Galaxy Keeps Hitting Bumps on the Road
So much for a first-place showdown to shake the Galaxy from its road funk.
Three days after an embarrassing loss to nine-man Colorado, the Galaxy felt better about itself Saturday but still wasted a chance to take over the lead in the Western Conference after a 1-0 loss to short-handed FC Dallas in front of an announced 11,044 in the Cotton Bowl.
Not counting a “road” win against Chivas USA, which shares the Home Depot Center with the Galaxy, Los Angeles is winless in its last 12 Major League Soccer regular-season games away from Carson.
“I think we’re dealing with this as well as we can,” Coach Steve Sampson said. “We haven’t lost hope in ourselves, nor have we lost confidence.”
But the team did lose out on an opportunity to leap-frog Dallas (8-2-3) in the standings. Dallas, which played without injured forwards Eddie Johnson and Carlos Ruiz, increased its lead to four points over the Galaxy (7-4-2), which was without midfielders Guillermo “Pando” Ramirez and Paulo Nagamura.
In the absence of two of Dallas’ top goal scorers, it was backup forward Roberto Mina, who had played in only five games before Saturday, stepping up and scoring in the 32nd minute after a Galaxy giveaway.
Defender Tyrone Marshall had the ball taken away near midfield to spark a breakaway by Mina, who pushed a shot past on-rushing goalkeeper Kevin Hartman.
Still, it seemed the Galaxy would respond, especially after a flurry of chances in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Among them was a deflected shot by Herculez Gomez, a point-blank shot by Todd Dunivant off a corner kick, and a goal that was called back on a header by Landon Donovan, who was ruled offside.
“Wednesday night I was angry and disappointed,” Sampson said of the team’s 1-0 loss to Colorado. “But tonight, even though I was still disappointed, I was very proud of our effort. We were able to connect tonight.
“Dallas is a team that tries to play. They didn’t sit back after they scored, and we created some good chances.”
Barrero reported from Los Angeles.
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Road weary
It has been 12 games and nearly a year since the Galaxy has won an MLS regular-season game away from the Home Depot Center, not since a 1-0 victory at Chicago on June 27, 2004. The streak:
*--* 2004 July 14 Colorado T, 0-0 July 17 D.C. United T, 1-1 July 24 Kansas City T, 2-2 Aug. 8 MetroStars L, 3-0 Sept. 4 Columbus L, 3-1 Sept. 18 Dallas L, 2-0 Sept. 25 San Jose T, 0-0 Oct. 16 Kansas City L, 1-0 2005 April 2 Columbus L, 3-0 May 14 Real Salt Lake L, 2-1 June 15 Colorado L, 1-0 June 18 Dallas L, 1-0
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