Galaxy Beats 9-Man KC, 1-0

Something seems to have happened while I was out of the country. The Galaxy have apparently become a team. And this is true even when they’re playing rather uninspired soccer, as was the case last night. Their play, at least in the past couple of games, has gotten much more precise. And they’re playing with awareness of their teammates, as opposed to spending all their time on the field just trying to escape the current emergency.

Seriously, think about that goal. Josh Tudela makes the run to draw the defender to clear the space for Mike Randolph to pass to where Gavin Glinton knows his head can be. Just one month ago that would have been way too many moving parts for this team, whose only real strategy for ages was, “give it to Landon.” (And, regarding Tudela’s run, for once I’m agreeing with Eric Wynalda about it making all the difference.)

But of course, in reality, it all came down to those red cards. We were once again able to capitalize on having a personnel advantage. And when was the last time you saw a team get two red cards in one game, barring a massive brawl? I thought the first one was completely deserved and could have been a leg-breaker, but the second could easily have been a yellow if there hadn’t been such a sense of deja vu about the “let’s take out Pete Vagenas at the ankle” aspect.

And speaking of Vagenas, did anybody else feel there was an element of penance to those tackles? As in, “I will allow them to break my legs to make up for that SuperLiga own goal and missed penalty”? Those red cards won the game for us, Pete. This makes it all even. We’re square. (NOTE: I am not in any way implying that Pete somehow personally brought on two tackles from hell. More that this felt a bit like a cosmic, karmic balancing of the scales.)

Joe Cannon pretty much got the night off, with the exception of having to save at least one own goal. (Oops. Love you, Troy!) Is anybody else getting a little worried about our Joe, though? He’s lookin’ like he’s been rode hard and put away wet. (ReLAX and get your mind out of the gutter. It’s an old cowgirl expression and refers to horses.) Am I the only one getting visions of Joe staring into the fire, alone, guzzling whisky from a tumbler and muttering, “Keeper of the Year. I was effing Keeper of the Year!”**

But since we currently have two, count ‘em, TWO back to back wins, and THREE games without a loss… Well, life gets better now, right?

Not much else to say about the game, except that if you didn’t see it, you should stop by MLSnet and watch the highlights. Because there actually are some.

**This and all other potentially libelous statements arise entirely from my imagination. This means: Hi, Joe! I am, of course, kidding. And: Please don’t sue me!

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Category: 2007 Games, League Game Recaps, Player News