FRISCO, Texas – For the first 77 minutes of their 2-1 loss to FC Dallas, the LA Galaxy looked primed to get their first road win since last August.
Gyasi Zardes broke his eight-game scoreless drought to put the visitors ahead in the 59th minute, and thanks to an organized defense and timely goalkeeping, the Galaxy kept Dallas at bay. But in the 77th minute, things turned south quickly as LA conceded two goals in the final 13 minutes to snap their five-game unbeaten streak, and extend their winless run away from StubHub Center to a dozen games.
After the late defeat, Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena raised his hand and took the blame for the way his squad capitulated late.
“We didn’t do well at the end of the game in the last 15 minutes or so, and that’s my responsibility,” Arena said after the defeat. “When a team plays that poorly on the road, they’re not well coached. We blew a lot of points this week, we could have stolen six points this week, and intead we walked away with one. That’s my responsibility. I have not done a good job with this team to get them tactically ready for games.”
In both of Dallas’ late goals, a tiring Galaxy side found themselves unable to cope with the speed and skill of the hosts.
Dallas pulled level in the 77th minute when Argentine Mauro Diaz scooped up a failed clearance and cut past a sliding Juninho before chipping the ball over the Galaxy backline. Alan Gordon came inches from clearing Diaz’s effort away, but Blas Perez placed the ball past his international teammate Jaime Penedo.
Fueled by the goal, Dallas struck again less than 10 minutes later when Diaz launched a sailing diagonal pass to Tesho Akindele who found time and space to launch a blistering shot past Penedo for the game-winner in the 86th minute to seal the victory.
“We fell apart,” defender Omar Gonzalez said.
But as for why LA performed so poorly in the last 15 minutes, Robbie Rogers chalked it all up to a lack of intelligence and focus.
“We were naïve to lose the ball in certain places where you shouldn’t lose the ball, and that comes with experience. Whether it’s holding the ball up or taking a foul or going to the corner, we have to be better. We got a little tired,” said defender Robbie Rogers. “We were just not smart enough at the end. We’re tired but we should have stayed compact and defended that game out, so that we could have at least gotten a point.”
The match was the Galaxy’s sixth without the injured Robbie Keane, but even though LA has played without the reigning Most Valuable Player for more than a month, his absence was not an excuse for Saturday’s loss.
“A lot of guys have to step up when Keano is not here, and today, we did have a lot of guys step up,” midfielder Stefan Ishizaki said. “But we have to step up for 90 minutes, not just 77.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com
