STANFORD, Calif. – Stop me if you’ve heard this before.
Whereas in years past it was Alan Gordon delivering the blow to the Galaxy, this time, it was former L.A. striker Chad Barrett scoring late to force Los Angeles to settle for a 1-1 draw on Saturday. The Galaxy were able to end their scoreless streak at 371 minutes through Giovani dos Santos’ 69th-minute goal, but the manner in which the team dropped points left a damper on the team’s locker room postgame.
“It was very frustrating to be honest,” defender Jelle van Damme told LA Galaxy Insider after the game. “If you’re that far in the game leading, you can never take that goal. It’s not the first time that it happened, but it’s a shame. If you see the game overall, we deserved the win.”
The match picked up in the second half with the Galaxy trying to find a goal which came in the 69th minute when dos Santos headed a Steven Gerrard cross into the back of the net.
After the Galaxy had taken the lead, the match grew hectic with San Jose desperately pressuring for an equalizer. San Jose got their goal in the 90th minute when after a debatable foul by Galaxy set up a free kick for the Earthquakes that was headed by Barrett past ‘keeper Brian Rowe.
“First, I thought that was the softest foul I ever saw in my life. Not even a foul, but beyond that they just put the ball in the box,” A.J. DeLaGarza said afterward. “For me, Chad was never on the onside position because he was always behind me so I kept trying to push him offside and keep him back there. Whether our line wasn’t together, or the ref missed a call.”
As has been the case for matches at Stanford, the game ended in controversy after Ashley Cole received a yellow card and then a straight red from referee Kevin Stott for a late foul. Galaxy boss Bruce Arena was frustrated by the play and admitted afterward that he intends to appeal the call.
“I think it was a very poor call, and that whole thing was poorly done so I would anticipate we would do that,” Arena said afterward.
Los Angeles will need to rebound next Monday when they host Vancouver Whitecaps FC. They’ll have to do so, however, without Van Damme and Cole who are both suspended for the match.
“We had a lot of fight and a lot of heart tonight. We need one [win]. In this league, if you get one then you can go on a run,” DeLaGarza said. “We have to get one win under our belt. Tonight was a golden opportunity for that, and we didn’t take advantage of it.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog atLAGalaxy.com/Insiderand contact him atLAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com
