LA Galaxy 2, San Jose Earthquakes 3
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.
Scoring Summary:
LA – Hector Jimenez 1 (Chad Barrett 2, Juninho 1) 3’
LA – Mike Magee 1 (David Beckham 3) 73’
SJ – Steven Lenhart 5 (Marvin Chavez 5) 76’
SJ – Khari Stephenson 2 (Penalty Kick) 82’
SJ – Alan Gordon 4 (Jason Hernandez 1) 94+
Misconduct Summary:
SJ – Steven Lenhart (Yellow Card) 47’
LA – Bryan Gaul (Yellow Card) 55’
LA – Hector Jimenez (Red Card) 59’
LA – David Beckham (Yellow Card) 82’
SJ – Alan Gordon (Yellow Card) 95+
Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Brian Perk; Sean Franklin, Bryan Gaul, A.J. DeLaGarza, Todd Dunivant; Hector Jimenez (Sent Off 59’), Juninho (Michael Stephens 85’), David Beckham©, Mike Magee; Chad Barrett, Edson Buddle (Kyle Nakazawa 68’).
Subs Not Used: Bill Gaudette, Leonardo, Bryan Jordan, Marcelo Sarvas, Pat Noonan.
San Jose Earthquakes: Jon Busch, Steven Beitashour, Ike Opara, Jason Hernandez©, Justin Morrow; Sam Cronin (Khari Stephenson 66’), Rafael Baca (Marvin Chavez 74’), Simon Dawkins, Tressor Moreno; Sercan Guvensik (Alan Gordon 46’)
Subs Not Used: David Bingham, Ramiro Corrales, Brad Ring, Sam Garza.
Referee: Jair Marrufo
Referee’s Assistants: Frank Anderson and Adam Garner
4th Official: Elias Bazakos
Notes:
- With the loss, the Galaxy are now 3-7-2 on the season for 11 points. They remain in last place in the Western Conference, one point behind Portland and two points behind FC Dallas.
- The Galaxy are now winless in their last six games, going 0-4-2 in that time while being outscored 9-4. This is LA’s longest winless streak since a club record 12 game winless streak during the 2008 season.
- This was LA’s first loss at home to San Jose since they returned to MLS in 2008. Prior to tonight, the Galaxy had been 3-0-1 at home against the Earthquakes.
- Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena made five changes to the team that lost 1-0 to Chivas USA in the first leg of the SuperClasico on Saturday night. Chad Barrett, David Beckham, Edson Buddle and Bryan Gaul all returned to the starting lineup while Hector Jimenez made his first start of the season on the right side of midfield. They replaced David Junior Lopes, who was suspended for the game after being sent off against Chivas USA and Landon Donovan, who is with the U.S. National Team, while Kyle Nakazawa, Pat Noonan and Marcelo Sarvas all started the game on the bench.
- The Galaxy were without Andrew Boyens and Omar Gonzalez, each of who are on the Disabled List. Boyens underwent sports hernia surgery on Wednesday while Gonzalez continues to recover from knee surgery.
- With the changes, the Galaxy have now made at least one change to their starting lineup in every game that they have played this season. In only one of those games did LA make fewer than two changes.
- Josh Saunders missed his sixth straight game while completing the MLS Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health program, though he did rejoin the club in training on Monday.
- Hector Jimenez scored the first goal of his MLS career just three minutes into the game. He was making just his second start since being drafted by the club last year.
- Jimenez’s goal was LA’s fastest of the season. Prior to that goal, they had not scored inside the opening 21 minutes of a game.
- This was the first time that LA had taken a 1-0 lead since April 21 and it was the first time that the Galaxy scored in the first half of game.
- Jimenez was sent off later in the game after a foul on Steven Beitashour. With the red card, Jimenez became the first Galaxy player to score a goal and be sent off in the same regular season game since Carlos Ruiz did almost nine years ago on May 24, 2003 in a 2-1 loss at Kansas City.
- Chad Barrett and Juninho were each credited with assists on the goal.
- The assist was the first of the season for Juninho, who had a career-best four last season.
- Barrett’s assist was his second of the year and his seventh since joining the Galaxy.
- Despite playing down a man, the Galaxy doubled their lead in the 73rd minute when Mike Magee scored his first goal of the season.
- Magee has now scored in each of his last two games against San Jose.
- David Beckham was credited with his team-best third assist on the goal. That was his first assist since March 18.
- That goal was the first scored by the Galaxy while playing a man down since Edson Buddle scored in the 87th minute of a 1-1 draw with Kansas City on May 30, 2009. Gregg Berhalter had been sent off 28 minutes prior to the goal with the score tied 0-0.
- San Jose cut the lead to 2-1 in the 76th minute when Steven Lenhart headed home a Marvin Chavez corner kick.
- Six minutes later, the Earthquakes equalized through a Khari Stephenson penalty kick. The penalty was called following a David Beckham handball inside the box.
