making his MLS and Galaxy debut -- knocked a long ball over the top and Edson Buddle steamed onto it, ripping a shot from right on the edge of the area past the dive of Nick Rimando for his goal with the Galaxy, in his first game with the club.
• A day after his 37th birthday, Cobi Jones hit for the eventual game-winner, side-footing home a Kyle Martino cross from the left flank from close range to make it 3-1 in the 65th minute. Eight minutes later RSL pulled a goal back when Brown scored his second of the game, heading home a Freddy Adu corner at the back post, but it wasn't enough.
• Here's Yallop's team (4-4-2): Joe Cannon - Quavas Kirk, Kyle Veris, Abel Xavier, Ty Harden - Cobi Jones, Nathan Sturgis, Peter Vagenas (Troy Roberts 91+), Kyle Martino - Edson Buddle (Robbie Findley 62), Nate Jaqua (Gavin Glinton 79). Substitutes Not Used: Steve Cronin, Santino Quaranta, Mike Randolph, Josh Tudela
• Here's Kreis's team (4-1-3-2): Nick Rimando - Jean-Martial Kipre, Eddie Pope (Jack Stewart 46), Daniel Torres (Freddy Adu 60), Ritchie Kotschau - Atiba Harris - Chris Klein, Andy Williams, Mehdi Ballouchy (Jamie Watson 80) - Alecko Eskandarian, Chris Brown. Substitutes Not Used: Nikolas Besagno, Kyle Brown, Chris Lancos, Chris Seitz
LOS ANGELES GALAXY
The Los Angeles Galaxy returned to the road and saw their league winless streak reach five games, falling 3-0 to the Colorado Rapids on Sunday afternoon at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. The Galaxy are still in fifth place in the Western Conference, with 14 points from 18 matches, now 13 points out of eighth place in the MLS overall table and the final available spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
LAST MATCH
• The Rapids came into the game off back-to-back shutout victories against the two conference leaders, while the Galaxy had lost four in a row after the Thursday night home loss in the Super Clasico against Chivas USA and had been shut out in four of five games.
• Missing seven first-team players to injury with an eighth suspended, the Galaxy had just 16 available players, two shy of the allowed number. The Rapids exploded for three goals in a 17-minute span to put the game away before halftime.
• In the 26th minute, a neat touch from Jovan Kirovski sent Conor Casey free behind the Galaxy back line, and he went haring into the area. As a defender came over and goalkeeper Joe Cannon raced off his line, Casey cut inside to the center of the box and banged the ball home past a pair of retreating defenders in the six-yard box.
• Eight minutes later the Rapids doubled the lead. Terry Cooke was sprung down the right flank and swung in a low cross. A Galaxy defender saw it bounce off his foot right in front of goal, and Colin Clark lashed it home inside the right post for his first MLS goal.
• Two minutes before halftime Colorado made it 3-0. Cooke swung in a corner from the right, and Cannon barely got a fist to it as he tried to punch it away. The ball fell to the feet of Mike Petke, who poked it home to put the final touch on the win.
• Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop made five changes to the team that lost 3-0 to Chivas USA three nights earlier at The Home Depot Center. Abel Xavier, David Beckham and Carlos Pavon were all injured, while Kevin Harmse was suspended and Cobi Jones given a rest. Josh Tudela and Mike Caso came into the team for their MLS debut, while Gavin Glinton, Troy Roberts and Alan Gordon also returned to the first XI.
• Here's Yallop's team (4-4-2): Joe Cannon - Chris Klein, Troy Roberts, Kyle Veris, Mike Randolph - Gavin Glinton, Mike Caso (Peter Vagenas 46), Josh Tudela, Kyle Martino (Cobi Jones 66) - Edson Buddle (Quavas Kirk 46), Alan Gordon. Substitutes Not Used: Steve Cronin, Carlos Pavon
• "We had eight starters out," Yallop said. "We've got guys that are playing injured. People don't know that. I'm not trying to protect the players, but I have to tell the truth. It's ridiculous. We should have called this game off. But we can't. We have to play it, and away we go."
TEAM NEWS
• For the Galaxy, it was the third consecutive week where they had two games in a week. The Rapids game was the second Thursday-Sunday week in three, wrapping around some of their own success - a midweek SuperLiga semifinal on a Wednesday with a league game on Saturday. That success continued this week, when they had the SuperLiga final on Wednesday before the RSL match.
