Through four regular season games the LA Galaxy have turned on the defensive pressure – smothering their opponents with staggering time of possession.
Despite the 1-0 final score Saturday evening at StubHub Center, the LA Galaxy were the overall dominant team in the match against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Robbie Keane scored the Galaxy’s lone goal just 71 seconds into the second half. A beautiful volley from Stefan Ishizaki was placed perfectly in front of the Vancouver net and Keane finished it off for his team leading third goal of the young season and 37th in 59 career MLS games.
The Galaxy may not have had the results they wanted but they dominated the field of play – out hustling the Whitecaps in time of possession 60% to 40%.
Defensively the Galaxy have tightened up over the last two games – pitching shutouts in both. On the season, the team has only allowed two goals. In order to be the last team standing when it’s time to hand off the MLS Cup trophy, they will have to continue to dominate defensively. The Galaxy have failed to cap off several solid scoring chances in recent games – a trend that will need a quick correction to ensure future success. They are doing well in dominating time of possession, but of their 13 shots on net last night against Vancouver, only three were on target for a season total of five goals on 56 shots. Nonetheless, the Galaxy are getting the wins and all the over analyzed statistics will come together as the season progresses.
Midfielder/Forward Landon Donovan will have to wait another week for a chance at being the MLS all-time leading scorer. Donovan had three good looks Saturday night but with the Galaxy’s struggles of finishing – Donovan still sits at 134 on the career goals list (tied with Jeff Cunningham for sole possession).
LA (2-1-1) is still on the outside looking in at sixth in the Western Conference but are only one point behind Vancouver, whom the Galaxy will face for the second leg of a back-to-back next Saturday in Canada.
Two players that aren’t getting much recognition but have been vital parts the team’s early success – goalkeeper Jaime Penedo and midfielder Juninho. Penedo in two starts has totaled nine saves with only one goal allowed and came up huge with three saves Saturday afternoon. Juninho, although he hasn’t found the back of the net yet, has quietly taken seven shots on goal and added two assists. In a year that’s only seen five goals – Juninho’s two assists have been pivotal.
On a side note, earlier this week the Galaxy announced that winger Robbie Rogers had been one of four players loaned to the Galaxy II. Rogers, who has dealt with injures since being acquired last season, was listed on the most recent injury report as questionable with a left ankle injury that has been described as a stress fracture. Although Rogers is only on loan for Sunday’s game against Sacramento Republic FC, the disappointment of knowing the Galaxy traded Chicago Fire star Mike Magee for Rogers is well within the heads of Galaxy fans.
LA has a week off before tangoing with the Whitecaps once again, but with a 7-1-1 all-time record against Vancouver, the game plan heading into a week of practice should mostly focus on capitalizing on scoring chances while continuing to play like they’ve played with dominating results.
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