Los Angeles Galaxy Rue Missed Opportunity After Draw With Portland

Jul 4, 2014; Carson, CA, USA; Los Angeles Galaxy fans celebrate after a goal in the second half the game against the Portland Timbers at StubHub Center. The game ended in a 2-2 tie. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

This has been a tough, trying year for Bruce Arena’s Los Angeles Galaxy. They were outplayed by Caleb Porter’s Portland Timbers in their 2-2 draw at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. and had the form of a team not primed for a run at the postseason. Bad passes, bad finishing, awful sequences, shoddy defending…it’s a familiar tune that makes it all the more surprising that the Galaxy secured a split.

Dear Los Angeles Galaxy, with all due respect, you’re welcome. Signed, Rauwshan McKenzie.

“Hard game. I think we were sloppy throughout the game, the effort was not consistent over the 90 minutes, for us to have that kind of energy in the last 15 minutes to get an equalizer and not have that energy for the entire game is a little disappointing I think we lost our concentration a little bit,” said Arena to the press following the match. “We did a real sloppy job in defending on a couple of crosses that cost us goals and to their credit they did a good job.

“I think the referee missed a few calls there; cards he didn’t do a good job in that regard, but maybe had no impact on the game; we were inconsistent tonight. However the effort to get a point out of the game was terrific, the team did a real good job there.”

One big question that needed to be answered was this: did Landon Donovan deserve two penalty kicks?

“The second one I think is a red card because he’s going to goal and I don’t think the last defender matters, he’s denying a goal scoring opportunity,” said Arena. “Plus he allowed that player to get away with not getting carded previous to that when he fouled someone from behind in the other half of the field and the referee let it go.”

“I might be a little biased, but I clearly think the first one I got in front of [Danny] O’Rourke and he hit my leg and I went down but that was one of those where I thought for sure it was going to be a penalty,” said Donovan. “At the end of the day, if the ref doesn’t see it then he doesn’t see it.

“The second one, it’s close and I don’t know if it’s in the box or out, I think it’s right on the line. I think the rule is denial of a goal scoring opportunity and I like my chances in that situation so you can understand why he wouldn’t give a red, but I thought on balance that it probably should have been a red card.”

Of course, the bigger picture needed to be looked at. According to Donovan, Major League Soccer’s all-time leading goalscorer, it’s July, and the Los Angeles Galaxy are still a work in progress. As if anybody in the press room really needed to be reminded of that. But it’s not just Los Angeles, Donovan argues.

“That’s the whole league, outside of Seattle at this point,” Donovan said. “I mean, everybody has good days and has bad days. It wasn’t our best day today but we’re winning after sixty somewhat minutes, we’re tied at the end with a chance to win so all in all it’s not the worst case but we certainly feel like this is a game we should have won.

“Situations always change games. You see it in the World Cup constantly with teams, any time goals get scored, they change games and so we obviously were under pressure then to get a goal. I think it’s easy to say ‘we should have played like that the whole game.’ In all fairness we could have competed better most of the game, and it was disappointing.”

“As players we certainly know that we have to be focused and concentrated for 90 minutes. It still wasn’t a great performance, but I think we did okay,” added forward/team captain Robbie Keane. “But I still don’t think we’ve been far enough. Is that a work in progress? I’m not sure that is the great word for it, but we’re not doing as good as we would certainly like to.

“As long as you’re not losing games I think that’s important as well because losing can be a habit sometimes. As we’ve seen in recent years. We’ve got four points out of the last two games, but we certainly expected to get six.”