CARSON, Calif. – It was a day to forget, to put it mildly, for the LA Galaxy in Sunday’s 3-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders in front of 24,931 at StubHub Center.
It was a particularly difficult one for the likes of right-sided midfielder Romain Alessandrini and rookie right back Nathan Smith, who often bore the brunt of Seattle’s pressure in a performance that left the five-time MLS Cup champion Galaxy understandably disappointed.
In Smith’s case, the newcomer out of UCLA had to go against Jordan Morris, who gave the right side of the Galaxy lineup fits all afternoon. Smith, who attended UCLA, said nothing really surprised him about his old foe in Morris, a Stanford product – “He did put on a little muscle,” Smith joked about the 6-foot, 185-pounder – and the Seattle winger did not have a point Sunday. But it was his constant pressure that helped produce three-first half goals as Seattle cruised to only its third victory all-time at StubHub Center.
“I knew they might overload that side of the field,” Smith said, “but I was prepared for that. I kind of had a feeling it might happen.”
The Sounders’ strategy also kept Alessandrini in check. The Frenchmen came into the game with a three-game scoring streak that included four goals during that span, but he didn’t get much of anything going Sunday.
Seattle’s three-goal flurry in a 15-minute stretch of the first half – which included an own goal by the Galaxy’s Ashley Cole – forced the Galaxy to play catch-up the rest of the afternoon.
“They just overloaded,” Galaxy head coach Curt Onalfo said. “(Nicolas) Lodeiro has a free role and their left back (Joevin Jones) gets forward really well. With Morris’ speed on that side of the field, it’s a very, very difficult thing to deal with.
“We just didn’t go a good job defending that part of the field.”
It got so bad that Onalfo brought in midfielder Baggio Husidic for winger Ema Boateng at the 38-minute mark.
“Unfortunately (Boateng) took the sacrifice,” Onalfo said. “We were just getting overloaded and overrun in the midfield in the entire half, so we had to make a change where we added another midfielder. And it actually immediately worked.
“We started actually gaining momentum, but then we gave up the third goal on the counter.”
Said Smith, “It was hard. They tried to overlap and had an extra guy in the midfield. That made it difficult for all of us, but at anytime they’re going to try and come at me.
“We have Ashley (Cole) and other guys on the left side who are more well-known players. We need to be better.”
Smith said he was confident the team will respond in a positive manner.
“We’re disappointed right now,” he said. “But it’s a long season and the guys are trying to stay strong.”
