COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – The LA Galaxy held the Colorado Rapids even on aggregate for over 120 minutes in in their Western Conference Semifinal meeting on Sunday afternoon, but the thin air would eventually take its toll on Galaxy, according to head coach Bruce Arena.
“It was generally a poorly played game,” admitted Arena, after his side fell 3-1 in a penalty shootout following a 1-1 end to the two teams’ series. “After 90 minutes, the game kind of swings their way because of altitude.”
The visiting Galaxy took a 1-0 aggregate lead into the game and defended mightily most of the afternoon, with Jelle Van Damme doing most of the grunt work while trying to keep a wide-open Rapids attack from grabbing the aggregate win outright after Shkelzen Gashi leveled the series with a stunning long-distance strike in the 36th minute.
“Jelle might have been the best player on the field,” said Arena. “[Colorado] defend well and take advantage of the home-field [advantage] with the altitude and all. I thought the first half, up until they scored the goal, was perfect for us.”
The overtime period showed the result of their efforts up to that point, as LA looked drained and did not even manage a shot on goal after registering just one – a tame Robbie Keane effort from distance – in the first 90 minutes of play.
“The second half, we got into the last 15 minutes and I thought we obviously looked tired,” Arena explained. “We were dead – they were as well – but they still had more gas in the tank than we did.”
Arena ended up using all three of his allotted substitutions by the 76th minute, but made the case after the game that, for the players’ sake, the current substitution rules should be looked at.
“You should be allowed an extra substitution going into overtime. It really doesn’t make sense. You’re basically punishing these players,” Arena said. “Somebody’s got to think about this that games going to overtime, which isn’t that many, you’re allowed another substitution.”
And as the two sides went to penalty kicks, Colorado’s Tim Howard came up with key saves on two straight shots after Steven Gerrard converted LA’s first and Giovani dos Santos missed the second.
“To be there – that was the ideal situation to be in given the circumstances. You get into penalties, you can’t ask for anything more,” Arena said. “You lose in a penalty shootout and you can’t blame anybody but yourself.”
