KANSAS CITY, Kan. – If the LA Galaxy are going to repeat as MLS Cup champions, they’ll have to take the long road to the title.
The LA Galaxy closed the 2015 regular season with a whimper as they tumbled down to the fifth seed in the Western Conference after falling 2-1 to Sporting Kansas City on Sunday.
The performance caps a moribund month for Los Angeles, who were in first place in the league as late as September 28 only to go 0-2-1 down the home stretch. The loss means that the Galaxy will travel to take on Seattle Sounders FC in a knockout round game on Wednesday at CenturyLink Field.
As frustrating as the result in Kansas City was for the Galaxy, the team understands that they only have themselves to blame for their late season swoon.
“If we can’t win our last two games, then we deserve to be in the play-in game. It is what it is,” Bruce Arena said. “We had opportunities to position ourselves better. This is where we are, and that’s fine. We’ll go to Seattle and be ready to play.”
Against Sporting Kansas City, the Galaxy started off well as they dealt with Sporting’s pressure early. Sporting controversially broke through in the 38th minute, however, when defender Kevin Ellis scored off a deflection despite being shown offside on video replays.
Down a goal, it was up to Robbie Keane to play the savior once again as he gave the Galaxy life when he chipped Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia for the equalizer in the dying moments of the first half.
Once the second half began, the Galaxy were by the more active side, but it was Sporting who found the winner in the 65th minute. Benny Feilhaber was the catalyst as he executed a darting run through the Galaxy defense before finding Dom Dwyer for the goal.
“We need to play together,” said defender A.J. DeLaGarza. “We need to back each other up and be there for one another. It hasn’t been there. I think tonight it was there for the most part.”
Although the Galaxy may have improved upon their showing a week earlier in Portland, LA are well aware that they’ll need to be better for Wednesday’s decisive Knockout Round game in Seattle.
“These are the games that you want to be a part of,” said Omar Gonzalez. “You win, or you go home. It’s as simple as that. Everyone in that locker room wants it. We all want to get to the next round. We all want to play another game in front of our fans. It’s going to take a lot of grit, but Bruce is going to get everyone ready.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at www.LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com.