CARSON, Calif. – The curious problem that dogged the LA Galaxy in 2010 has reared its head again, just three games into the new season.
Owners of the league’s best defense through the first half of last year, the Galaxy hit a rough patch down the stretch largely due to a penchant for surrendering early goals.
And in the last two games alone, opponents have scored goals in the second and third minutes.
“It’s crazy really,” Galaxy midfielder Chris Birchall told MLSsoccer.com. “We’ve got to sort it out because we feel if we get to the 15- to 20-minute mark and if we’re either up or tied in the game, we’re going to go on and win the game.”
The Galaxy did just that in the season opener on March 15, posting a 1-0 shutout on the road against the Seattle Sounders. But New England used a third-minute goal from Shalrie Joseph to earn a 1-1 draw at The Home Depot Center on March 20, and Andy Williams’ second-minute strike at Rio Tinto Stadium last Saturday opened the flood gates in a 4-1 loss.
[inline_node:332149]Rewind to last year, when the Galaxy allowed five goals in the first 15 minutes during a five-game stretch in July and August. The club struggled to completely recover on the defensive side of the ball, earning just one shutout in their last eight games of the regular season.
“There is definitely something wrong,” Birchall said. “We’re obviously not focused in the first 10 minutes. It’s bizarre, but we’ll learn from it. I think it’s happened too many times to just ignore it.”
Players have insisted that it’s not the club’s tactics as much as it’s a puzzling frame of mind at the beginning of games. When players do not step onto the field with the right mentality, things go downhill quickly, defender A.J. DeLaGarza said.
“We want to play the same game every single week, the same tactics, so focus is what kills us the first two minutes of the game,” he said. “We come out and we’re not ready to play. We’re professional soccer players, so we’re going to get punished for that.”
Perhaps the worst side effect of giving up early goals is the snowball effect. Things got so dour in 2010 that players were all but expecting to yield an early goal.
“Towards the end of last year, it was in the back of our minds that it was always happening,” Birchall said. “We were probably expecting it, even though we were winners of the Supporters’ Shield and favorites in some games, we were probably thinking, ‘All right, we’ll probably play one goal down.’ “It’s crazy to think, but it seems to be the case.”
Perhaps the only positive to this happening is that it happened early, and the club has enough time to work out the kinks. Whether it’s by improving the focus or concentration or by doing something tactically, Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said the problem is not irreversible.
“You can fix it. You can put all the adjectives you want in there but it can easily be fixed,” Arena said. “There are 11 guys who can contribute to getting that better.”
