BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – The LA Galaxy head home from their weeklong cross-country road trip with a sour taste in their mouths.
The Galaxy snagged a 2-2 come-from-behind draw with the Chicago Fire on Wednesday to salvage a point from their road swing. Four days removed from their disjointed performance in a 1-0 loss to New York City FC, the Galaxy were sloppy once again against the Fire but a second-half goal from Giovani dos Santos solidified a point in the Windy City.
After starting the road swing with high aspirations, the Galaxy head back to Los Angeles looking to right the ship at home.
“We weren’t good enough. We have to be honest that we didn’t play well enough,” defender Jelle Van Damme told LAGalaxy.com. “We [traveled] with the idea of taking a minimum of four out of six points and we didn’t do it. We didn’t do enough. We have to switch our minds and make sure that we win on Saturday.”
Wednesday’s showing left much to be desired as Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena’s side struggled once again to create chances and were let off the hook by Chicago's poor finishing.
The Galaxy are now winless in their last six games, with their last victory coming a month ago on July 23 against the Portland Timbers. With the Galaxy heading into the final stretches of the season in the middle of the pack in a competitive Western Conference, Dos Santos admits that the time is now to turn the season around.
“It was a tough road trip. We played two difficult games. We need to look at the video to see what we need to improve and look forward,” dos Santos said. “We didn’t get good results in our last two games, but everyone is working hard. We know we have a great team, the chemistry needs to improve every day, and we’ve got to work very hard in training over the next week.”
As frustrating as the recent spell has been, the Galaxy will have an immediate opportunity to hit the reset button on their season when they host Vancouver Whitecaps FC Saturday. The match will give the Galaxy the chance to put their road swing in the rearview and focus on the playoff push.
“We’re struggling a little bit over the last few weeks with our results. We just need to get back on track as soon as possible,” Van Damme said. “Saturday is a good game to change things.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog atLAGalaxy.com/Insiderand contact him atLAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com.
