The last time the Los Angeles Galaxy played FC Dallas, it was in the preseason, and the teams battled to a scoreless draw at Pizza Hut Park. Prior to that, at the same venue, the same two teams combined for an 11-goal explosion in last season's SuperLiga, with the Galaxy winning 6-5.
Sunday afternoon, FC Dallas and the Galaxy will lock horns for the first time this regular season in Frisco, and it's still anyone's guess what type of game to expect.
"You never know. With the heat, sometimes you get slow, drawn out, boring games," said Landon Donovan. "Sometimes you get open games. I think our goal is to stop leaking goals, so we'll take the former."
It's the disparity between the scores of the last two meetings between the teams that demonstrates a point that David Beckham made following the Galaxy's last game against New York. There is little consistency in MLS from week to week. The teams that can find even a little consistency are the ones that are going to be successful in the long run. Los Angeles will be trying to establish some consistency this week, as they try and bounce back from last weekend's disappointing loss to the New York Red Bulls.
"Anyone that goes on a good run will take this league by the scruff of the neck and can carry that into the playoffs," said Beckham. "But it takes a lot of hard work to do that."
The key for Los Angeles to establish any sort of team rhythm lies on the defensive side. The club has given up some crushing goals due to a lack of focus at key moments in the game. Yet it won't be a simple matter to improve the defensive end. There are many more dangerous teams going forward in MLS than ever before.
"It's not just us; it's everyone in the league. There's a lot of good attacking players in our league," said Donovan. "The last few years, you've seen a lot of offensive-minded players come in. You haven't seen a lot of good defensive players come in.
One team that has brought in some great offensive talent is Dallas. In addition to young U.S. internationals like Arturo Alvarez, Dax McCarty and Kenny Cooper, Dallas has employed the services of young foreigners like Juan Toja, Andre Rocha and Ricardinho. It's an offensive lineup that is capable of putting a lot of goals on the board, and is the primary focus of the Galaxy heading into Sunday.
"We've done well against them the last time we played then. We know what their capabilities are," said Beckham. "They've got a good team. We know that can attack us well and they're hard to break down. But we have to overcome that and try and score as many goals as possible."
While Los Angeles is hoping that the final outcome will lean a bit closer to the low scoring affair these teams played to in the preseason, with the offensive talent on display for both sides, it seems more likely that another high scoring affair is ahead.
Regardless, LA will need at least a share of the points to keep pace with the rest of the Western Conference.
Greg Daurio is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
