Galaxy’s problems get progressively worse
The downward spiral continues for the Galaxy.
On Saturday night, it was Landon Donovan’s turn to play the villain and he did so with panache, missing his second penalty kick of the week as Los Angeles was beaten, 2-1, by Real Salt Lake at the Home Depot Center in a game involving Major League Soccer’s two worst teams.
It was the Galaxy’s sixth consecutive loss in league play and dropped the team to 3-11-5.
The odd thing about it, though, as Coach Frank Yallop pointed out afterward, is that there really is no good explanation for the way this season has unraveled.
Of the 11 losses, seven have been by a goal.
Even Saturday night’s game had its share of bad luck. Donovan might have had his penalty kick saved, but a Cobi Jones line drive rattled the crossbar and an Alan Gordon header also bounced off the woodwork.
A couple of inches lower on both and the Galaxy would have had three goals instead of only the one that Gordon scored on a looping header from a Donovan cross in the sixth minute.
But Donovan’s penalty miss was a turning point.
On Wednesday night, in the final of the SuperLiga tournament and with the tournament title and a $1-million first prize on the line, Donovan made a hash of his potentially decisive penalty kick when he hit it without authority to the right of Pachuca goalkeeper Miguel Calero, who made the save.
The Mexican champions went on to win the shootout, the title and the million dollars.
On Saturday night, Donovan tried the other side, striking his 50th-minute penalty kick to the left of Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando, who guessed correctly and made a smart, one-handed save.
“That would have made it 2-0 and I think we’d have seen the game out,” Yallop said. “At least he was brave enough to take it.”
Galaxy defender Chris Klein echoed the sentiment.
“I looked at Landon and told him to bury it,” Klein said. “Landon has saved this team . . . and our national team many, many times. He’s the best player that this country has ever had, in my opinion, and for him to step up and want to take that again [after Wednesday’s miss] shows the type of person that he is and the type of courage that he has.
“He stood up in the locker room and took responsibility for it. If we had one guy to take a penalty to put us into something, I think I’d still choose Landon.”
Seven minutes after Donovan’s miss, Real Salt Lake Coach Jason Kreis brought Robbie Findley into the match and the former Galaxy rookie who was traded away earlier in the season had an immediate impact.
Seconds after Jones’ crossbar-clanging shot in the 66th minute had thrown a scare into Salt Lake (4-11-6), Findley collected an astute through pass from midfielder Andy Williams, got past Galaxy defender Mike Randolph and fired a shot that beat Galaxy goalkeeper Steve Cronin at the near post.
Four minutes after Findley’s goal, veteran defender and former U.S. national team stalwart Eddie Pope bundled in the game-winner at the second attempt after Cronin had saved Alecko Eskandarian’s well-struck free kick.
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