The last of the LA Galaxy's regular season goals slipped away on Sunday, when a 2-1 defeat at Sporting Kansas City dropped them from a first-round playoff bye into a winner-takes-all road game at their fiercest rival.
Their response to a late-season swoon's latest disappointment? Embrace the challenge.
The Galaxy have won just two league away games in the past 14 months, but they're “excited” to head to Seattle for a Knockout Round clash Wednesday night (10 pm ET | UniMas, TSN2), even if it's the last thing they'd hoped for.
LA (14-11-9) spent most of the past two-and-a-half months atop the Western Conference, with legitimate Supporters' Shield aims, and a victory Sunday would have given them the No. 2 seed and a full week of training before the conference semifinals kick off next weekend. Instead, they failed to win for the sixth time in their last seven league outings – and didn't get the point that would have had them home, where they've lost just twice since their 2014 opener.
“We're in first place with the guys we have, we should be able to close it out and at least finish in the top couple of spots,” right back A.J. DeLaGarza told media at Sporting Park. “Heading into the playoffs, we have a very experienced team and one that shows up for the playoffs, I guess you could say.”
The Galaxy certainly aren't pleased with how things are playing out, but they say they're ready for what's ahead.
“It's professional sports,” head coach Bruce Arena said. “You deal with whatever the circumstances are, and that's what it is. If we can't win our last two games, we deserve to be put in the play-in game.
“We had opportunities to position ourselves better. This is where we are, and that's fine. We'll go to Seattle, and we'll be ready to play.”
The Galaxy got through Seattle en route to MLS Cup titles in 2012 and last year, advancing first on goal difference and then away goals following second-leg defeats at CenturyLink Field. This time, a loss will simply be a loss.
“This is a one-off game in a tough environment, but these are the games you want to be a part of: these big games, games that mean something,” center back Omar Gonzalez said. “And I think every single guy in that locker room wants it. We all want to get to the next round, we all want to play another game in front of our fans.”
LA were buoyed by their performance in Kansas City, a vast improvement after conceding five second half goals at home a week earlier against Portland, and wonder how things might have been different had assistant referee Kermit Quisenberry flagged Kevin Ellis, who replays showed was clearly offside, on Sporting's first goal.
Robbie Keane scored an equalizer just before halftime, his MLS career-best 20th goal (and the 17th in his last 14 league games), but Sporting surged ahead again in the 65th minute through Dom Dwyer, and LA had no answer.
“We played pretty well tonight,” Arena said. “I think our finishing could have been a little bit better, and we could have been cleaner in the final third of the field. Both teams had chances.... We had a few plays where if we're a little cleaner, we should get another couple goals in this game. That part of it, which is our strength, we didn't do particularly well tonight....
“I was disappointed in the officiating in the first half, with the offsides on the first goal. That's a pretty obvious call. You don't want to make excuses, but I'd like to believe a linesman can make that call.”
Gonzalez noted the “improvement from [the Portland loss]” and called the defeat “a step in the right direction.”
“We couldn't get the win tonight, but if we keep on improving on little things, I could see us getting a win in Seattle,” he said. “It's going to take a lot more effort. Seattle is a great team [and] it's going to be a good game. We've won there before, but it's up to the guys in that locker room to show up and make sure we get the result we want.”
LA is 4-5-3 all-time in MLS games at Seattle, including postseason, and beat the Sounders in a first-round playoff game at CenturyLink in 2010.
“I think we're excited,” DeLaGarza said. “We played well at times today, I thought, and we had a good number of chances. No reason we can't play like that on Wednesday and get another result in Seattle.”
