This is one of these games that could represent turning points in the season – for both teams.
Will Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas have a job come Tuesday?
The final score was 3-2 Earthquakes, with the winner coming from Ryan Cochrane in the 89th minute.
While the timing of the goal must have felt like a knife in the gut to the now 6-8-5 Galaxy, the winner was no more than San Jose deserved.
The Galaxy chased the entire game with Steve Cronin’s failure to hold (yet again) two shots in quick succession leading to the deciding goal.
Virtually all the familiar Galaxy foibles were on display in fact:
*A failure to play a complete (or even half) a game.
*Few offensive ideas (and can Alan Gordon get any slower?).
*A static defense with Greg Vanney culpable on the opening goal, Chris Klein (did he slip?) and Sean Franklin at fault for the second and half the team scrambling to no avail to keep out the chaotic third.
*And a failure to close down attackers, especially a rampant Darren Huckerby, who scored on a superb individual effort just before half time and also created the fine first goal after just four minutes by Arturo Alvarez.
The Galaxy, as unlikely as it seemed, came back two minutes later via a Landon Donovan header from a David Beckham cross, while Edson Buddle supplied the 76th minute equalizer, a lovely cutback leaving two defenders sprawled in his wake before he buried a 19-yard shot.
Galaxy PR folks indicate they’ll call me back in an hour or so from the reserve game that’s on this afternoon, so hopefully I can talk to a player or two then.
A couple of notes while I wait for a call back:
*Eduardo Dominguez, the new Argentine defender who is the replacement for the waived Abel Xavier and then proceeded to have a nightmare in his debut against Dallas, was benched.
*Ex-Chivas USA midfielder Mike Munoz (who played all of five minutes with the team, but is perhaps best known for his girlfriend – a producer on Ryan Seacrest’s show – waging a campaign to get him re-signed) was on the Galaxy bench.
*Donovan’s goal was his league-leading 13th of the campaign; Buddle’s was his 12th and he’s second in the league in scoring.
Back with more later.
Updated:
Guess not.
“No one really wants to talk right now,” said a team spokesman in response to my request for an interview with a player or two.
I don’t blame them.
Updated:
David Beckham in the post-game press conference:
“It was disappointing to lose right at the end, but I think that what we can take from this game is that it was 100 percent better than last game. We showed some character. We fought back so that’s what we need to take from this game. It’s always disappointing to lose any game especially when you lose in the last couple of minutes.”
Highlights:
More on the Galaxy’s ultimatum and the possibility of signing defender Cory Gibbs here.
