Time is not on side of Galaxy, who fall to Rapids in 95th minute

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — For 94 minutes Saturday, the Galaxy defense was impenetrable.

Unfortunately for them, the game with the Colorado Rapids lasted 95 minutes. And that proved just a little too long when Marco Pappa turned a Galaxy mistake into a goal with seconds to play, giving the Rapids a 1-0 victory.

“We were close to getting that shutout,” goalkeeper Brian Rowe said. “The hardest part about playing a game like this [is] you’re just so close to getting the result that you deserve, and you put everything into it, and it’s just kind of snatched away at the last minute.”

Although the second half proceeded largely without interruption, referee Fotis Bazakos added five minutes of stoppage time to the end, a decision that drew an immediate and animated protest from Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena.

“That was remarkable,” Arena said. “Bad judgment by the referee. Bad judgment by the fourth official not to question it.

“That’s a 93-minute game at the most. And to lose in the 95th minute is a crime. That was disgraceful.”

Colorado Coach Pablo Mastroeni, who played for Arena with the Galaxy and the U.S. national team, disagreed.

“There’s a lot of conversations out there, there’s a lot of stoppages of play,” said Mastroeni, whose team has split its first two games. “It could have been five minutes. But if it’s four minutes, we would have scored in the 93rd.”

Either way, the Galaxy probably would have escaped with a point if not for a poor clearance by rookie Daniel Steres.

The sequence started with Pappa sending a pass forward to Kevin Doyle at the edge of the 18-yard box. Doyle, with his back to the goal, flipped to ball over his head and into the box, where Steres leapt and headed it back out.

But the errant clearance bounced directly to Pappa and his left-footed volley from the edge of the penalty area got past Rowe, kissing the bottom of the crossbar on its way into the goal for Colorado’s first goal this season.

“It kind of just spun off the side of my head. And it happened to fall right where none of our guys were,” Steres said. “Nine times out of 10, I can probably make that clearance a little better. And today was the one day it didn’t happen and it cost us.

“There’s no excuses. It just sucks to lose like that.”

Playing at altitude in a swirling wind and 48-degree wind chill, the Galaxy (1-1) rarely threatened on offense, getting only one shot on goal.

Their best chance came in the 30th minute on a Jelle Van Damme header that struck the crossbar.

The Rapids peppered Rowe, who started in place of the injured Dan Kennedy.

Rowe faced 13 shots, making seven saves, so as time ran down, the Galaxy were ready to accept a scoreless tie as a victory. But Pappa, a second-half substitute, wasn’t willing to settle.

“We want to win at home. It’s very important [that] people respect our house,” he said.

Galaxy captain Robbie Keane was having none of that, insisting that Bazakos, not Pappa, deserved credit for the result.

“Congratulations to them,” he said of the Rapids. “They didn’t deserve it. But congratulations.

“The referee gives five minutes for no reason whatsoever. Someone needs to speak to him, tell him the rules.”