The LA Galaxy clearly missed captain Robbie Keane and were disappointed with how their Supporters' Shield decider in Seattle wrapped up on Saturday, but they had no complaints when it was over and they were second-best.
The Galaxy (17-7-10) dominated nearly the entirety of the regular-season finale, then conceded twice in the closing minutes in a 2-0 defeat to the Sounders that left them second in the Western Conference and in the overall standings, three points behind the victors.
“We can't play a whole lot better than that,” Landon Donovan told media at CenturyLink Field. “If I'm not mistaken, I think they had three shots? Four? Up until the goal [by Marco Pappa in the 85th minute], you would have thought that they were never going to score.
"Give them credit. They made a play that made the difference, but I think we're OK with the way we played," he continued. "We just needed to find a goal, and that let us down today. Overall, an excellent performance, and, obviously, results matter -- it's hard to lose -- but I think we can be confident with how we're playing going forward.”
The Sounders finished the match with only four shots. As for the Galaxy, they put just three shots on target and another, by Gyasi Zardes, that whisked past the post (WATCH IT HERE), but had far less to show for their dominance than they would have wished. Keane's unexpected absence limited LA's ability to create chances against a packed-in Sounders defense.
The decision to hold out Keane, who is not a fan of Seattle's artificial surface, apparently was made well in advance of the game and with the near future in mind.
“He's had a few nagging injuries, and we thought it was best to keep him out of it so he would be ready for playoffs,” head coach Bruce Arena said. “You have to be careful with players on this field. This field is not perfect for a guy that's not 100 percent.”
Donovan thought Keane might have made a difference had he been on the field.
“In my opinion, he's the best player in the league,” Donovan said. “So when you're missing that, that's going to hurt you. That's probably where we were lacking a little bit today, a special quality in the final third, and when we have him in there, he provides that.
“We're confident that having him there, having Omar [Gonzalez, who was suspended] back next week, that we'll look a little bit different. But that being said, we played very well tonight, and if we play like that in the playoffs, there's a good chance we're going to be holding the trophy by the end.”
Scott French covers the LA Galaxy for MLSsoccer.com.
