Half Time: Red Bulls-Galaxy
Galaxy 1 New York 0
The Galaxy have only their second lead of the season - the first lasted all of 62 seconds against Colorado - and it came after a dubious penalty decision created by the quick-thinking Landon Donovan.
Donovan appeared to deliberately drill the ball against the arm of defender Seth Stammler to win the penalty kick he then promptly converted in the 39th minute. The linesman's flag shot up right away, but referee Abiodun Okulaja took longer to think about it before likely deciding that Stammler shouldn't have been holding his arm so high in the first place. But it still seemed a case of ball striking arm and not vice versa.
Any other views of it out there?
The direct play - neither team seemed to possess a defensive midfield - led to the Galaxy having the better of the attacking opportunities, but they couldn't convert from the run of play.
A cross from a corner kick that pinged off Kevin Goldthwaite's foot at speed provoked a spectacular save from Donovan Rickets - a little too flashy I can almost hear fans of his former club, Bradford City, saying - and was New York's best chance of the opening 45 minutes.
So far, the run of play is a pretty fair representation of these two clubs' records.
About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
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