Top Stories

Galaxy settles for rain-soaked draw with Revs

610x (1)
 

BY ADAM SERRANO

CARSON, CALIF — Playing through an uncharacteristic Southern California rainstorm, the New England Revolution drew the LA Galaxy, 1-1 on a rain-soaked field at the Home Depot Center.

Sharlie Joseph gave the Revolution the lead just three minutes into the match to put the Galaxy on the back foot before Galaxy midfielder Juninho scored his second goal of the season to level the score. Los Angeles dominated for wide stretches of the match, but time and time again was unable to beat Revs goalkeeper Matt Reis for a second time.

The New England defense and the soaked pitch were not the only things that hindered the Galaxy, which saw three goals whistled off for various reasons. Despite the conditions and the officiating, the Galaxy felt that it was certainly two points lost. 

"The conditions were good enough for us to win the game going away,' said Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena. 'The conditions were difficult, but we made them more difficult by conceding that goal in the early going, I think we showed a lot of character in the way we responded and pushed forward to win try and win the game."

It only took three minutes for New England to take the lead when a failed clearance by Chris Birchall ended up on the foot of Marko Perovic, who whipped in a cross into the area. Joseph was able to execute a fine move around Galaxy defender Leonardo and head in the ball for the first goal. After conceding early, the Galaxy began to dominate possession with New England attempting to bunker for the result. 

Los Angeles was unlucky not to equalize in the 16th minute when Mike Magee was ruled to have fouled Matt Reis on a ball that the goalkeeper was unable to handle. The Galaxy finally equalized in the 39th minute when the Brazilian fired in a shot from about 20 yards out that caught Reis out of position. The goal was Juninho's second of the season. 

As the Galaxy pressed forward, L.A. attackers were consistantly unable to finish with the conditions as well as a stiff New England defense proving decisive. The news wasn't entirely positive for New England, who lost serbian midfielder Marko Perovic to a right hamstring strain early in the first half. Through all the conditions, it was an accomplishment for the Revolution to steal a point on the road.

While the Revolution savored the result, for the Galaxy, it was a chance lost. With a series of chances on goal and out shooting the Revoultion by 7 to 1 for shots on goal, it was difficult to have dropped points. In particular, it was the called foul by Magee on Reis that proved difficult to digest with Landon Donovan going as far as to claim that it was "not a foul" after the match. 

"We certainly scored enough goals to win the game," said Donovan. "But unfortunately, it's not just the other team that you're playing against sometimes so it's unfortunate, but we also could have done better with our chances."

The Galaxy was able to have Juan Pablo Angel return to action after missing the first match due to an illness. The forward appeared active during his 27 minutes of action and nearly scored a goal before being ruled offside during stoppage time. In addition to Angel making his debut, Galaxy first round draft pick Paolo Cardozo also went 27 minutes in his first action of 2011. 

Los Angeles is now 1-0-1 on the season and will travel to Rio Tinto to face Real Salt Lake. Los Angeles will do so without Donovan, who will depart for the U.S. national team camp on Monday. The Revolution returns home to Foxboro to take on D.C. for its home opener on the 26th. 

Comments

  1. Donovan was right. It was bunker city for NE. But it was Arena that made the mistake in the gameplan by starting the awful Barrett over Angel. The condition of the field in the second half made it difficult to put one in. If the field was in decent shape, JPA would have had a brace. The rookie Cardozo looks like the missing piece to LA’s midfield….the kid has game.

    Reply
  2. At this point, the Revolution aren’t skilled enough to be an attacking team. I’m not sure that they were sitting back at all—that is just their version of offense until they get on the same page and keep more than 20% possession.

    Reply
  3. Yes, I agree. The Galaxy are a better team than the Revs. I think Donovan was expressing frustration about not getting the result he thought he deserved. Still, as a Revs fan, I don’t like hearing the best American player in the league (in my opinion) knock Steve Nicol’s coaching.

    Reply
  4. Thanks for playing “Using Google to Find the Worst Definition for an Idiom!” I love that game. Okay, next Idiom is “pot calling the kettle black.” Ignoring better, more accurate definitions is how you win. Go!

    Reply
  5. Well, it’s common for players of bigger clubs to disparage the desperate defensive strategies of smaller sides. New England generally will have to “park the bus” because of their low status and wage levels. Pity because of their long-past (for MLS) history, but there you have it. Look at Leeds or Wednesday.

    Still, LA should have done better. The top teams (as all the Brit cliche mongers admit) know how to “grind out a result” when they are not playing well.

    Reply
  6. A point’s a point. Seems like a smart strategy to me given the conditions on the pitch. Besides, the Galaxy have a reputation for giving away as many goals as they score.

    Reply
  7. Glad you’re an expert on sour grapes. Make any whine with them?

    Donovan acted like a bitch. He lost and talked trash about the opposition in a post-game interview. That’s also quite clear. He should keep his mouth shut and concentrate on playing better soccer.

    Reply
  8. First off, Donovan can say whatever he wants. Secondly, that’s not what sour grapes means. Sour grapes is pretending not to care about a subject when you really are envious or jealous the subject (kind of like your opinoins on the Galaxy and Beckham). Donovan is not envious of the bad call or the Revs — that seems quite clear. If you read the entire interview (or watch the freaking match), Donovan is correct in his assessment of the match.

    Reply
  9. Steve Nicol’s response to the Reis call seems valid to me: “Oh obviously [it was a foul], the referee gave it so it must have been,” said Revs coach Steve Nicol. “We’re looking at it as we got away with one. Last year we should have had a penalty in the 80th minute and not lost 1-0, sometimes you get them sometimes you don’t.”

    Reply
  10. Oh, I guess it was Juninho’ goal that was disallowed because the ref called Magee for a foul on Reis. I haven’t watched the game yet (but it’s on my DVR) so I don’t know if it was a bad call. Still, blaming a bad call for costing you a win is sour grapes.

    Reply
  11. LA should have won that game. The first disallowed goal was a clear goal, no one was offside or fouled. The second goal, again was a clear goal. Not only to mention the handball from the Revs player Soares. Slipping and sliding is understandable during the rain, but the ball hit his arm and elbow twice and should have been called. I’m not even an LA fan and I know doo-doo when I see it. Revs got lucky.

    Reply
  12. What’s up with Donovan talking s**t about Steve Nicol and the Revs? The Boston Globe quoted him saying, “I think their objective was pretty clear from the beginning… They had no intention of winning the game. That’s how we knew they were going to play, that’s how Steve Nicol-coached teams play…”

    I’m sure it was mostly sour grapes about Magee’s goal being disallowed, but his comments are way out of line.

    I think Landon should remember that he was playing a team that doesn’t have the league’s most expensive player on their roster. He should also remember that LA have not won the Cup in the four seasons that Beckham has been there. Disparaging the opposition’s game plan doesn’t help you win games.

    Reply

Leave a Comment