The LA Galaxy somehow managed to manage their best showing all year and, in what was a microcosm of the season thus far, have nothing to show for it. LA went up early in what was their best half of football this year thanks to Hector Jimenez’s early strike in the 3rd minute. The Galaxy surged ahead, seizing the game and taking the pressure to San Jose in what looked like the Galaxy that everyone expected the team to be now. The passing looked solid, the movement off the ball was great and LA scored first for the first time in what seems like forever.
The Galaxy looked like a team truly inspired to win and were rewarded for their efforts with another goal, despite being short-handed. Goal scorer Jimenez, who put in a good shift thus far, was shown a red card on a studs-up tackle on Steven Beitashou in the 59th minute. The sending-off of Jimenez seemed to do nothing to shake the spirit of the Galaxy as David Beckham and Mike Magee combined on a beautiful counter-attack that saw Mike Magee round the keeper and earn the Galaxy a 2-0 lead in the 73th while still being down 10 men.
Being two goals up would seemingly be a lock for the LA of old and a promise of 3 points seemed very much within reach. Last year’s Galaxy probably would have snuffed the life out of the game and walked away with 3 points.
However, it only seemed a matter of time before Lady Luck would take a holiday and the Galaxy brought down to their current reality. Steven Lenhart finally opened the scoring for San Jose in the 76th minute as an instant response to the Magee goal and a David Beckham handball penalty that Khari Stephenson took and finished saw the beginning of the end of the chance for points for short-handed LA. The dagger was twisted that much more when the eventual winner came off the head of former Galaxy player Alan Gordon 2 mins into stoppage time. The loss leaves LA on a 2 game losing streak and still in the cellar of the Western Conference. They play next Saturday in Houston against the Dynamo before the international break and a US Open matchup against Carolina at Railhawks Park in Charlotte.
(image courtesy of Getty Images)
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