CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy still have their sights trained on reaching the postseason despite their recent struggles.
Los Angeles fell 3-1 to the Portland Timbers last Sunday extending their winless streak to six games in league play. The Galaxy find themselves mired in ninth place in the Western Conference, nine points out of the West’s final postseason place with 12 games remaining.
After the defeat in Portland, head coach Sigi Schmid admitted that the team can’t worry about the postseason despite facing a must-win contest against New York City FC on Sunday.
“We can’t worry. We can’t get caught up in points. We need to get caught up in playing better soccer. Right now we’re just not playing good soccer. We need to compete more for the right opportunities," said Schmid. "We gave away too many soft balls. Every time we put together four, five, six, seven pass combinations, then someone wasn’t as alert as they needed to be and all of a sudden the ball turned over. We had to do a lot of defending in the first half, not because of Portland.
"Portland was good offensively, don’t get me wrong. But we didn’t hold the ball enough so we never forced them. I mean it’s great when a team never forces you into a defensive shape. Then you’re always in a good offensive shape. That’s something we need to get better.”
Goalkeeper Brian Rowe echoed his manager’s words, declaring that the team must fight to prove they belong in the postseason for a ninth consecutive season.
"It’s one of those ones where you can either have two reactions: you can either hang your head and throw in the rest of the season or you keep fighting and keep working as a team and keep trying to get results," Rowe said. "That’s something, as a group, that we’re trying to get to that point where we’re still fighting. We still want to get results, we still want to play our soccer. So it’s a pride thing.”
