STANFORD, Calif. -- Bruce Arena reacted quizzically Saturday night when asked about the import of Giovani dos Santos breaking a 370-minute run without a goal in MLS play for the LA Galaxy.
“Did we have a scoreless streak?” the Galaxy coach said. “I didn’t know that.
Informed that the streak – second-longest in the league this season – did in fact exist, Arena responded with typical dry wit.
“I think we’ll have a party, then, tonight,” Arena said. “We’re going to score goals, believe me.”
The Galaxy didn’t score enough goals to hold on for a victory at Stanford Stadium in the MLS Heineken Rivalry Week Edición Especial against the San Jose Earthquakes. A 90th-minute equalizer from former LA striker Chad Barrett left the reigning titlists in fifth place in the Western Conference, with a winless streak that has now reached seven matches.
But defender A.J. DeLaGarza was happy to see the Galaxy's resolve, even after a first half in which they were outshot 12-1.
“I think today we had a lot of fight,” DeLaGarza said. “A lot of heart. And that’s what it takes to win. We need one and I think in this league you get one and you can go on a roll. You see Colorado is on an 11-game unbeaten streak and are they going to keep that up the whole way? Probably not. That’s what happens in this league. Teams will start hot and slow down or start slow and heat up, so we have to get one under our belt and tonight was a good opportunity for that and we didn’t take advantage.”
San Jose was on the front foot for much of the first half, but LA found their rhythm coming out of intermission. Steven Gerrard’s 18-yard volley off a punched clearance from San Jose goalkeeper David Bingham came back off the post in the 56th minute, the first of a flurry of Galaxy threats.
That stanza ended with Gerrard -- given plenty of space by San Jose’s defense -- unfurling a high cross in the 69th minute, affording a perfect chance for dos Santos to attack with a gleeful leap. The Mexican international tucked the ball inside the far post for his team-high seventh goal of the season.
But things fell apart for LA in the final 15 minutes. Barrett should have tied the game with an 80th-minute header -- a miss he called “embarrassing” -- before finally bouncing home an equalizer seconds before the end of regulation.
“That Goonie ball a couple years ago when they won the [2012] Supporters’ Shield … They got a couple chances off it,” DeLaGarza said. “It was effective and we just didn’t do well on a couple plays.”
Then Ashley Cole received yellow cards in successive stoppage-time minutes from referee Kevin Stott, earning a 96th-minute ejection which Arena derided in his post-game comments. Combined with Jelle Van Damme’s first-half yellow card, which earned him an accumulation suspension, the Galaxy could be without half their starting back line against Vancouver on July 4.
“If the officials look at the last 15 minutes of that game, they’d be very disappointed in their performance,” said Arena, who plans to appeal Cole’s red. “That was a poor display.”
