Galaxy Not Looking for Split on the Road
To probe the collective mind of the Galaxy is to examine a case study in split personality.
At 10-1-2, the Galaxy has one of the best home records in Major League Soccer. But its 3-8-1 road mark is among the league’s worst.
That doesn’t bode well for the Galaxy, tied for first place in the Western Conference, since two of its final three games are on the road, beginning tonight at Chicago.
The Galaxy has lost eight of its last nine MLS road matches.
“It’s a difficult situation,” defender Alexi Lalas said of the team’s closing run. “The least of which is that you’re playing against [a team that] I still feel is one of the elite teams in MLS in Chicago. And then you also have to go to Naperville, which I’m sure is a wonderful community. It’s just a horrible environment.”
With its home stadium, Soldier Field, undergoing renovations, the Fire set up shop this season in not-so-nearby Naperville at North Central College’s Cardinal Stadium, which has an unforgiving artificial surface.
“The actual aesthetics of it is great,” Lalas said, “But for a soccer player playing on it, it’s difficult. It’s a lot better than the AstroTurf we all grew up with. But it’s still AstroTurf and it’s still not the same as grass.”
The Galaxy survived a rain-soaked afternoon on the turf and beat the Fire, 1-0, on May 11.
Chicago is in the Eastern Conference, but a quirk in the unbalanced MLS schedule has the Galaxy playing the Fire four times this year. The Galaxy, which plays every other Eastern team twice, has feasted on the Fire, going 3-0 and outscoring Chicago, 4-1.
“We haven’t even talked about the fact that we’re 3-0 against them this year,” said Lalas, who beat the Fire with the game’s lone goal on June 8....
“It’s fun playing Chicago but if you have your choice of teams to play four times a year, playing outside of your conference, you wouldn’t pick Chicago.
“But Chicago, because of World Cup and injuries, has been decimated.”
The Fire, which lost a league-high three starters to U.S. national team duty, is without midfielder Chris Armas, midfielder Sergo Daniv, forward Mike Nugent, defender Evan Whitfield and forward Josh Wolff. Daniv has a turf-toe injury, the others knee injuries.
The teams have gone in opposite directions since Lalas’ header beat the Fire on June 8. The Fire, which held a seven-point lead in the East before that game, lost its next three and has gone 5-8-2 since, having dropped into second place behind Columbus.
The Galaxy has gone 8-5-1 to catch San Jose, which it meets in a home-and-home series to close out the season.
