Mexico’s Chivas is too much for Galaxy, 2-1
David Beckham has made some progress -- all the way from a seat in a luxury box in Carson to a seat on the Galaxy bench at the Coliseum.
It’s a small step for the injured midfielder, but it’s something.
The same progress has not been made by the Galaxy, which came out flat Saturday night and was beaten, 2-1, by Guadalajara of Mexico in a SuperLiga soccer game played in front of an overwhelmingly pro-Chivas crowd of 37,337 at the Coliseum.
Second-half goals by Francisco Rodriguez and Omar Bravo gave Guadalajara the victory, with the Galaxy having to content itself with a late but not necessarily meaningless goal by Landon Donovan.
In the eight-team SuperLiga tournament featuring teams from Major League Soccer and the Mexican league, Chivas leads Group A with four points, the Galaxy is second with three, FC Dallas has two and Pachuca of Mexico has one.
The Galaxy plays Dallas at Frisco, Texas, on Tuesday night, needing a win or a tie to advance in the tournament. Guadalajara plays Pachuca in the other game that night.
Galaxy Coach Frank Yallop surprised many by including Beckham among the 18 players who dressed for the game, even thought Yallop said Friday that the England national team midfielder, still nursing a bad left ankle, would not play against Chivas.
“We wanted to make sure he saw the game from that level,” Yallop said. “He felt more part of the team. I wanted him to get a feel of what it’s like atmosphere-wise.
“From David’s point of view, he saw a team that won’t give up and kept going, which is good. I still think that we showed pretty well, especially late in the game, and it’s important for me to see that.”
The Galaxy had beaten Pachuca on Tuesday night in Carson, and Yallop said Saturday’s loss was not all doom and gloom.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a step back,” he said. “I think we’re even. I think we didn’t play terribly all game. That would not be good. We had chances to score. We fought back into the match.”
Playing what amounted to a road game in Los Angeles, the Galaxy hung on for as long as it could but fell behind at 58 minutes 44 seconds when Rodriguez sent a glancing header spinning into the left corner of the Galaxy net off a cross from Omar Esparza.
The goal, the almost inevitable result of nearly an hour of pressure by Guadalajara on the Galaxy defense, brought a roar from the Chivas backers. The few Galaxy supporters in attendance maintained a low profile and a probably sensible silence.
The Galaxy tried to claw its way back into the game, and a shot by Peter Vagenas in the 65th minute off a cutback pass by Ante Jazic forced goalkeeper Luis Ernesto Michel to dive low to his right to poke the ball away at the post.
Moments later, Donovan floated a cross into the penalty area, but Kelly Gray’s twisting header flew over the crossbar.
In the 75th minute, the Chivas fans came to their feet as the immensely popular Bravo came on as a replacement for Sergio Santana. Bravo came through. Just after a header by Galaxy striker Carlos Pavon off a Jazic pass flew high, Bravo doubled Guadalajara’s advantage.
Bravo raced between central defenders Abel Xavier and Ty Harden to spear home a pass from Ramon Morales from close range and secure the victory.
There was time for the Galaxy to get a consolation goal, on a bit of opportunism from Donovan, but the night belonged to Chivas.
The Galaxy was without injured starters Cobi Jones and Kyle Martino in addition to Beckham, and Yallop said he could not yet tell whether any of the three would travel to Texas.
“We’ll have to see in the morning,” he said. “Both Cobi and David are doing a lot better. They’ll come in in the morning for treatment. But it’s too early to say.”
Guadalajara’s domination was clearly evident in the final statistics, which showed Chivas with an overwhelming 17-8 advantage in shots, including 9-3 in shots on target.
Some solid goalkeeping by Joe Cannon helped keep Chivas off the board in the first half, but there was little he could do about the goals from Rodriguez and Bravo, two of five Mexico national team players on the Guadalajara roster.
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