- The Galaxy have now conceded a penalty in each of their last two games. LA last allowed a penalty in back-to-back games in May 2008.
- The penalty kick was the fourth conceded by LA this season, with all four coming in the last seven games.
- Brian Perk has now faced a penalty in three of the four regular season games that he has started in his MLS career.
- Alan Gordon scored the eventual game-winning goal in the fourth minute of second half stoppage time, heading home a long ball from Jason Hernandez. He has now scored in the 88th minute or later in each of the last three games.
- Gordon now has four goals in three career games against the Galaxy, including two in second half stoppage time.
- That goal was the first that LA have allowed in second half stoppage time since September 5, 2011 when Omar Bravo converted a late penalty for Sporting Kansas City, giving his team a 2-2 draw.
- This was the first time that the Galaxy lost a game in which they scored two goals or more since August 1, 2010 when they fell behind 3-0 to Chicago and ended up losing 3-2.
- The Galaxy have now given up at least one goal in each of their 12 regular season games this year.
- LA had allowed exactly one goal in seven of their previous eight games before conceding three times tonight.
- David Beckham was booked for his handball that led to the penalty kick in the 81st minute. That is his fourth yellow card of the season, all of which have come in his last five games.
- A.J. DeLaGarza and Bryan Gaul started together in central defense. This was the sixth different center back pairing used by LA this season.
- Sean Franklin once again played the full 90 minutes for the Galaxy. He has started all 14 games that the Galaxy have played this season in all competitions and has played every minute of the club’s 12 regular season games. He is the only player on the club’s roster to do both.
- Juninho and Mike Magee each started and have played in all 12 regular season games that the club has played this year.
- Those three have also played in all 14 of LA’s games this year in all competitions.
- The attendance for tonight’s game was 16,512 at The Home Depot Center.
- The Galaxy will travel to Houston on Thursday ahead of Saturday’s game against the Dynamo at BBVA Compass Stadium. This will be the Galaxy’s first-ever game at the new stadium, which opened earlier this month. The game is scheduled to kick off at 11:30 a.m. (PT) and will be shown live on NBC Sports Network.
Quotes:
LA Galaxy Head Coach Bruce Arena
On the red card to Hector Jimenez:
“The red card is, I think, an appropriate call. I think it’s a dangerous tackle, maybe not over the ball, but a straight leg and studs up, probably appropriate.”
On the result:
“There’s still no excuse for us to not at least get a point out of this game. That’s disappointing because it was really a very good effort on our part and at 2-0 things looked real good. Certainly inexperience and fatigue set in and some poor play tactically.
“We played awful well tonight not to get something out of this game. It’s a shame. You make your own breaks and tonight we were positioned to get three points and really turned that game over.”
On Bryan Gaul’s performance:
“He played very well, but a young player, as he got tired he made some mistakes. He was marking Lenhart on the corner kick goal. At the end he’s on the ground too much, he has to stay stronger. We just made too many mistakes, but his performance was encouraging.”
On moving forward from the loss:
“I think it’s a character test. I think it’s a challenge in leadership. I think you’re a good leader when things aren’t going well; it’s real easy to lead when things are going great. We’ll see the character of our players and our coaching staff.”
LA Galaxy Midfielder David Beckham
On the team’s performance and the result:
“It’s obviously disappointing, but I think the effort was there tonight. I think we battled the whole game so it’s obviously a difficult one to lose. But I think overall we showed a lot of character tonight. I think if we had played like this against Chivas we would have won the game.”
“It’s another loss, obviously it’s disappointing for us, but I think overall the character and the way we played was a plus tonight.”
On losing the two-goal lead:
“Not devastating, but I think obviously it’s disappointing just because we were in control of the game. And obviously when you go 2-0 up, maybe we should have kept the ball a little bit more or put it more into their half, but it’s obviously disappointing.”
On the red card and the officiating:
“It could go either way. Obviously he sent him off, but I think there’s a chance there that he wouldn’t have sent him off. Unfortunately, we had someone in control of the game tonight that, every time that we’ve had him, you know he wants to be the star.”
On his handball:
“I just turned my back and my arms were as close to me as they could be, they weren’t outstretched. Yeah, it hit my hand, but it could have gone either way.”
On the current run of results:
“When you’re on a run like this, sometimes you need a little bit of a break and a little bit of luck, it’s hard to say it, but I think we haven’t had that in certain games and especially today. We’ll be fine, we’ll bounce back. It’s good to have a game, a tough game, at the weekend so soon, so hopefully we’ll be good.”
LA Galaxy Midfielder Hector Jimenez
On the result:
“Yeah, it’s unfortunate I had to put my teammates in a tough position for the last 30 minutes. They battled, but it’s always tough being a man down.”
On the overall game:
“It felt good. First two minutes of my first start, it definitely builds confidence during the game and like I said I felt good, I felt like I was doing good and unfortunately it turned into a position at the end there with the red card.”
