Galaxy in tough playoff spot, on the road, after loss at Sporting KC

Three weeks ago the Galaxy had Major League Soccer’s best record, was just a win away from locking up home-field advantage for the playoffs and had begun clearing a place for a record sixth MLS Cup trophy.

That’s all history.

After Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Sporting Kansas City, the Galaxy will limp into the postseason where it will play a must-win game on the road while mired in its worst slump in four years.

And if Bruce Arena doesn’t find a solution before Wednesday’s 7 p.m. knockout-round game in Seattle, the Galaxy’s season will end earlier than it has since 2009, the coach’s first full season with the team.

“It’s professional sports. You deal with whatever the circumstances are,” a disappointed Arena said Sunday. “It is what it is. We had opportunities to position ourselves better.”

Several opportunities, in fact. Entering the final day of the MLS regular season, the Galaxy had a chance to finish second in the Western Conference and earn a bye to the conference semifinals, where it would have played at home.

“With the guys we have, we should be able to close it out. At least finish in the top couple of spots,” defender A.J. DeLaGarza said.

Instead Sunday’s loss, combined with wins by Portland, Vancouver and Seattle, dropped the Galaxy to fifth in the standings.

It also left the team with just one win in its last seven games and sends it back to Seattle, where it hasn’t won a playoff game since 2010.

“It is concerning,” associate head coach Dave Sarachan said. “We’re trying to solve the issues that have led us down that road. But at this point the [regular] season’s over and now it’s one game or you’re done.”

The difference Sunday was Dom Dwyer’s goal midway through the second half, which ended a 1-1 tie built on first-half goals from Kansas City’s Kevin Ellis and the Galaxy’s Robbie Keane.

For Keane, his score in first-half stoppage time gave him a career-high 20 this season, including 17 in his last 14 MLS games.

Dwyer made that irrelevant in the 65th minute, although second-half substitute Benny Feilhaber did most of the heavy lifting on the play, dribbling hard into the penalty area to draw two defenders toward him.

That allowed Dwyer to dash unmarked toward the goal and when Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez turned the wrong way, Feilhaber pushed the ball ahead for Dwyer, whose shot deflected off goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts and into the net.

The goal was Dwyer’s 12th of the season but none was more important since this one gave Kansas City the conference’s sixth and final postseason berth.

“That’s what it’s all about. That’s where our focus was,” said Ellis who, replays showed, was well offside on his goal. “We knew we had to win this game no matter what and that was the attitude we went in with.”

If Ellis and his teammates were focused only on winning, the Galaxy had prepared for the worst possible scenario. It ditched its commercial flight and chartered a plane to Kansas City, giving the team the ability to return home immediately after the game in case it had a midweek playoff game to get ready for.

Now it does. Only the team didn’t wait to get home to begin preparations.

“Once we get out of this stadium, once we get on the flight, all attention is now focused on Seattle,” Gonzalez said before climbing on the team bus.

Added Sarachan: “We have to put it behind us. We have no other choice but to not feel sorry for ourselves and just learn again from what this game gave us. And then be ready for Seattle.”

Twitter: @kbaxter11