Saturday's 2-2 draw for the Los Angeles Galaxy against the Kansas City Wizards showed the best -- and worst -- sides of the team.
Over a five-minute stretch the L.A. defense was punished for two mistakes, leading to both Kansas City goals. It was a telling reminder of why the Galaxy are in the bottom half of the Western Conference standings.
The final 30 minutes, in which the Galaxy came back to tie the game and even had a chance to win, was a sign of the direction the team is headed as it gets ready to start the second half of the season. A draw at home is rarely a result a team is happy with, but for the Galaxy several positives could be taken away from the match.
"Three weeks ago I don't think this team would have shown the same character as we did tonight. At 1-0 we were a little down, then 2-0," said Galaxy 'keeper Joe Cannon. "A lot of people were probably like 'here we go again.' Obviously Cobi (Jones) coming up with two goals was huge for us and we had a couple of chances to make it 3-2. I think that's really telling. It's positive."
Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop agreed with his goalkeeper following the match. He wasn't happy about the goals his team conceded, but his side still managed to grind out a point in a game they would have lost a couple weeks ago. For Yallop, the difference is in the team's attitude.
"I think belief (is the difference) to be honest with you. We're starting to gel a bit. We've got some men in the locker room," said Yallop. "You saw that at 2-0. We never folded. The guys on the field believed they could have gotten into the match. A few weeks ago we would have lost that game. I hope we don't have too many games where you have to come back from 2-0 but at least it showed good signs."
While the positive end of the match was apparent, the two goals given up provided the Galaxy with a glaring example that there is still plenty of work needed to be done before they can say they've turned a corner.
"It seems with us it's still a theme. We're getting punished for making one or two mistakes a game whereas other teams who are on a roll aren't," said Cannon. "It's frustrating on one end because it's just two or three individual mistakes. We've still got some things to iron out but you still have to feel good about things in the end."
Abel Xavier, who has quickly established himself as a steadying influence both on the field and in the locker room, is already seeing the same theme in his short time with the club.
"If you see the way we concede the goals it's the same aspect as before. It's the little details and concentration. Little things play big parts in games," said Xavier. "I don't think Kansas put our defense in difficult situations. I think in the end we made them score two goals. Everyone makes mistakes, the most important thing is to react to mistakes. The team reacted very positively and showed a lot of character."
The difference in the game was the inclusion of Jones as a second-half substitute. He came on in the 55th minute and scored six minutes later. He provided the game-tying goal in the 75th minute and had the best chance for either team to net a game-winner.
For the MLS original, who has already said this will be his last season, his performance was another day at the office and he sees it as a sign of good things to come.
"I'm hoping this is a big one point and it helps change the attitude of this team that we can score and create chances whenever we want to," said Jones. "I hope that's something that all the players start believing in knowing that we can get out there and score and win some games. It's better to go away with a point when you're down 2-0 in the second half with only 30 minutes to play. We'll take it at this point."
The Galaxy's next league game isn't until August 5. Until then Los Angeles has an Open Cup game, the Superliga tournament and World Series of Football exhibition matches against Chelsea FC and Tigres UANL. While none of those game will mean anything in terms of the MLS standings, the Galaxy will be hoping to use those games to carry their newfound positive momentum into the rest of the season.
Greg Daurio is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
