Galaxy’s unbeaten streak is finished
Like all good things -- and all bad things, for that matter -- the Galaxy’s 10-game unbeaten streak came to an end Saturday night.
Playing with little individual emotion and limited collective skill, the Galaxy was shut out, 2-0, by Real Salt Lake in front of a smattering of souls -- 19,718 -- at the Home Depot Center.
It was the Galaxy’s second loss of the season and the first since it was beaten, 3-2, by Colorado Rapids on April 4.
The rare road victory for Real Salt Lake (4-6-3) pulled it level on points with the Galaxy (2-2-9), both with 15.
The Galaxy outshot Real, 10-9, but shots by Salt Lake’s Yura Movsisyan and Nat Borchers found their way past Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts.
So much for the statistical rigmarole. There was more to the game than mere numbers.
There was, for instance, the red card to Galaxy defender Eddie Lewis for throwing the ball at Real Salt Lake’s Javier Morales, who was on the ground having just been fouled by Galaxy midfielder Jovan Kirovski.
It was the Galaxy’s fifth red card in 13 games this season and it left the Galaxy to play the final 25 minutes plus stoppage time short-handed.
“There’s not much for me to disagree with,” said Real Coach Jason Kreis. “It’s always going to be a question of whether the referee deems it serious or whether you’re just throwing the ball back to the player.
“But as I tell my players week in and week out, if you put yourself at the discretion of the referees, you could get yourself in some trouble.”
Lewis found that out when referee Jasen Anno first gave Kirovski a yellow for the foul and then brandished the red card at Lewis, much to the disgust of Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena.
The player who made the difference early in the match was former UCLA goalkeeper Nick Rimando, who made three stupendous stops in the first half to deny the Galaxy from close range.
“He made some monstrous saves tonight,” Kreis said. “He came up big for us.”
After a magical reaction save by Rimando had denied Dema Kovalenko from point-blank range, Real Salt Lake took the lead on Movsisyan’s goal at 12:15.
The former Pasadena City College player found himself free on the left and fired a swerving shot that flew past Ricketts from about 15 yards.
Real Salt Lake doubled its lead in the 51st minute when Borchers grabbed his first goal in a Real Salt Lake uniform.
Clint Mathis sent the ball in from the right and saw it deflect off Lewis directly to Borchers, who knocked it into the net for his first goal since 2004, a period covering 76 Major League Soccer games for Colorado and Salt Lake, interrupted by a few years of playing in Norway.
“He’s been unfortunate not to score until now,” Kreis said. “He told us when he came here that he was good for three goals a year . . . so now he owes us five more.”
Another player to come up big for Real Salt Lake was defender Jamison Olave, who was alert enough to head Edson Buddle’s header off the goal line in the 58th minute, preventing a sure Galaxy goal.
For the Galaxy, it was an off night. No one stood out and as a result the unbeaten streak is now just a footnote to the season.
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