COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – Realizing it would take a huge effort all match, the LA Galaxy gave everything they had in Sunday’s Western Conference Semifinal second leg against the Colorado Rapids. But the Rapids were able to extend the match to extra time before eventually winning on penalty kicks behind Tim Howard’s saves, leaving the Galaxy to bemoan their inability to get off the back foot and get a potentially series-changing away goal
Colorado brought pressure from all over the pitch as LA held their lines back and LA 'keeper Brian Rowe came up big almost immediately from the opening whistle, making a pair of saves within the first minute of the game.
“We knew they would have a lot of energy early at altitude, with their pace, so being able to keep it at zeros for the first twenty minutes helped us in the long run,” said Rowe.
“I think where we made it hard on ourselves was we didn’t make enough good passes coming out of pressure and we allowed them to keep coming at us,” admitted Galaxy midfielder Landon Donovan. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but that being said we lost on a one in a hundred-thousand type of shot so you’ve got to tip your hat and say congrats.”
The goal Donovan was referring to was a 40-yard wonder-strike from Colorado’s Shkelzen Gashi in the 36th minute put the Rapids on top in the match and even in the aggregate goals series as Rowe could only watch.
“I saw him lining it up with space and distance so I tried to get back but at elevation and the way he strikes it, it was a good goal,” he explained to MLSsoccer.com.
LA center back Jelle Van Damme, whom head coach Bruce Arena singled out as possibly the best player on the pitch, has seen those goals through his travels but was still impressesed, admitting, “It was a great shot. We call it in Belgium a Sunday shot – shot out of the blue.”
Arena took a different view of the game, though.
“Maybe if our goalkeeper’s technique is a little better, maybe he has a chance to make the save,” Arena explained. “[Gashi] hit a good ball, the ball moved, you could see it knuckle a little bit. I don’t think he was necessarily ready for the shot. But the shot hits off the post and goes into the side netting. What more can you say? It’s the difference in the game.”
As regulation time wore down the Galaxy defended as a squad watching Colorado throw men forward hoping to avoid overtime and more.
“The confidence was there, especially after our win last weekend. We knew it was going to be hard but I thought we managed well over 120 minutes,” said Van Damme. “They brought in a lot of crosses and I think we defended well on them as a defense – pick up a man and close the spaces. They didn’t have many open chances.
“We knew it was going to be a close game – it was the same last week – but coming over here it’s hard. At the end, especially with the overtime, you just want to make it through and not concede any more.”
Penalty kicks started out well for LA with Gerrard converting, but Colorado’s Kevin Doyle snuck one past Rowe and it was downhill from there.
“With Doyle, I guessed the right way but it kind of jammed me a little bit,” Rowe. “It’s tough when it’s underneath you and coming fast, so if I could have kept that one out it would have given us momentum going into our kickers.”
Van Damme summed up the day for LA: “Penalties is 50-50. They did better than us at the penalties. It’s hard to accept it’s over.”
