CARSON, Calif. – For a second straight match, the LA Galaxy spotted their opponents a lead, but this time around, there was no miracle comeback for Sigi Schmid’s squad.
The Galaxy fell 2-0 to Sporting Kansas City on Sunday in front of a packed StubHub Center crowd. Los Angeles dominated the chances, forcing a career-high 10 saves from Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia and hitting the woodwork three times.
However, it wasn’t the team’s offense output that mattered to Schmid; it was the defensive lapses that led to Kansas City’s two goals.
“We were down 1-0, and you could start to see us ramp it up again, but I’m sick and tired of us going down a goal before we decide to wake up,” the Galaxy boss told reporters postgame.
As has been the case throughout the start of the season, the Galaxy conceded cheaply with Sporting capitalizing on the team’s errors. On the first tally, it was Ola Kamara’s errant header that fell onto the path of Dániel Sallói, while four minutes later, Johnny Russell dribbled through two defenders before doubling Sporting’s advantage.
“We keep conceding kind of easy goals. It’s not just the defense you have to blame. I think we have to look as a team to see the reasons why they are counterattacking every time,” captain Ashley Cole said. “It’s a tough loss to take today, but credit to them. They are a very good team.”
“I think in the last game we go three goals behind; then we wake up. We start working hard, and we start running that little bit more. It was the same today, but that has to be from minute one. It has to be that same mentality and work ethic. We have to defend as a team because if you want to win, you can’t concede goals like we did today.”
The energy ramped up after Zlatan Ibrahimović entered the match in the 62nd minute as Los Angeles pushed to get on the board. Despite the offensive advantage, it wasn’t enough for the home side.
For the talented Swede, the message is the same: Los Angeles must be better from the start.
“The output was that we lost the game. It doesn’t matter if you hit the post. If you don’t score you don’t win. I think they wanted it more than us,” Ibrahimović said. “Losing 2-0 at home is not good. Of course, it’s not good. Last game we were losing 3-0 at home, so we need to focus more from the beginning and be more stable in our game. We need to be more hungry from the beginning.”
