Los Angeles Galaxy Keeper – Brian Rowe plays against Sporting Kansas City.
By Staff Writer
CARSON, Calif. – A cleansheet was about the only positive the LA Galaxy could claim after a dismal 0-0 draw that saw visitors Sporting Kansas City outshoot them 12-1 at the Stub Hub Center on Thursday. Despite dominating possession, the Galaxy were unable to pick the lock on an unrelentingly defensive Kansas City side that soaked up pressure and attempted to hit on the counter.
“We got very little out of our strikers tonight,” said Galaxy coach Bruce Arena afterwards. “They didn’t play well, they weren’t aggressive enough.”
The Galaxy actually did manage to put the ball in the back of the net 10 minutes into the second half, but had the goal disallowed, because Mike Magee was adjudged to have been in an offside position.
“Despite that probably the chance we got with Magee and [Sebastian] Lletget was probably a legitimate chance,” said Arena.
Sporting KC had by far the better chances on the night, with full back Jimmy Medranda testing Galaxy keeper Brian Rowe on a number of occasions.
“Yeah [Medranda’s] probably been our best player the last three or four matches now. Everyday he’s getting better and better,” said Kansas City coach Peter Vermes.
Galaxy keeper Rowe recovered from last week’s howler against Montreal Impact and was arguably the Galaxy’s best player on the night, making a number of key saves to preserve the cleansheet.
“I put the last game behind me,” said Rowe. “What happened happened. I just came into this one focusing on it like another game, so I’m happy with the team and for the defense that we were able to fight and get a clean sheet.”
While the Galaxy can take some comfort from not giving up a goal, holding scoreless a Sporting side that was so depleted by injuries and international call-ups that it had to deploy right back Chance Myers as a forward, isn’t exactly an accomplishment.
Although in L.A.’s defense, they were also without regular starters Gyasi Zardes, Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard – Keane and Zardes are away on international duty while Gerrard was rested.
“It was a complicated game,” admitted Galaxy forward Giovani Dos Santos. “I feel like I hardly touched the ball. Some games are just like that. The team will always miss players like Robbie [Keane], Gyasi [Zardes] and Steven [Gerrard] who was also missing today. We have to continue to look ahead to the next game.”
The draw, which leaves the Galaxy sitting fifth in the Western Conference standings, extended the five-time MLS champions’ winless streak to four games.
“We’re probably going to fold the franchise,” deadpanned Arena. “If it continues for the rest of the year we’ve got problems.”
Photos courtesy of ISI
