I apologize for being AWOL for parts of the last 2 weeks; real life (and illness) have reared their ugly heads. I promise to do better than Angel in the second half of the season…though he might not actually be here to finish out the season…more on that later.
With several players out injured and Landon and Donovan facing their own issues, it seemed that the injuries would stack up against the Galaxy and become the dominant story line for this game. Mike Magee, AJ De LaGarza, Sean Franklin, and Chad Barrett were all out with hamstring strain, facial injury, hip flexor and a right knee sprain respectively. On top of that, Beckham is still fighting his back injury and Landon has being in the upright and off position over the last two months for both club and country. (ok, maybe a little harsh…but still)
So how does 2-1 to the Galaxy sound?
The team continues to find a way to grind out results even with a mismatch of a back 4 and questionable scoring prowess, which is a credit to the Galaxy depth. However it wasn’t a cakewalk as the Galaxy were somewhat bullied by Chicago’s superior speed for most of the first half. The first threat for the Galaxy came early on a Beckham corner in the 2nd minute that Gregg Berhalter got a head on but ended up on the wrong side of the post. After that, the teams exchanged several goal-scoring chances, but Chicago seemed to be getting the lion’s share of good chances. Chicago definitely brought the fight early, using Dominic Oduro speed to pressure and kept the Galaxy back four off-balance. The half ended scoreless but the Galaxy actually felt like they had goals in them for the first time in what seems like forever.
The second half started much like the end of the first with Chicago pushing the pace and being the attacking team. The backline seemed unsure in the opening minutes and that forced Saunders to make a couple of long-range saves that definitely were questionable. However, The Galaxy were able to relieve themselves of the pressure and set up another deadball situation for David Beckham in the 58th minute, who teed up a great curving shot that Landon Donovan put away with his head. That marked his first goal in over almost 2 months in MLS, his 9th overall this season, and Beckham’s 8th assist of the year.
As the chants and cheers died down, the Fire were right back in the game on a defensive blunder by Berhalter that allowed Cristian Nazarit to head in a perfect Patrick Nyako cross past Saunders in the 62th minute. However, that scoreline only lasted 4 more minutes as Galaxy had another corner kick put in by David Beckham that went straight into the back for the net for the Galaxy’s second goal of the game. The low driven ball wasn’t picked up by anyone and easily made it into the back of the net for Beckham’s second goal of the season.
After that, Chicago had several shots on goal that just wouldn’t translate into a goal. Marco Pappa missed what seemed to be a sure equalizer in the 77th minute, but that was skied into the seats. The final action of the night was a horribly-timed tackle by Chris Birchall on Patrick Nyako in the 92nd minute that saw Chris pick up a yellow and the Fire’s Josip Mikulic a red for interference. After the dust from the fiasco settled, the Galaxy claimed their first win in July with a 2-1 win.
(image courtesy of Robert Mora/LA Galaxy)
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