SANDY, Utah – The LA Galaxy offense may not be clicking at the moment due to injuries and constant personnel changes, but after LA’s scoreless draw with Real Salt Lake on Wednesday, it’s clear that the team’s defense can help pick up the slack.
Thanks to an organized defense marshaled by captain Omar Gonzalez and a heroic six-save effort from goalkeeper Jaime Penedo, the Galaxy extended their unbeaten streak to five games while earning their third shutout of the season.
“I thought everyone kept a good line. Salt Lake was trying to beat our line and failed countless times. We played strong. They have two big guys up top who are very physical and I think we matched them up well,” Gonzalez said. “They had possession in the midfield but they didn’t really have that many good solid chances. And the ones that they did have were deflections and Jaime came up big on those. On the night I think if we would’ve made the PK we would’ve deserved to win.”
As successful as the defensive effort was, LA’s forays into the attacking end were a different story altogether, as the Galaxy were outshot (11 to 9) by a Real Salt Lake team that controlled the tempo from the moment the match began.
Despite all the struggles on the attacking end, the Galaxy came within a Nick Rimando stoppage-time penalty kick save on Juninho from taking all three points from Rio Tinto.
“I think all things considered this was a good result for us. This is going on a string of games where we’re playing multiple different people in multiple positions,” forward Alan Gordon said. “We are obviously missing some key players; we’ve talked about that. But we continue to get results. And sometimes you need to grind out these tough games. [Rio Tinto Stadium] is not an easy place to play and so to give ourselves a chance to win at the end, we’ll take that.”
But for a team that prides itself on its attacking prowess, the Galaxy understand that the first step to kick starting the offense is improving their passing from the defenders on up the field.
“At the end of these games, we’re so drained because we’re putting in so much effort defensively because we’re not keeping the ball on the offensive end as a group,” said defender A.J. DeLaGarza. “We can all do better at that.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com
