CARSON, Calif. – At long last, the LA Galaxy find themselves at the top of the MLS table—for a night at least.
By virtue of their 3-0 victory over Toronto FC, the Galaxy took sole possession of the top spot in MLS from Seattle Sounders FC with their Western Conference rivals scheduled to play on Sunday on the road against the Colorado Rapids.
“It’s great. Psychologically it’s important with Seattle needing to win to keep pace,” said Landon Donovan who became the league’s all-time assist leader on Saturday. “We know that if we keep winning, then we can do the job.”
Added Robbie Keane, “Put it this way, I rather be first and get the game over and be three points ahead, than be playing tomorrow and chasing. I’m really happy with that. There is no question that it feels like we’ve been chasing for a while. We win and they win, but we’re happy to be first. And, it feels like it’s definitely going to go down to the wire. No question.”
The accomplishment of reaching first—no matter how fleeting—is a major one for LA considering that back on May 15th, the club found themselves at the bottom of the Western Conference after a 1-0 defeat to the Houston Dynamo. Since that loss in Houston, however, the Galaxy have been transcendent as they’ve climbed up the MLS standings, compiling an impressive 14-2-6 record in the process.
Now on the heels of a 10-game unbeaten run, which is the club’s longest since the 2011 season, the Galaxy are flying high and have their focus set on winning their first Shield since that fateful 2011 campaign.
“We’ve been terrific this summer. There’s no way to say it except that,” said Donovan. “We’ve done a great job. We haven’t necessarily been paying attention [to the standings] until the last few weeks, but now it’s very realistic to win the Supporters’ Shield and that’s absolutely our goal.”
If the Galaxy are to win the league’s regular season title, then they’ll need results in their next three remaining matches on the road against FC Dallas next week and then their home-at-home battles with Seattle at the end of the month.
Although LA understand that they’ll be challenged every step of the way, they believe that they can come away with silverware at the end of the season.
“I think we are very confident in how we are playing at the moment,” said Keane. “When we go a goal up, I don’t think there are many teams that can beat us. We are very, very confident in our possession of the ball.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com
