RSS
Home
Galaxy flounder while Donovan and U.S. soar
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
(AP Photo/Paul Thomas)
If you’re a Galaxy fan, you would be excused for having a tinge of sadness with the U.S. Men’s National Team’s advancement to the championship game of the Confederations Cup. Because as exciting as it might be to see the national team shine on the global stage, it also means that Landon Donovan won’t be available for the Galaxy’s game on Sunday night against Houston.
At least there is some good news on that front: Bob Bradley has decided to use the Gold Cup in July as a proving ground for younger players, and he’s left Donovan off of the U.S. roster. This means that Donovan will be with the team during a critical stretch of games in July.
But will it matter? As evidenced by the team’s 2-1 defeat against MLS bottom feeders San Jose last Saturday, the Galaxy have regressed since their surprising road victory against Toronto FC a few weeks ago – their first game without Donovan. Since then, they’ve lost at home to Real Salt Lake and on the road to San Jose. And while not all of the problems can be blamed on Donovan’s absence, it’s clear that missing their best player and captain has hurt the side.
So almost all of the work that the Galaxy put into climbing from the MLS basement into playoff contention is gone, and with the Western Conference leading Dynamo coming into town on Sunday, things could get worse in a hurry.
The problems are two-fold: offense and defense. (Just a little joke, but also sadly sort of true.) The Galaxy took one shot against San Jose. Granted, it went in, but it’s pretty difficult to score multiple goals if you only take one shot.
And the defense – which had performed admirably for the early part of the season – is starting to show signs of fatigue. Without Eddie Lewis (sitting because of a red card suspension), the Galaxy defense looked confused and flat against San Jose. As Nick Green of the Los Angeles Daily News points out, Gregg Berhalter has been beaten badly in each of the last two games, and picked up two red cards this season. Not good.
Having Donovan on the field means more than just his physical contributions. Donovan brings cohesion and confidence to the team, and a feeling that a special play could happen at any time. Without him, the team looks average at best, and always as if they are waiting for help to arrive.
Related Articles:
Comments
The Los Angeles Galaxy moved to add depth to their selection of strikers on Wednesday by acquiring Alecko Eskandarian from their Home Depot Center …
The Los Angeles Galaxy accomplished something against the Houston Dynamo on Sunday night that the U.S. National Team couldn’t in their …
