CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy were left searching for answers after being held scoreless for a third consecutive match on Wednesday.
Los Angeles were forced to settle for a 0-0 draw with the Colorado Rapids on Wednesday at StubHub Center, extending their goalless run to 302 minutes. Although the Galaxy looked far more dangerous than they had their last two matches, players admitted that the performance was not good enough.
“I think looking dangerous is not good enough. Looking dangerous should be a gimme. Every single game we’ve got to look dangerous, you know, we’re LA Galaxy,” midfielder Steven Gerrard said. “A couple of years ago we were champions of this country. You should look dangerous every single game. That’s not an achievement. It should be a gimme.”
Added forward Jack McBean, “They worked really hard, and they were tough to break down. They had two big center backs [that] were physical with me and they fought for every play. ”
With Giovani dos Santos returning to the starting XI, the Galaxy attack showed signs of life early on, but it wasn’t until Gerrard entered the match in the 61st minute that the offense really got going. The 34-year-old midfielder provided the Galaxy an attacking outlet in the middle of the field that has been missing as of late with several probing runs that caused trouble for Colorado defenders.
However, it wasn’t Dos Santos or Gerrard who produced the team’s best chance. That honor went to Ema Boateng, who was denied a goal in the 79th minute when Colorado’s Dennis Castillo cleared the Ghanaian’s shot off the line after great work from Sebastian Lletget.
“We had some injuries with Steven and Giovani [dos Santos]. But they are back now and in full fitness for the next game,” midfielder Nigel de Jong said. “Hopefully, they can give us a little bit of creativity that we’ve been lacking the last couple of games. But it’s hard. If I knew what the reason [we haven’t scored] was, I would have already fixed it.”
The Galaxy face a quick turnaround with a game on Saturday against their hated rivals, the San Jose Earthquakes at Stanford Stadium. When the team lines up against San Jose, Gerrard is adamant that they’ll LA will need to step up their game.
They need to score. And they need to win.
“We need to go a step further and start creating better chances and taking those chances and getting goals otherwise you’re not going to win football matches,” Gerrard said. “I think that might be five or six now on the bounds that we haven’t won. We need to win ASAP.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog atLAGalaxy.com/Insiderand contact him atLAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com
