CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy are coming off a nine-day road trip in which they lost two of three games, including a last-minute, 1-0 heartbreaker to the New York Red Bulls last Sunday. In the month of May, the club is just 1-3-0, taking just three of a possible 12 points to slip seven points behind FC Dallas at the top of the Western Conference.
Galaxy coaches and players acknowledge the team has had its share of problems of late, but they also caution to not go so far as to call their current malaise a slump.
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View from the Booth
“Everything in L.A. seems to be a little blown out of proportion,” midfielder Mike Magee said as the two-time defending MLS Cup champions prepared to take on Seattle Sounders FC on Sunday night at The Home Depot Center (8 p.m., ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, 1150 AM, 1330 AM, LIVECHAT). “When we lose a couple of games things get a bit dramatic. That’s just the reality when you have as much success as we do and don’t go through slumps often.
“Any time we lose it’s a letdown, but we’ve shown the ability to go out and act upon it and win games we shouldn’t. We don’t expect to ever lose, let alone lose consecutive games.”
The perfect solution to their recent problems – remember, don’t say slump -- comes in the form of the Sounders (4-3-3, 15 points), arguably the hottest team in MLS. The Sounders are coming off two resounding home victories, snapping FC Dallas’ nine-game unbeaten streak with a 4-2 win last weekend and claiming their first home win of the year a week earlier by dismantling the San Jose Earthquakes by a score of 4-0. Seattle hasn’t lost an MLS game since a 2-1 defeat at Real Salt Lake on March 30 and are 4-0-2 in their last six league games, including a 2-0-1 mark on the road in that time.
Eddie Johnson, who set a club record with 14 goals in 2012, has four goals and Nigerian international Obafemi Martins, who is still adapting to life in MLS after signing with the Sounders in March, has three, as does Lamar Neagle.
“They’re dangerous as hell,” Magee said. “The last two games they’ve scored four goals and created about 10 chances a game. I’d say right now they’re not the team you want to play at this moment in the form they’re in.”
Defender Todd Dunivant agreed with Magee in saying the Galaxy (5-4-2, 17 points), who will be losing defender Omar Gonzalez and striker Robbie Keane to international duty after Sunday’s game, aren’t playing as badly as some so-called experts might think.
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“We’re fairly encouraged,” he said. “It was disappointing to lose in the fashion we did with the late goal (against New York), but we played well. It was a fun game to be a part of. A high-quality game, one of those you really relish as a player.
“(The recent slide) certainly is not up to our standards, but we’ve set ourselves up a lot better than last year. We’re anxious to get back at it. It’s important for us to really push this week and get a good result against Seattle. We need to do well against them and they’ve been on quite a streak lately.
“We’re anxious to get at them and we have another opportunity to get it right.”
