Galaxy 2-0 Chicago

By: Laurie | July 4th, 2007

Y’know, we should probably be embarrassed by this win. 2-0 on two penalties, one of which was questionable and one that was a fairly blatant dive. (Both penalties drawn by Kyle Martino and put into the net by Landon Donovan.)

Should be embarrassed? Probably. Are we embarrassed? Hell, no! A win is a win is a win, and we’re somewhat desperate this year. Plus we outplayed Chicago for most of the game. So let’s just take what we’ve been given and move forward, okay?

This was actually not a horrible game. (How many weeks has it been since we could say that?) Chicago never threatened, at all, period. Every time they started to get something going, LA would come in and break it up.

A few thoughts on the players:

–Damn, I love Kyle Martino. He’s not a classically solid player, but he does find a way to make things happen, doesn’t he? And on the days when he’s lacking in technical skill (like today) he makes up for it in feistiness. He is still my favorite player.

– It is so good to have Ante Jazic back. Ty Harden wasn’t bad, and I’m glad he was there when needed, but he’s not a natural leftback. (He was so much more solid today at his natural centerback position.) Ante just owns the leftback position. That is all.

– Chris Klein at rightback? Hell yeah! I don’t know that I realized how badly we were hurting here until I saw Klein doing it right. Defensive when he needed to be, making some gorgeous offensive runs when the opportunity presented itself… I didn’t see the logic of the Klein-Sturgis-Findley trade last week. This week it makes a little more sense.

– Speaking of relatively new players, Abel Xavier is quickly becoming my “Oh, thank God!” player. Meaning that’s what I’m saying, over and over, every time an offensive player looks unbeatable until Xavier comes in and clears the ball. Yes, maybe it was the fact that Chicago kind of sucked offensively and fell apart every time they hit our final third. But I’m hoping to see more of this Abel in future games.

– Carlos Pavon subbed in for Cobi Jones at…oh…about the 60th? (I’m too lazy to go visit MatchTracker to figure this out.) Two thoughts: A) Definite potential, and B) Is he maybe not quite fit, or does he normally have a bountiful booty? Hey, I’m just askin’.

– Kelly Gray is probably a positive addition, but the jury’s still out. But I am thinking that we did get the better end of the Gray-Jaqua trade.

Yeah, sure, there were negatives. Landon Donovan wasn’t quite what I expected in his first game back, although he did convert those two penalties. And we could have done a whole lot better when it came to finishing. And it would sure be nice if, when a defender sends the ball up the field, he didn’t send it directly to an opposing player.

But still. Three points. That’s nothing to turn your nose up at. Especially lately.