Written by Matt Whyte
CARSON – CA – The LA Galaxy faced off against New York City FC Saturday, May 11th coming home for the first time in the last two weeks. Unfortunately being at home did not help them break the streak they had on the road with the results of this game being a 2-0 defeat. With the absence of a few players from their roster and the fatigue of the road they just could not capitalize at The Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Ca.
New York started the game off with some strong passing. Not giving the Galaxy much room for attacking. With that being said neither sides made a single attempt within the first 10 minutes of the game. A couple minutes later New York got their first shot off swinging just left of the upright.
The Galaxy’s front line is putting in a lot of hard work, specifically Uriel Antuna, making his way up and down the field chasing down any and all passes. Despite all that work only a few attempts were made for The Galaxy.
On the other side New York made a solid attempt in the 17th minute but was stopped by the gloves of LA Galaxy keeper David Bingham. Moments later Bingham got fouled pretty badly but is able to fight through the pain without blinking an eye. New York controled possession the majority of the first half at 65%.
With the possession dominance New York had, it gave them the confidence they need to be taking shot after shot. In the 23rd minute of the game New York fired a really strong shot off that just knocked the outsides of the left upright. The Galaxy then responded with a few opportunities of their own after that but nothing came from those attempts. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, in the 29th minute of the game got a beautiful cross from Antuna but was regrettably offsides when the ball hit the back of the net.
It was a battle of crosses and short give and goes for both sides. Then in the 44th minute of the game Heber broke the scoring void for New York powered a shot by Bingham. With that it put New York up 1-0 looking like that would be the end of the first half. With the additional stoppage time given for the half of five minutes it seemed that would be the half. Until there was a penalty kick awarded to New York in the 47th minute for a handball in the 18 yard box which was made by Maximiliano Morales. With that New York was now up 2-0 before the end of the first half.
Coming out from the locker room to start the second half The Galaxy seemed fierce and ready to make some good moves, coming out very strong both defensively and offensively. The tempo of the game came to a slight halt when a New York player had to be assisted off the field after kicking the heel of Zlatan trying to clear the ball.
That seemed to motivate New York to try and play more defensively. In the 54th minute of the game Antuna fired an amazing shot that just flew right over the cross bar. The Galaxy kept the pressure on with 14 shots in the second half just not enough of them were on target. New York was not finished with trying for more goals though. In the 68th minute if it wasn’t for the amazing defending of on the Galaxy blocking a rocket of a shot I don’t believe Bingham would have been able to get to in time New York would have increased their lead.
The Galaxy continued to have opportunities but with the last couple games being so close together you could tell that fatigue was setting in on them. Zlatan in the 85th minute of the game fired a beautiful shot off only to be rejected by the cross bar yet again and had a follow up shot just soar over the crossbar. During said play the New York goalkeeper tried to draw a penalty on Zlatan. The officials reviewed the play and saw that the Sean Johnson over exaggerated it in order to get Zlatan a yellow in the first place. With the closing minutes and stoppage time you see the pace of the game go to nearly a haunt till the final whistle.
This was a hard game for The Galaxy being that they had a rough schedule for the last two weeks being that they had two away games and hardly any rest, resulting in their first defeat at home. Being that’s Jonathan dos Santos was not able to play today due to being injured, I feel that it could have made a difference in the outcome of the game. Head Coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto mentioned in the postgame interview that he preferred that Santos sit this game out instead of injuring himself and being out for more games. Schelotto says he will be ready for the next game against the Colorado Rapids on Sunday May 19th which is another home game for The Galaxy. Hopefully the entire team will be well rested and ready for their next big match up.
