The Los Angeles Galaxy let a chance at points slip through their fingers Sunday night, surrendering a goal in the second minute of stoppage time in a 2-1 loss to the Chicago Fire at The Home Depot Center.
Just when it looked like both sides were going to share the points, Justin Mapp went on a long run, weaving through the Galaxy defense and then sending the ball home from just inside the box with a left-footed shot.
Second place in the Western Conference was available for the Galaxy, needing a win to overtake FC Dallas. With the match between the Los Angeles and Chicago being the only game on the MLS slate Sunday, fans filed into The Home Depot Center to watch their team at home for the first time in over a month.
With fatigue not likely to be a factor on such a day, both sides came out with a lot of energy in a non-contentious opening half. It was the Galaxy who created the early scoring chances, but Chicago who struck first on the day. A trio of youngsters combined on the games opening goal in the 11th minute.
Mapp started the play with a long run down the center of the Galaxy midfield. He played the ball to rookie Chad Barrett, who then laid a pass off for fellow rookie Chris Rolfe. Rolfe managed to turn at the top of the box despite being surround by four Galaxy defenders and fired a quick shot that beat Kevin Hartman low to the back post to give the away side an early lead.
The goal really came against the early run of play, as the Green and Gold started creating chances as early as the fifth minute. With Landon Donovan gone on international duty, Joseph Ngwenya got the start, and his speed along with strike partner Hercules Gomez created fits for the Chicago defense.
It was Gomez who then played the role of danger man for the Galaxy, winning a Jovan Kirovski free kick and putting his header on goal. Imposing Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton was equal to the task, making another one of his three saves on the half.
The home side eventually equalized off the foot of Gomez in the 24th minute. Ned Grabavoy pounced on a loose pass from Barrett and went straight at goal. Grabavoy sprung Gomez with a well timed through ball, and the Galaxy striker made no mistake shooting his first time effort along the ground and into the corner of the net.
Both sides played a rather clean game in the half, allowing for a rather free flowing pace to the game. While the opening minutes belonged to the Galaxy, the latter stages swung in favor of the Fire, who's offense came to life following Gomez's goal.
Barrett twice victimized Troy Roberts inside the 18 in a matter of two minutes to create two dangerous scoring chances. The first effort came in the 42nd minute when Barrett spun around Roberts and fired a shot from inside the 18. Cobi Jones, who was tracking back on defense, managed to lunge out and block the shot with his boot. Just two minutes later, Barrett again dribbled past Roberts in the box and managed to get a close range shot off. This time it was Kevin Hartman making the save, his third of the half.
Needing points to keep pace with conference leaders San Jose, the Galaxy started the second half as the more assertive team. Two minutes in, Grabavoy got on the end of a long ball played out of the middle of the park, hitting a shot just wide of the post.
The scoring chances kept piling up for the home team, as Ngwenya freed himself up for a breakaway just minutes later, but again, the final touch failed the Galaxy, and Thornton made an easy save of the attempt.
Barely able to muster a whimper in the beginning stages of the second stanza, the Chicago attack finally started to show signs of life at about the same point as they did in the first half. A dangerous corner kick careened around the Galaxy penalty area, finally bouncing off of Galaxy veteran Tyrone Marshall's leg and just inches wide of the wrong side of the post.
As the second half wore on it became clear that the two sides had decidedly different views of how they wanted to close out the game. Galaxy head coach Steve Sampson went to his bench opting to bring on more speed with offensive subs Mamba Chisoni and Michael Enfield. Fire head coach Dave Sarachan on the other hand chose to go the other route bringing on defender Jack Stewart for midfielder Thiago.
In stoppage time, Mapp garnered the full three points for Chicago with his third goal of the season. Los Angeles has given up three goals in the final 15 minutes of play in their last four home games.
The loss leaves the Galaxy in third place in the west, and allows Colorado to creep ever closer in the standing. The Galaxy will try and get back into the win column next week, when they play host to the Rapids.
MLSnet.com Man of the Match: Justin Mapp (Chicago Fire)
Greg Daurio is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the apporval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
