CARSON, Calif. – In late summer, LA Galaxy had the most potent attack in Major League Soccer and now with the team’s season on the line, LA must rediscover that attacking prowess.
During the team’s 10-game unbeaten run from late-August to early October, the Galaxy scored a remarkable 31 goals—a little less than half of the side’s overall total of 69—as they clawed their way back into the Supporters’ Shield chase.
Since then, however, the offensive firepower that the Galaxy displayed in the late summer months has gone missing. Winless in their last four—including their Western Conference Semifinals first leg with Real Salt Lake that ended in a scoreless draw—the Galaxy have scored just three times since their unbeaten run was snapped.
This disturbing trend ahead of their decisive second leg with Real Salt Lake on Sunday leads to one question: Are the Galaxy in a slump?
“I guess the numbers don’t lie, right?” posited defender Omar Gonzalez. “It’s on us to make sure that we don’t think about that and go back to our winning ways on Sunday. We know that we can be great and it’s time for us to turn it on.
“The only difference in how we’ve been playing is that we haven’t been scoring. It just takes one goal for us to kind of switch it. If we can get that one goal on Sunday, maybe the first goal, then maybe that will turn things around for us.”
It’d help if that goal came from LA’s three leading goal scorers: Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane or Gyasi Zardes, all of whom have not found the back of the net in a month. While Keane has made only two appearances for the Galaxy since his last goal on Oct. 4 due to international duty and injury, the two Americans have been unable to find the back of the net since LA’s Sept. 28 4-0 drubbing of the New York Red Bulls.
While the production has dropped lately between the Galaxy’s big three, the competition has done them no favors. In their final three regular season games against FC Dallas and Seattle Sounders FC (twice), the Galaxy saw their shots on goal drop each time.
“We’re getting far less opportunities to shoot and I think that is a major reason why we’ve struggled,” Zardes said.
Against Dallas, LA managed five shots but in their two matches against Seattle, the number dropped from two in the home leg to just one on the road. During their first leg against RSL, LA notched just one shot on goal and three shots in total, which was their lowest mark of the 2014 campaign.
“We’ve just played four playoff games in a row against teams that have taken a fairly defensive approach—not to say that’s what RSL did,” said LA head coach Bruce Arena. “We’ll be fine. We just have to deal with it. We have to play a little bit better. We’re well aware of what we need to do.”
Only a win or a little luck from the penalty spot after a scoreless 120-minute draw will do for the Galaxy on Sunday against a Salt Lake side that shutout the Galaxy in their lone loss in 18 games at StubHub Center in 2014 across all competitions.
Aside from the blemish to start to season, the Galaxy have steamrolled all comers at home with 45 goals scored and a 13-0-4 record in both league and CONCACAF Champions League play.
Will that home cooking be enough to awaken the offense and extend their season? The Galaxy certainly believe so.
“It helps because our home field is so big and we have a lot of room to work with,” said Zardes. “There are no concerns from us [about a scoring drought] because we have opportunities to score and we just have to capitalize on those opportunities. We’re going for the win.”
Added Arena, “We know Salt Lake has played well here, so it’s going to be a difficult game. We feel good about being at home and being in a position where we have to win.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and reach him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com .