On being called on a red card:
“I talked to the guys and they said it was a red card and it’s a bad tackle. Unfortunately, things happen.”
LA Galaxy Defender Todd Dunivant
On the overall performance:
“Again, we just let ourselves down at a critical moment. We had a very good performance, I think everyone was feeling great after the first 45 (minutes) and we came out and obviously the red card changes the game a little bit, but I thought we responded well to it—got a goal. We did everything we needed to do and then get a corner, get a goal after that and suddenly their on our heels a little bit, so it makes it difficult and giving up the goal in stoppage time is kind of the back breaker.”
On moving forward:
“There was a lot of head scratching going on. But it is important for us to know that we gotta learn from our mistakes and build on our performance we had, because it was a good performance. And now you look at this game compared to our last game and I think our performance was night and day. We have to build on that, we have to build on that and learn from our mistakes and close out the game.”
LA Galaxy Defender Sean Franklin
On the overall game:
“Communication wasn’t there. The ball was sort of in and players are running in and we we’re trying to talk but it was just miscommunication. I think all his goals have been like that in the last minutes of games. So, we’re frustrated but we played well tonight. I think it was one of our better games. First 45 we were outstanding and we have to go off that and take it in Houston on Saturday.
On the performance in the first half:
“For me this is the first game we actually enjoyed playing the first half. Our team did well, we battled, we tackled, first in everything—we were great. Then the second half we get a red card and kind of weren’t smart from then on today in the game, but that’s something we gotta learn from and get better with.”
On the red card to Hector Jimenez:
“I told him, don’t beat himself up. He had a great game, a great 60 minutes. It’s kind of one of those things, the refs are serious about tackles and stuff to kind of work your way out of it. But even though you got the ball, cleats up, it’s still a dirty display and the refs have to make the call. It’s unfortunate that he was out of the game because he had a good first half.”
San Jose Earthquakes Head Coach Frank Yallop
On showing the resolve at the end of games:
“I think when you bring in a guy like Alan Gordon, who has the fighter’s resolve, he doesn’t give up. He is not disappointed if someone doesn’t quite serve him the ball or doesn’t quite play it up to him in the right manner. The Galaxy fans who know him, know that. I’ve said it before that there are not many better players than Alan when fully healthy. He is a really good target man, good with his feet, good in the air.”
On the rivalry with the LA Galaxy:
“I don’t look at it as a rivalry, I think you guys want it to be a rivalry, it is just three points for us. I think the rivalry ended in 2005, and the LA Galaxy have earned the right to be at the top of the league, winning the title last year. We are still trying to build our franchise, trying to get into playoffs spots and get what we had in ‘03 or ‘05. To me it was about overcoming a tough opponent, but a few things had to go our way.”
On how the red card changed his team’s strategy:
“It changed my view of what we needed to do. We went through the back and added another midfielder, slipped Simon inside and it gave us more width. Obviously the late substitution was great one. Alan did a great job, and adding Marvin late into the game was great. Marvin only had 25-30 minutes in him because he had been out three weeks with the hamstring and we didn’t want to risk him but we wanted to give him enough time to make sure he impacted the game. And if you look at the game I think he impacted it quite well.”
San Jose Earthquakes Forward Alan Gordon
On the game-winning goal:
“I just was following up the play. I think there may have been a little bit of hesitation on their part and I was just seeing the play through. They hesitated, I didn’t, I finished it. Forwards get lucky sometimes, I got lucky, who cares. I put it in, end of story, period.”
On scoring a late dramatic goal three weeks in a row:
“We take it one game at a time, the old cliché, but it feels amazing. I don’t have any grudges against LA or anything, it doesn’t feel any more special here than somewhere else. We want points, we got points, so we feel good right now.”
On the key to San Jose’s best start and being in first place:
“We’ve got character and we are showing it game in and game out. We never say die with the characters on this team. We have a deep bench, we’ve got guys pushing guys, the guys on the bench are hungry to play which keeps the guys on the field on top of their game. The subs that get in are doing well, working their butt off.”
San Jose Earthquakes Forward Steven Lenhart
On the fight of the Earthquakes coming from behind again:
“We love to fight. We are committed to the 90 minutes plus. From the 11 guys on the field to the rest of the team there is no drop off in committing to fight and score and work for the team, it is fun to be a part of.”
On playing with Alan Gordon in the second half:
“He is a beast. I think we work well together. We battle and try to keep the ball up for our team to come play with us. He is fun to play with, I respect the guy a ton, and he has scored some big goals for us. On top of all that he is a great guy who works hard for the team and has been fun getting to know.”
On scoring six goals in the 80th minute or beyond:
“We just like to make the game exciting. Goonies never say die. I think we are prepared this year. We have put in the work in training and we like each other, we show up every day and we all know we are committing to the 90 minutes, to play together and work for each other. It may not look that pretty but we know we are going to get the most out of our guys at the end of the day.”
