CARSON, Calif.—The LA Galaxy certainly had their work cut out for them on Saturday: Facing one of the top teams in the ultra-competitive Western Conference, the second-place Colorado Rapids, who boast one of the league's top goalkeepers in Tim Howard, any points recorded would be hard-earned.
The honors ended even at StubHub Center, as LA and Colorado drew 1-1, despite a number of very close chances on Howard’s net. Colorado’s Shkelzen Gashi put the visitors ahead shortly after halftime, only for Galaxy defender Daniel Steres to equalize 11 minutes later off a Steven Gerrard corner.
“I thought over the course of the night we had a pretty good advantage on set pieces,” Steres said. “We were getting our head on a lot of things, Jelle [Van Damme] had one off the post, and a few others. [The goal] was bound to happen, and that was the one.”
The home side very nearly went ahead early, as Gyasi Zardes found himself one-on-one with Howard, only for the US national team keeper to make an amazing sprawling save. Giovani Dos Santos and Emmanuel Boateng also found on the wrong end of spectacular saves by Howard throughout the match.
“Yeah, 100 percent [I thought I would finish],” Zardes said of the early attempt. “Sure enough, his trailing hand got a hand on it.”
LA mounted their comeback despite not having one of their top attacking weapons in Robbie Keane, who was out due to a concussion. Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena said he fully expects Keane to be fit to play for LA’s next match, next Saturday at NYCFC (3pm ET; ESPN | MLS LIVE).
The prognosis is still unclear for starting goalkeeper Brian Rowe, who suffered a head injury in the 80th minute, and was replaced by Dan Kennedy. Arena would not go into detail on the injury, instead noting the treatment he received in the immediate aftermath: “He took some staples.”
Overall, Arena was happy with his squad’s comeback effort, even though he feels they could have come out on top.
“For me on the night, we played well,” Arena said. “We’re at fault for not finishing our chances, and that’s that.”
