Photos by ISIphotos.com
Maybe it was fitting that Ryan Cochrane, a player Alexi Lalas helped draft with the original San Jose Earthquakes four years ago, scored San Jose’s game-winning goal on Sunday. Better yet, maybe it was more fitting to see Frank Yallop celebrate a victory over the manager he was dumped for, a manager whose job is in jeopardy.
The Los Angeles Galaxy’s 3-2 loss to San Jose on Sunday wasn’t just a bad loss, it was a heart-breaking, last-minute defeat that leaves the Galaxy winless in its last six matches. How long has it been since LA won a match? Consider that when the Galaxy next takes the field it will be Aug. 14th, exactly TWO MONTHS since the team beat San Jose, 3-0, at MaCafee Coliseum.
TWO MONTHS! (insert voice of Henry Hill’s angry father in Goodfellas here).
Somewhere Abel Xavier is cackling like like Dr. Evil from a padded stylist’s chair in some Lisbon beauty salon, and somewhere Tim Lieweke is picking up glass from the television he shattered after Cochrane’s goal, knowing he is left with a decision to make.
Whose head will roll?
Who will take the fall for this awful run of form? I’m not advocating for someone to be fired, but after weeks of second and third-hand rumors and rumblings about AEG not being happy with the Galaxy’s performance you would think a loss like Saturday, and two months like the team has had, would merit a pink slip for somebody.
Right?
I can’t help but wonder if Lieweke and company remember the last time the Galaxy won MLS Cup. Steve Sampson was in charge and he was dragging the team through an awful season. Somehow Sampson’s Galaxy snuck into the playoffs and rode a hot streak all the way to an MLS Cup title.
You remember that right? The beauty of MLS’ playoff format was on full display as a thoroughly mediocre team got hot for a few weeks and helped make a bumbling coach into Alex Ferguson for a month. Of course Sampson didn’t make it through the next season before being replaced by Yallop.
SO what will LA do? Will the Galaxy stick with Gullit, or send him packing in favor of some interim manager with a tad more knowledge of MLS and a tad less contempt for his own players? Or will AEG finally cut its ties with Lalas, or will it stick by the man it has put in charge of ruining running three different MLS teams?
Maybe Phil Anschutz gets feds up and boots Lieweke, Gullit and Lalas in some Michael Corleone at the end of Godfather II sort of way. Maybe Anschutz makes the flight to Virginia to speak to Bruce Arena about righting the ship and Arena thinks about LA and the great golf courses and being reunited with Landon Donovan and decides the time is right to come back.
Okay, so maybe none of that is happening. What seems clear is something needs to happen because the "jewel" of MLS is tarnishing more by the week and the half a million people who bought David Beckham Galaxy jerseys are either starting to feel embarrassed to wear them, or are too oblivious of the situation to realize just what that Galaxy symbol on their jersey stands for these days.
It certainly doesn’t stand for "Sexy Football."
(What do you think of the LA Galaxy’s situation? Do you think somebody should be fired, and of so, who? Share your thoughts below.)