Another Win for Galaxy
It’s no secret that as Landon Donovan goes, so goes the Galaxy.
A franchise-record 10-game winless streak, which mounted mostly while Donovan was on U.S. national team duty during May and June, and a three-game unbeaten streak since Donovan’s return were Exhibits A and B before Saturday’s game against Real Salt Lake at the Home Depot Center.
But the Galaxy finally proved it can win without a Donovan goal, getting one instead from Herculez Gomez and another from Josh Gardner early in the second half on its way to a 2-0 victory.
On the defensive end, the Galaxy (5-10-3) has not given up a goal in the last 422 minutes, the best streak in Major League Soccer this season.
“We’re getting closer to how I like to play,” said Galaxy Coach Frank Yallop, who improved to 3-2-2 since taking over in early June. “I think the players are doing really, really well. The whole club has been lifted by the performance. We’re really happy where we are right now.”
The Galaxy also has to be happy that it can create offense through multiple sources aside from the obvious, winning for the first time since Donovan’s arrival last season when it did not get a goal from the U.S. forward. Before Saturday, the team was 0-10-2 in games when Donovan was goalless.
After a sluggish first half that saw the Galaxy control the run of play without the reward of a goal, the team came out with a different fire in the second 45 minutes and also took advantage of some sloppy play by Salt Lake (3-9-4). The first goal came on a cheeky play in the 47th minute by Gomez, who took a quick throw-in from Donovan behind Salt Lake defenders Eddie Pope and Nelson Akwari, who seemed to lose sight of him. Gomez, standing near the Salt Lake end line on the left wing, dribbled back toward the middle and fired a shot to the far post that goalkeeper Scott Garlick couldn’t stop.
Garlick was responsible for the flub that led to the second goal in the 50th minute. After a back pass, Garlick tried to send a short ball up the middle to teammate Kevin Novak, but the ball went to Gardner instead. The third-year midfielder, who had played in only three games in two seasons before 2006, pounced on the mistake, took a few dribbles to his right and fired a shot into an open net before Garlick could scramble back into position. It was the first goal of Gardner’s career. About the only negative for the Galaxy was a yellow card in the 40th minute on Ugo Ihemelu that will keep the defender out of next Saturday’s game against Chivas USA.
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The Galaxy is close to finalizing a contract with left defender Ante Jazic, who has been training with the team for the last week. Jazic, whose last club was FC Kuban Krasnodar in Russia’s first division, played for Yallop on the Canadian national team before Yallop left to become coach of the Galaxy. Another player on trial with the Galaxy is midfielder Stefani Miglioranzi, who spent the last four seasons at Swindon Town in England’s second division and has been training the last two days.
