or string passes together. A general lack of continuity and confidence hampered the Galaxy from ever getting things going.
"We looked like a hodge-podge team tonight and we played like it," said Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop following the game. "Bringing guys in straight off the plane, we played like we looked tonight, out of sorts."
Pete Vagenas, who came off the bench to start the second half, agreed with his coach's thoughts. Having nursed an injury all week long, Vagenas had hardly practiced with his new teammates, and he felt it showed in the way the team played.
"Soccer is a game of relativity and knowing the person you're playing with. It's loud as hell out there and you can't really verbally communicate," said Vagenas. "There's a lot of guys out there that haven't played together at all or even passed the ball to one another yet. We have some guys injured, so yeah, it was a bit of a mix-and-match lineup, but in the end every player out there is a Galaxy player."
It wasn't just the lack of communication and familiarity that Yallop pointed to following the game. His side looked tentative throughout the match, even when it went up a man in the 29th minute.
"Sometimes lack of confidence looks like lack of effort," said Yallop. "I thought a lot of our guys are not confident for some reason. I don't know what it is. I'm trying to get to the bottom of it."
It was a somber atmosphere in the Galaxy locker room following the game. A team meeting was held following the match, and players seemed to be at a loss as to why the team is struggling.
"Things obviously haven't gone as planned. That's the responsibility of the people in this locker room," said Vagenas. "We didn't start the game off as planned. That's an understatement. They came after us and got on top of us. We were always behind. The penalty kicks were big turning points and the red card was a big turning point, but nothing played into our favor."
The Galaxy were obviously left reeling by the loss. Coming off a solid win last weekend against Real Salt Lake, Los Angeles was brimming with confidence during the week, but made a decided move in the wrong direction on Saturday.
"Maybe it's a mental thing. I don't really know what happened out there," said Joe Cannon. "I don't know why we took a step backward tonight. Their second goal deflated us. After they missed the PK and it's 1-0 you think 'Wow, we're still in this.' I don't know what happened."
What Cannon was referring to was a 20-minute spell that bridged the interval. Already up a man and down a goal, Columbus won a penalty kick a few minutes before halftime. Cannon saved the penalty kick to help his team go into the locker room still down just a goal. But 13 minutes into the second half, Ned Grabavoy found the back of the net to put a dagger in the hearts of the Galaxy.
Columbus added another late goal before a late surge by Los Angeles produced a consolation strike. Aside from the final 10 minutes of the game, the Galaxy never really looked like a team that is fighting to get out of the Western Conference basement. With more players to be added to the mix over the course of the next few weeks, team chemistry is going to have to be found quickly if the Galaxy are not to slip too far behind and miss the playoffs for a second consecutive year.
"It's bittersweet, especially playing a man up for as long as we did. We'll probably pay for it in training next week and we should," said Edson Buddle, scorer of the Galaxy goal in stoppage time. "We have to start getting used to playing with one another and gain some positive momentum."
Greg Daurio is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
