DENVER, Colo. – The LA Galaxy will look to return to winning ways on Wednesday when they take on the Colorado Rapids (6:00 p.m., Time Warner Cable SportsNet, Time Warner Cable Deportes) in their second match of a stretch of four games in 15 days.
LA head to Colorado after suffering their biggest defeat of the season when they fell 4-1 to the Columbus Crew last Saturday. During that stunning loss at Crew Stadium, the Galaxy conceded two goals in the final 15 minutes to snap a three-game unbeaten run.
“We have to change our mentality against Colorado because the game against Columbus was terrible,” Juninho told LAGalaxy.com. “We have to prepare ourselves. We have to play like champions which means that we play well whether we’re at home or on the road. We need points and they’ll be huge for us.”
But getting even a point in Colorado has been a tricky proposition for the Galaxy as of late.
LA’s last point came in September 2012 with their last victory coming five months earlier, since that win in April of 2012, the Galaxy have gone 1-2-1 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
During their last meeting, the Galaxy fell 1-0 in a match that was highlighted by a stunning goal by Vicente Sanchez and a missed penalty for Galaxy captain Robbie Keane. The Colorado team that will face the Galaxy on Wednesday promises to be different than the team that beat the Galaxy back in May.
Ex-Galaxy midfielder turned Rapids head coach Pablo Mastroeni will be without the services of captain Drew Moor who suffered an ACL tear last week and fellow center back Shane O’Neill who is questionable with a right knee sprain. To add insult to injury, Colorado is coming off a heavy defeat as well after falling 4-2 to D.C. United on Sunday at RFK Stadium.
“We have no excuses for Wednesday. Colorado played 24 hours later than we did, they have to travel further than we do, so there are no excuses,” Donovan told LAGalaxy.com. “They’re a very good team that beat us earlier in the year and I think that Pablo has done a great job building a squad. Losing Moor will hurt them, but they’ll be excited for the game and we need to be ready for that.”
For the Galaxy to get back in the win column against the Rapids, however, they’ll have to prove that their frustrating showing in the Buckeye State is truly behind them.
“It was a poor performance all the way around against the Crew, but we’re a team that has a lot of veterans and we won’t let that loss linger,” said defender A.J. DeLaGarza. “We just need to play our game. The other day we more worried about them than we were about ourselves.”
Donovan agrees, “We’re not going to get too carried away [with the loss against Columbus], we just have to make sure that we’re ready for Colorado.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com.