• "We had no training sessions to get ready for the game, so we tried to talk about things before the match that were going to help us in the game," Yallop said after the Colorado game. "We have five or six guys that are injured that played today, and they shouldn't be playing. They played, and in the end it cost you the game. We should call it off, but you can't."
• Despite their SuperLiga success, the Galaxy have struggled in a seven-game league winless streak that now includes five consecutive losses and three matches in a row in which they've allowed at least three goals.
• "It's been rough. As the goalkeeper, taking a lot of goals, you have to look at yourself and go back to the drawing board and reassess exactly what I'm doing as far as leading the guys in front of me and what I'm doing in training and preparing for those games. I've felt, for the last month, I was playing all right, I was happy with my game, but then the last few games, for whatever reason, it just isn't coming together for us," goalkeeper Joe Cannon said. "I always feel, if there's fingers to point, you can point blame them in this direction. I'm one of the older guys and one of the guys who gets paid fairly well by this team and a guy that was brought in here to make changes. Fans are looking to blame people. My job is to not let goals in."
• For the Rapids match, Josh Tudela and Mike Caso made their MLS debuts. Both had appeared only in reserve team matches prior to being run out in Colorado.
• "Especially with guys that aren't fit, guys that haven't played in so long," Cannon said,. "We've picked up a rash of injuries in the last handful of games, for sure. But we're all tired of excuses. Championship teams aren't built on them, so let's get rid of them."
• Still, said midfielder Kyle Martino: "There were a lot of guys who showed some character and determination when we were down at half 3-0. They came out and still created some chances, and I commend these guys for that."
• On Wednesday night, the Galaxy battled back to force a penalty shootout against Pachuca, but still lost 4-3 in the post-match decider after a 1-1 draw over 120 minutes in the final of the inaugural SuperLiga.
• Peter Vagenas turned a cross into his own goal to stake Pachuca to a first-half lead, then three minutes into second-half stoppage time, Chris Klein scored on an incredible bicycle kick to send the game into extra time. In the shootout, with the count 3-3, Pachuca's final shooter, Marvin Cabrera, banged his attempt off the crossbar. But with a chance to seal the victory and the title, Landon Donovan's kick was saved by Miguel Calero. Given second life, Carlos Rodriguez buried his chance, and when Abel Xavier missed wide left, Pachuca had added to their string of recent championships.
• "Our team's performance was outstanding tonight. Coming into this game I felt we were playing a good side in Pachuca," said Yallop. "To be honest I'm proud of every single one of our players tonight. They kept going until the end and I felt that was a fantastic performance given the circumstances and all the crap we've had to put up with in the last three or four weeks."
• Here's Yallop's team: Joe Cannon - Chris Klein, Troy Roberts, Abel Xavier, Mike Randolph - David Beckham (Alan Gordon 33), Peter Vagenas, Kevin Harmse (Gavin Glinton 115), Kyle Martino (Edson Buddle 79) - Landon Donovan - Carlos Pavon (Cobi Jones 54). Substitutes Not Used: Steve Cronin, Josh Tudela, Kyle Veris
• But there were other troubles to come out of the contest. David Beckham suffered a sprained right knee in a tackle at the half-hour mark, and finished the match watching from the bench in street clothes. He underwent an MRI examination on Thursday which found a sprained medial collateral ligament in the knee, and as a result could be out up to six weeks.
• "At this stage it's hard to tell but it doesn't feel good. A ligament strain is 4-6 weeks so we'll have to wait and see," Beckham said. "I was overcompensating (for the ankle) and went into the tackle a little bit weaker than I would have done fully fit."
REAL SALT LAKE
Real Salt Lake won for just the third time on the season at midweek, getting two first-half goals on their way to a 3-1 victory against the Kansas City Wizards at Rice-Eccles Stadium. With the victory, Real now have 15 points from 20 matches and have moved out of the cellar of the Western Conference, one point ahead of the Los Angeles Galaxy (who have played two fewer games).
LAST MATCH
• After defeating Houston Dynamo at home, RSL had lost back-to-back games, for six losses in their last seven outings. The Wizards were coming off a split of a home-and-home series with the Chicago Fire, and had lost three of their last four contests.
