TUCSON, Ariz.— LA Galaxy lost to the New York Red Bull, 2-1, at Kino Stadium on Friday, but advanced to the Desert Diamond Cup championship game. Even though the Galaxy lost, and finished in a three-way tie with New York and Real Salt Lake, Marcelo Sarvas’ free kick goal in the 79th minute gave LA the edge in the tiebreaker, which was goal differential.
Sarvas, DeLaGarza discuss match
The Desert Diamond Cup championship will be played Saturday night at Kino Stadium at 7 p.m (live stream on www.lagalaxy.com/gamedaylive). The Galaxy will take on the New England Revolution, who earlier in the night beat Salt Lake 2-1 to extend their unbeaten streak here in Tucson to three games. New York will face Salt Lake in the third place match earlier in the day at 5 p.m.
The difference between playing in the championship game and third place game came down to Sarvas’ goal. The Brazilian’s cheeky free kick gave LA a goal deferential of zero, and sent New York’s goal differential to minus-2. Salt Lake also finished with a goal differential of minus-2.
Despite the way the game ended, LA did not start off the game on the right foot. Thirty minutes into the match, the Galaxy fell behind in the scoreboard when Kenny Cooper got to the end of a cross from Connor Lade. Cooper’s one-timer was well placed and didn’t give Josh Saunders any time to react.
At halftime, the score remained.
HIGHLIGHTS: New York 2, LA 1
Galaxy made only one substitution for the start of the second half, Bryan Gaul came in for Sean Franklin, who went 45 minutes his first appearance in the Desert Diamond Cup.
LA’s second substitution of the game came on the offensive end, when Jack McBean replaced Adam Cristman in the 58th minute. But it was New York, and Thierry Henry, however, who got the second goal of the night. The Frenchman got his head to the end of a cross from Dane Richards to make it 2-0, putting the Galaxy’s chance of playing in the championship game in serious doubt.
Sarvas, who came on for David Beckham in the 66th minute, cleared up all tiebreaker scenarios with his strike to make it 2-1.
Saturday’s game will be LA’s last preseason game before heading to Toronto next week for the first leg of their 2011/12 CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal series against Toronto FC, Wednesday, March 7, at Rogers Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
New York 2, LA Galaxy 1
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium – Tucson, Ariz.
Scoring Summary:
NY – Kenny Cooper (Connor Lade, Teemu Tainio) 31’
NY – Thierry Henry (Dane Richards) 63’
LA – Marcelo Sarvas (Unassisted) 79’
Misconduct Summary:
NY – Stephen Keel (Yellow Card) 28’
LA – David Beckham (Yellow Card) 53’
Lineup:
LA Galaxy: Josh Saunders; Sean Franklin (Bryan Gaul 46’), Tommy Meyer, Andrew Boyens, A.J. DeLaGarza; Hector Jimenez (Pat Noonan 89’), David Beckham © (Marcelo Sarvas 66’), Juninho (Rafael Garcia 73’), Mike Magee (Chad Barrett 73’); Paolo Cardozo, Adam Cristman (Jack McBean 58’).
Subs Not Used: Brian Perk, J.T. Murray, Justin Davies, Kenney Walker.
Referee: Ismail Elfath
Referee's Assistants: Anthony Vasoli, Eduardo Mariscal
4th Official: Mark De Clonet
