CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy’s offensive struggles continued in their latest defeat on Sunday.
The Galaxy were shutout for the third straight match and saw their winless run slump to 10 games in the club’s 3-0 home loss to the San Jose Earthquakes. Los Angeles’ scoreless streak presently stands at 331 minutes dating back to Ema Boateng’s tally in the sixth minute of their 3-1 defeat to Portland Timbers.
When told of the length of the team’s drought, Giovani dos Santos provided a glib response: “That’s a long time.”
Despite playing without Romain Alessandrini (personal issues) and with Jermaine Jones forced to the bench due to a toe issue, the Galaxy had their opportunities.
In the first half, in particular, LA played with their foot on the gas as Boateng and Dave Romney forced San Jose goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell to make clutch saves. It was Jonathan dos Santos that came closest in the 44th minute with a blast from distance that beat Tarbell only to rattle off the crossbar.
Dos Santos’ miss proved decisive as the Earthquakes scored moments later and never looked back. Even when the Galaxy appeared to have their luck change, everything went sour once again as a penalty on João Pedro was overturned early via Video Review early in the second half.
Sunday’s defeat to the Quakes not only extended the Galaxy’s unbeaten run to 10 games, but Los Angeles found themselves shutout in their fourth consecutive home match, setting a new ignominious club record.
“Like I said last week: if we didn’t have bad luck, we’d have no luck,” head coach Sigi Schmid remarked.
“We’re trying to get them to play with a little more intensity and concentration. We were unhappy to take the goal when we did. I think 25 percent of our goals have occurred in the last 15 minutes of a half. This is two games in a row that we’ve taken three goals right at the end of a half, and that’s just a lack of concentration, so we’ve got to improve that part of it. At times, I think we’re doing better, but every week we get faced with things that are nobody’s fault like Freakish injuries…when the trainer calls me I’m panicking.”
Los Angeles have a golden opportunity to right their ship offensively next week when they face off against a Colorado Rapids team that has conceded 38 times this season. As for how they break their scoring duck, Dos Santos admits that they just have to keep the faith.
“It’s difficult to say something right now. It’s a very bad situation to be in. We have to keep positive. As I said before, we’ll fight until the end. Our confidence is not the best right now, we have to trust in each other and fight until the end.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com.