• From the opening kickoff Real threatened. A powerful low drive from Kyle Beckerman after just 10 seconds brought a good save from Kevin Hartman, turning the ball around the post. From the ensuing corner, Javier Morales swung a good ball from the left and Matias Mantilla stooped to head home from the heart of the six-yard box for his first MLS goal.
• Three minutes before the break, RSL doubled the lead. Alecko Eskandarian picked off a pass in midfield and sprung Fabian Espindola on the left. He raced into the area before ripping a rising drive that beat Hartman inside the near post for his first goal since coming to MLS.
• The Wizards began to apply pressure after the break, and cut the lead in the 69th minute. Sasha Victorine nearly misplayed a through ball, but still flicked with a backheel toward Eddie Johnson. With his back to goal, Johnson lashed a side-volley on the full turn, finding the inside of the far post for his 13th goal on the year.
• But RSL put the game away with an audacious goal five minutes from the end. Getting a pass and taking one step over the center stripe, Andy Williams saw Hartman off his line and drove a long, high ball that sailed over the 'keeper and into the upper right corner to seal the match.
• Real head coach Jason Kreis made four changes to the team that lost 1-0 to Chivas USA the previous Sunday. Two of the three recent signings from Argentina - Matias Mantilla and Javier Morales - were given their first MLS starts, while Chris Brown and Alecko Eskandarian also came back into the team, Eskandarian returning from suspension. Chris Wingert, Atiba Harris, Andy Williams and Robbie Findley all went to the substitutes' bench.
• Here's Kreis's team (4-2-3-1): Nick Rimando - Jean-Martial Kipre, Matias Mantilla, Eddie Pope (Chris Wingert 55), Ritchie Kotschau - Kyle Beckerman, Carey Talley (Atiba Harris 70) - Chris Brown, Javier Morales (Andy Williams 46), Fabian Espindola - Alecko Eskandarian. Substitutes Not Used: Robbie Findley, Chris Lancos, Chris Seitz, Jamie Watson
• "In this league we are getting to a point where it is more on parallel and on level with the world's game. An early goal like that can change the entire outlook of the game. It becomes extremely difficult to break teams down. I think we did a good job of that tonight,' Kreis said. " ... I will reiterate that I believe that this team has started extremely well for a very long time and been unlucky not to score early goals in quite a few of the games we've played lately."
TEAM NEWS
• The opening goal - 40 seconds into the match -- set a new record for Real, eclipsing the record for earliest goal in a game set by Brian Dunseth in 2005. It was the second quickest goal scored in a game this year (RSL allowed a goal to Chivas USA's Maykel Galindo after 28 seconds), and tied the 18th-quickest in MLS history.
• "Over the past month, we've gotten great chances; at the beginning of the game even, we've gotten good chances, but they just haven't gone our way," Pope said. "Tonight we were fortunate that we took our chances and they went in. Tonight we did the same things we've done in the previous weeks, and tonight the ball goes in the back of the net for us. It's a good feeling, because we're able to get the second and then the third."
• For the first time since their acquisitions a few weeks ago, Kreis put out all three of his Argentinian imports to start the game. All three were involved in one of the RSL goals.
• "Very, very nice. I think all three of them had very good games. All three of them contributed in ways other than the goals. All three of them showed that they have some special ability and it's obviously exciting to see where it can go from here," Kreis said "Obviously none of them have a whole lot of experience in our league, so I know there is an adjustment period."
• Espindola had been given the start against Chivas USA, his first MLS start, while Mantilla played just 20 minutes against Chivas in his MLS debut. Morales had not seen game action for RSL until the Wizards match.
• "The most interesting thing about Matías Mantilla and him being with us is that I went down to Argentina with not even a thought in my mind about picking a defender up. And the agent that I was in contact with -- who was the agent for all three -- asked me if I had any need for center defender, and my first response was no. And then I thought about it a little longer and I thought yeah I do, but next year," Kreis said.
• Then the Williams goal from midfield sealed the game, after RSL had been back on their heels for much of the second half. "It was a special goal for a special player," Kreis said. "He is the kind of player that can turn a game around at any moment."
• Real now begins a four-game stretch of road games over the next 16 days. But the team stopped short of calling the win against Kansas City a major turning point in the season -- Kreis did as much after RSL's victories against Houston and D.C. United, but would not do it again.
• "I'll keep my lips sealed," Kreis said. "We have to continue to get better. One result does not suddenly make us a good team overnight."
