Galaxy Negotiates Rapids for Tie

The road woes continue.

The Galaxy considered its 1-1 tie with the Colorado Rapids Saturday night at Invesco Field in Denver a positive result, but the game told a different story.

Los Angeles was outplayed for much of the first half and was fortunate not to go into the locker room at halftime trailing by two goals -- if not more -- after being outshot, 13-3, in the first 45 minutes.

As it was, rookie Haitian forward Jean Philippe Peguero gave the Rapids the lead in the ninth minute when he made Galaxy defender Danny Califf pay for an overly physical challenge moments before that earned Califf a yellow card from referee Michael Kennedy.

Mark Chung’s free kick after the foul was deflected wide right for a Colorado corner kick, which former Mexican league midfielder Antonio de la Torre curled into the box for Peguero to leap and head past Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman for his first goal in Major League Soccer.

Colorado almost made it 2-0 in the 19th minute when Scottish striker John Spencer crashed a shot against the crossbar with Hartman beaten.

To the Galaxy’s credit, it struck back immediately, with Jovan Kirovski leaving Rapids’ midfielder Ritchie Kotschau in the dust before cutting the ball back from the end line for Carlos Ruiz to slam past Colorado goalkeeper Joe Cannon in the 20th minute.

It was Ruiz’s third goal in three games, tops in MLS.

Kirovski then tested Cannon with a low shot that the ‘keeper did well to smother at the left post.

The Rapids continued to press the attack, however, and twice came close to reclaiming the lead before the half was over.

First, De La Torre hit the crossbar with a speculative 35-yard shot that he tried when he spotted Hartman well off his line. That was in the 43rd minute.

Then, two minutes later, Hartman did well to tip a bicycle kick from close range by Spencer over the crossbar.

But for a couple of glaring misses by the Galaxy’s Sasha Victorine and Kirovski, when scoring would have been the easier option, the second half was a desultory affair that failed to spark the crowd of 13,417.

With the tie, the Rapids (0-1-1) extended their unbeaten streak at home to 14 games, while the Galaxy (1-0-2) brought its winless streak on the road to 16 games at 0-10-6 over the last two seasons.

Jones reported from Los Angeles.