Galaxy Gets Tripped on Road
The road warriors? Not a chance. More like the road pacifists.
The Galaxy, whose inability to put together a cohesive game away from the Home Depot Center has become legendary over the last three seasons, failed to do so yet again Wednesday night.
This time, Los Angeles was beaten, 1-0, by the team with the second-worst record in Major League Soccer, the Colorado Rapids, who entered with a 2-8-2 mark, a five-game winless streak and without a goal in their last three matches.
And despite the fact that it played a man short for 80% of the match and two men down for the final half-hour, Colorado prevailed. It drew first blood on a ninth-minute penalty kick goal by Jeff Cunningham after Cunningham had been fouled by Cobi Jones, then stymied the Galaxy the rest of the way.
The loss dropped the Galaxy to 7-3-2 and cost it the chance to overtake FC Dallas for first place in the Western Conference.
Equally noteworthy, it brought Los Angeles’ woeful road record to 3-20-11 since the start of the 2003 season, not counting a “road” victory over Chivas USA at the Home Depot Center.
“You can’t play against nine and not come away with a result,” Galaxy Coach Steve Sampson said. “It’s a very disappointing night for us.”
The game was ugly almost from the start, with fouls -- 24 overall -- disrupting the flow. Referee Ricardo Valenzuela handed out three yellow cards and one red card in the first 45 minutes, then another red and two more yellows in the second half.
Galaxy defenders Todd Dunivant, Tyrone Marshall and Michael Umana each were cautioned, as were the Rapids’ Leo Cullen and Joe Cannon.
Colorado and U.S. national team defensive midfielder Pablo Mastroeni was ejected in the 18th minute for a foul on his Galaxy counterpart, Paulo Nagamura, forcing the Rapids to play a man short.
Then, at the hour mark, Colorado’s Guy Melamed was tossed, also for a foul on Nagamura, leaving Colorado with only nine players. That proved to be enough.
The Galaxy outshot the Rapids, 20-3, but forced Cannon, Colorado’s goalkeeper, into only seven saves. Landon Donovan, Los Angeles’ leading scorer, did not take his first shot until the 86th minute.
The closest the Galaxy came to scoring was when Jones hit the right post in the 78th minute.
The Galaxy plays Saturday at Dallas.
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In another MLS game, rookie Bobby Boswell’s goal lifted D.C. United past the Chicago Fire, 4-3, at Washington.
Jones reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press contributed to this report.
