I’ve got two words: Galaxy vs. FC Dallas post-game analysis

By: NathanHJ | September 13th, 2009

Photo by Getty Images

And those words are: EPIC FAIL! Or maybe I’ve got five words: What the @#$%&! was that? 6-3? That’s a team record for goals allowed in a game. 4 FCD goals game after the 70th minute. Three came after the 81st minute. It was an unbelievable set of breakdowns across the board and a new-look, increasingly confident, and very fast Dallas team took full advantage.

Where to start. The game itself was a back-and-forth affair, but FCD had the better of the play for most of the game. In fact, for the first 22 or so minutes they basically owned the Galaxy, attacking in waves with Jeff Cunningham making slicing, speedy runs through the central defense. An off-target shot on an open net in which he burned and juked all the defenders was just a taste of things to come from what would be a two-goal, two-assist performance.

After 22 minutes the Galaxy started marshalling an attack, running it through Landon Donovan but were consistently let down by poor quality passes through the middle or from some mediocre forward play. I’m so calling out Stefani Migliolaranzi and Jovan Kirovski here. When Mike Magee disappears in a match, there’s no percentage in pinning your hopes on Kirovski. At least two good runs on his part with good balls from Donovan ended up in a tangles mess at his feet as he dribbled too much and lost the ball or took horrible touches and blew the play. And I’ve consistently been underwhelmed by Miglioranzi as well. He’s tenacious in the middle, but his passing is pretty crap and his offensive instincts are generally wrong.

A couple of games ago I heard/read a comment from a fan saying that he and Kirovski must have naked pictures of The Bruce with little children in order to get the kind of playing time they’ve seen this year. A little part of me couldn’t help but wonder if this were true. Of course, the reality is that the Galaxy strike corps is depleted enough to give Kirovski chance after chance and that injuries have kept any challenges to Migs from being able to take his job away from him.

Too bad.

Of course, it wasn’t just those two guys who had the kinds of games you forget the moment you step off the pitch. Eddie Lewis gave away ball after ball with horrid passing, in one case it led directly to an FC Dallas goal. It was probably his worst performance all season.

And he was joined there by David Beckham. Lackluster passing, cutesy passing, tepid set pieces, off-target crosses, it was a night of frustration and mediocrity from the league’s highest paid player. I’m willing to give jet lag a bit of the blame here, but mentally it wasn’t a sharp performance from the man given the playmaking duties.

In the end it was the kind of game where everyone who needed to play consistently well on the Galaxy side didn’t and the other team was already primed to go after the teams pre-existing weaknesses, in this case lack of speed and weak midfield passing. When the front runners either completely disappeared or actively sucked along with season-low games from two key midfielders, it had the makings of a disaster.

And the new-look FCD was poised to take full control. They are a fast and young team but with quality across the board. They buzzed around the Galaxy players like they were asleep for long portions of the game. Their passing was sharper and their runs crisper. And they eventually ran circles around the 30-somethings that make up a such a large percentage of the Galaxy line-up.

But it wasn’t a complete trainwreck until after the 70th minute. In large part this was delay in destruction was due to the defense, though it was constantly seemed to be scrambling to keep up. For one thing AJ Delagarza had a career night, causing one own-goal and scoring his first MLS goal. I’ve been wanting him to get more into the attack all season and Arena clearly told him to take on the left-side player like Dave van den Bergh. He was pushing up all during the first half. Then he got injured, on the own-goal.

For another thing Omar Gonzalez had a pretty good night, all things considered. Until he and Gregg Berhalter were exposed again and again as not exceptionally speedy. Still he played hard, won numerous balls, poked them away, stood attackers up and made clutch plays. Had Delagarza stayed on the right instead of Tony Sanneh, maybe things wouldn’t have been as horrible as they were.

That pretty much leaves the Donovans. Landon, playing his 3rd game in a week after coming back from international duty, still looked good. He just didn’t have anyone to connect with. He was all over the field trying to spark the attack, make incisive passes, and generally be dangerous. He did have two clear shots at goal, but he skied one over the net and the other went right to the keeper. Ricketts was mostly hung out to dry by his defense. He had three huge saves to keep the game tied, but after that the bottom fell out.

Wait a minute! Edson Buddle made he long-awaited return to the line-up as a sub in the 69th minute and had an immediate impact, causing confusing in the FCD backline, though he wasn’t able to break through in the flurry. His 90th minute goal was a reminder of his quality, especially his heading, which, combined with his footwork, puts the Galaxy attack on a completely different plane.

Oh and Todd Dunivant had a pretty solid game on a backline that was beaten like a crate of eggs at a home-style diner on a Sunday morning. Brutally and often.

Despite the scoreline and my frustrated words above, all was not horrible from the Galaxy. For one thing, the did score three times in one game, a rare thing this season. For another the rookies in the back continue to shine. I hope AJ’s injury isn’t serious because he was starting to add the offensive dimension to his game. Finally Edson Buddle returned and put one in the back of the net.

I should also note that the refereeing was probably the weakest I’ve seen all season. I always ask for consistency, but I don’t mean “consistently bad”. Missed handball in the box by a Dallas defender just after the call on Becks led to the van den Bergh goal. Phantom offside call on Chris Klein’s goal which could have made the final score at least 6-4 or more depending on how much fire and confidence that gave the team. To the ref’s credit he didn’t loes control of the game, but that’s about as far as I’m going to go with praise. Especially he wasn’t responsible for the truly horrific play on the field from the home team.

If this team wants to go deep in the playoffs, it needs to respond to this embarrassment. You’d never know the team had a week off to rest and prepare. Well, they don’t have any more rests. The midfield especially needs to step up. When Lewis, Migs, and Becks all have horrible games, salvaging something is going to be a challenge. Getting Buddle game fit is a crucial part of this because it gives the Galaxy more firepower and unpredictability. Dealing with the exposure in the back is a priority as well, depending on the severity of Delagarza’s injury.

Five weeks left. They probably need 42 or 43 points to be in the playoffs. The Galaxy could have taken over first place in the West or at least cleared some space between themselves and Colorado and Seattle, especially after the favor Toronto FC did for the team by beating Colorado. No such luck. Chicago and Columbus still on the docket. Time to man up.

Man of the match: AJ Delagarza

What others are saying:
Nick Green at 100 percent soccer
Jeffry King at MLSNet with the game recap
Jeffrey King at MLSNet with the FC Dallas perspective
SoCal’s own Luis Bueno in The Dallas Morning News
The AP on Google
SoCal’s own Andrea Canales at Goal.com on the Galaxy defeat
Andrea Canales with the game report for Goal.com
Andrea Canales at Goal.com with a story on the post-game fracas that might result in discipline from the league
Angel Magana at LAIst.com
Phil Collins in the Daily News/Daily Breeze chain of papers
Grahame Jones in the LA Times
Luis Bueno at MLSNet.com with the Galaxy perspective
The party line at the official LA Galaxy blog