In their second match of the season, the Los Angeles Galaxy suffered another disappointing result at home, tying the Chicago Fire 1-1 on Saturday at The Home Depot Center.
The Galaxy took control of the match in the 78th minute when Chris Albright scored off of a corner kick. But L.A. only managed to hold the lead for eight minutes before giving up a goal to Fire defender Jim Curtin similar to the one that New England's Clint Dempsey scored against the Galaxy last weekend.
For the Galaxy it reemphasizes a disturbing trend that has cropped up over the course of last season, and into the early stages of 2006. Los Angeles dropped points consistently last season by giving up late goals and goals on set pieces. Curtain's goal was a double whammy considering it not only came from a dead ball situation, but it also came in the final minutes of the match.
"We're disappointed because once again we're taking a goal on a dead ball situation," said Galaxy head coach Steve Sampson. "[Defender] Todd Dunivant had his mark, but he was late and that was the difference in the game."
Dunivant was playing in his first game since the early portions of the preseason. A calf injury has slowed down the second-year Galaxy man, who showed a little rust during certain stretches of the match.
Still it wasn't just a momentary lapse in concentration that cost the Galaxy the full three points. In front of their home fans, the Galaxy were out shot 14-7 by Chicago and once again seemed to lack any real continuity out of midfield.
Sampson attempted to fix that problem late in the game by bringing on newly-acquired forward Cornell Glen, and dropping Landon Donovan back into the midfield. It's a change that Sampson admitted might become more permanent.
"You don't make wholesale changes with your midfield that worked for you and won a championship overnight," said Sampson in defense of Pete Vagenas and Paulo Nagamura who started in the center of the Galaxy midfield. "But Landon is the type of player that is versatile. If it's not working for us in the midfield with Paulo and Pete I can put (Donovan) there. We might start with him there next week."
The change is one that Donovan welcomes but doesn't necessarily feel is the quick fix that the Galaxy need offensively.
"I feel that on a big field I can expose weakness more and have more space to run," said Donovan. "The problem is that we don't have the guys that consistently hold the ball up top. For all the good that Herc (Gomez) does it's not his forte, and it's not really mine.
"Maybe Cornell will help us, but we need to find guys that can do that. Otherwise it doesn't matter how much I get the ball if we can't hold the ball when it gets into (the frontrunners) then its useless anyway."
Whatever the case may be, its becoming apparent that the Galaxy needs to get tougher on both sides of the ball. On a night when Albright should have been celebrating a game winner, he was lamenting points lost in the locker room afterwards.
"It's bittersweet. In one sense you're happy you got a goal on a free kick. At the same time you gave up points on a free kick and you have to be disappointed with that," Albright said.
"We need to be tougher. We need to be bigger in there. I go up for a header and I get grabbed by my throat, or my shirt, and I think we need to start taking that approach. If they call a penalty, they call a penalty, but it's tough to give it away like that."
Things don't get any easier for the Galaxy as their season progresses. They take on in-house rivals Chivas USA in the Súper Cl´sico. Last season the Galaxy swept all five games they played against Chivas USA, but this year the Red and White have shown a great deal of improvement and are looking to notch their first victory against their biggest MLS rival.
Greg Daurio is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
