HOUSTON – The punishing Houston heat and humidity as well a merciless Dynamo side ultimately proved too much for the LA Galaxy to handle in their 3-0 defeat on Saturday.
The Galaxy were afforded little time to adjust to the extreme weather when in the eighth minute a defensive miscue by Leonardo allowed a Brad Davis cross to fall to Will Bruin for the opening goal. In the 27th minute, the Dynamo doubled their lead when Davis got into the act with a goal of his own.
Houston added a third in the closing moments of the match but according to Galaxy captain Robbie Keane, it was conceding early that doomed the defending MLS Cup champions in Texas.
“We killed ourselves. Eight minutes into the game, we conceded a sloppy goal and then another goal. That’s two goals that we could’ve avoided,” said Keane who was wearing a sling during postgame media availability after picking up a minor shoulder injury. “And then when you’re playing away from home in that humidity, it’s always difficult when you’re chasing the game. Tonight we made it hard on ourselves.”
And the heat only made it more difficult as players from both teams appeared to be struggling as the temperatures reached the triple digits despite the late start time, but it was no excuse said Keane.
“It was tough. It’s the same for both teams. Obviously they’re more used to it than we were. It certainly is tough,” Keane said. “But we made it tough on ourselves because you can’t concede an early goal away from home, especially in this heat. They’re more used to playing in this heat so they know how to control the game when they go a goal up and that was the case.”
The conditions appeared especially tough on new Galaxy addition Steven Gerrard. Having never played in such intense heat before, save for a 2014 World Cup group stage game in the Amazonian jungle city of Manaus, the 35-year-old appeared fatigued during the match.
After the defeat, Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena admitted that he might have utilized Gerrard differently if he had the chance.
“[He played] just okay. It’s not a good game to have to put him through. Obviously he’s trying to get himself fit and these conditions are very difficult for that,” Arena said. “You could see he was fatigued at the end of both halves and maybe we could have utilized him in a reserve role as opposed to starting him tonight.”
The defeat extends the Galaxy’s league road winless streak which extends way back August 2014. As the year anniversary of LA’s dramatic road victory on August 20th vs. the Colorado Rapids approaches, the question must be asked?
When will the Galaxy win away from home again?
“I don’t know,” said Keane. “We just have to keep plugging away. Eventually it’s gonna happen. Hopefully sooner rather than later.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com.
