SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The LA Galaxy’s 1-1 draw with the San Jose Earthquakes was a chaotic affair, but despite the intense heat and inconsistent officiating that saw nine yellow cards issued, Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena did not point fingers after the final whistle.
“This game is all on us,” Arena confessed to reporters after the draw. “We should have had three points.”
It’s hard to refute the Galaxy bosses’ claim. After all, the Galaxy controlled the tempo for much of the first half –and the match for that matter—and took the lead off an Omar Gonzalez strike from a Stefan Ishizaki corner in the 28th minute. In the second half, the Galaxy did well to limit San Jose’s opportunities, but a pair of defensive breakdowns allowed Chris Wondolowski to equalize and give the Earthquakes a share of the spoils.
But most damning of all was Robbie Keane’s penalty kick miss in the 37th minute as the club’s Irish captain fired a penalty that clattered off the right-side of the crossbar. Once the Galaxy missed the opportunity to double their lead, the Earthquakes wrestled control of the momentum and eventually hassled LA’s defense until they broke for Wondolowski’s equalizer in the 66th minute.
“We've missed four penalty kicks this year and it's cost us a good number of points. We have the best two penalty kick takers in the league in theory and ... our record is terrible. You have to make penalties and unfortunately we didn't,” said Arena. “It's part of the game, but that's life. We've either lost games or only gotten a point in games where we've failed to convert a penalty. It adds up at this point in the season when you're three points behind in the Supporters' Shield race. It's cost us between five and nine points."
Keane shook off any talk of any penalty kick malaise after his third miss in five attempts this season, but admitted that the Galaxy deserved better especially against an Earthquakes side that seemed more concerned with holding the result rather than going for the victory.
“Overall, I certainly think that we deserved to win the game,” Keane said. “We were the team that was going forward trying to get the three points when it should have been the other way around with them trying to get to the playoffs. They showed no urgency to go win the game.
“They were happy to get the point because they were taking their time [with the ball late],” Keane added. “It’s strange for me that when you want to go to the playoffs, you just sit back in front of your home crowd and not try and win the game. It was strange.”
Despite all the frustration of the penalty miss, the Galaxy were able to welcome back defender A.J. DeLaGarza who had not played in two weeks after the death of his infant son Luca. During his first action since last month, DeLaGarza was sharp as he limited San Jose’s output on the right flank while bombing forward in attack.
And in the face of such a vexing result to their most bitter rivals, DeLaGarza offered a simple message to his Galaxy teammates: it’s time to move on.
“It’s a game where you don’t want to look back on it and say we shot ourselves in the foot,” said DeLaGarza. “We had plenty of opportunities in the first half to make it two or three to zero. We didn’t, and it cost us in the second half. We have to be better.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com.
