Galaxy begins stretch run against Seattle focused on finishing its chances

Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena doesn’t suffer fools, or foolish questions, gladly. So, asked what changed for a team that followed three consecutive scoreless games with a 3-2 victory last Sunday, his answer was as predictable as it was acerbic.

“We scored,” he said.

That’s it?

“The name of the game is to finish your chances,” Arena said. “That’s the difference. Games this time of year, you’re not getting a whole lot of chances.”

In that case, consider the Galaxy blessed because it will have several chances in the next three weeks, beginning Sunday in Seattle (6:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1, Fox Deportes). There, it has a chance to clinch a Major League Soccer playoff berth with a victory over a Sounders team that has lost only once in the last two months and can also secure a postseason invitation with a victory.

“We haven’t spoke of it,” said Robbie Keane, the Galaxy’s leading scorer with 16 goals. “It’s only a matter of time that we get into the playoffs. Of course, it’s always nice to get it done earlier.”

A victory would also improve the Galaxy’s chances of finishing the regular season with the league’s best record, giving it home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Without that, the Galaxy might struggle to survive the playoffs and successfully defend its title in December’s MLS Cup: It began the weekend with the league’s best home record and the conference’s worst road mark.

The focus in the final three games will be on finishing chances by playing with urgency. Win all three and the Galaxy is virtually assured of being at home throughout the postseason. Lose all three and it’s possible the team won’t even reach the postseason.

“We’re in October now. October sends all those bells and whistles,” said Dave Sarachan, associate head coach. “It’s real. It means something.”

For Arena, it means scoring. Although the Galaxy began the weekend leading MLS in goals, it has also gone through some cold spells, getting shut out nine times in 31 games.

“It’s soccer,” Arena said with a shrug. “If you haven’t noticed, it’s a low-scoring sport. There’s going to be games you don’t score.”

Especially when other teams, faced with a Galaxy attack led by Keane, U.S. national team forward Gyasi Zardes, former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard and Mexican star Giovani dos Santos, play as many as eight men behind the ball. The Galaxy has lost the possession battle in six of its last eight games.

Another factor is a star-studded midfield that is still learning to play as a unit. In the center, Juninho has appeared in all 31 games, but winger Sebastian Lleget didn’t become a starter until midway through the season, and Gerrard didn’t join the team until early July.

Add Dos Santos, who rotates with Zardes on the right side, and the Galaxy frequently has had three players in the middle who didn’t even meet until August.

“Each game they get a little bit better and understand each other a little bit more,” Arena said.

With only three games to play, the Galaxy may be running out of time to get that chemistry right. Complicating matters, after Sunday’s game, the Galaxy has two weeks off for a FIFA international break.

That didn’t work so well last time: After beginning September with a two-week FIFA break, Arena’s team went two games and 190 minutes without a goal.

“It’s a combination of things,” Sarachan said. “You do lose a little bit of that rhythm. And it’s taken us a little time to jell and mesh again.”

A win over Seattle would help the situation.

“The hope is we get a good result against Seattle,” Sarachan said. “Because part of it is the confidence and how you left off. Then it’s just the maintenance.

“The technical part is not the issue at this stage of the game. The physical fitness part is not the main issue. The biggest part is the psychological part, the concentration, the mentality.”

And finishing your chances before they run out.