CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy have lost consecutive games for the first time this season and are in a 0-2-1 skid as the MLS regular season winds down to its final weeks.
Some might argue this weekend’s break in the schedule – the Galaxy won’t play again until Sunday, Oct. 16 in Houston – will work to their detriment, but players took the opposite tack and said it could provide a much-needed boost.
Team captain Robbie Keane, for example, said the time off affords the team a chance to get healthier. Gyasi Zardes, has missed the last six games because of a broken foot, but he was at Tuesday’s training session in running shoes and was walking without any noticeable limp.
Keane, who has been nursing a strained groin, said he is close to 100 percent fit.
“These next two weeks are going to be big weeks for us all,” he said. “I’m excited for these two weeks.
“In the next couple of weeks you’re going to see a massive, massive difference in this team.”
The last few weeks, on the other hand, haven’t exactly been anything to brag about. They have one victory in the last four games and have allowed nine goals during that stretch, including four in a 4-2 loss to Seattle on Sept. 25 at StubHub Center. The five-time MLS Cup champions Galaxy are third in the Western Conference with 48 points, eight behind first-place FC Dallas and three in back of Colorado. Real Salt Lake is fourth with 45 points, followed by Seattle with 44 points and sixth-place Sporting Kansas City with 43.
The Galaxy did clinch a postseason berth despite last Saturday’s 1-0 loss at FC Dallas, but they are desperate to avoid a play-in game. To do that, they will need to be honest with themselves, as Landon Donovan put it, as they prepare for these next two games.
“There’s no reason why this team shouldn’t be extremely successful,” he said. “As poor as the last few weeks have been we’re still in third place. But we expect more.
“I think this is a good week for everyone to look at themselves honestly and ask if they’ve been doing enough, and I think guys have done that. The last two days of training have definitely been the best two days since I’ve been here, and maybe the best in a long time.
“I think guys are starting to realize that now is the time to get it right.”
Goalkeeper Brian Rowe was among a number of players who would have preferred to get back on the field for a match this weekend, but the schedule break “is what it is,” he said.
“After two losses you want to move on, try to get a result and forget it,” he said, referring to the loss to FC Dallas. “If it’s one that needs to sit with us a little bit and makes the training harder, then it comes at a good time.”
Midfielder Jeff Larentowicz agreed.
“This gives us a chance to mentally regroup,” he said. “Teams go through spells where they don’t perform well, and to say this is the first time all year we’ve had two losses back to back is a pretty good thing.
“I think we’re doing all right.”
