I’ve got two words: Galaxy vs RSL post-game analysis

(Getty Images)

And those words are: Streak broken.

One of the sports cliches I hate the most is the one that blames the refs for the bad result your team of choice suffers. Unless we’re talking some kind of payola scandal, generally speaking, over time your team is going to get its share of bad calls in its favor as well as those that go against it. So if you have a good team, then it will capitalize on the opportunities and weather the adversity.

But, oh how emotionally satisfying it is to come down on the bad calls like a concrete building in a 9.5 earthquake. Like, say, I don’t know, one from a certain assistant referee during Wednesday night’s Los Angeles Galaxy game against Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto stadium in Sandy, Utah. Say what you will about the ball that got played in to the 18-yard box being an intentional back pass (it wasn’t – it was the result of a 50-50 challenge from Michael Stephens) or that it was helped on its way by Omar Gonzalez (it wasn’t – the ball skipped over his foot), Javier Morales was yards offside when he got the ball and nothing in the build-up to the play canceled that out. Even the AR admitted he blew the call, at least according to what Todd Dunivant said in his post-game interview.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Dunivant said. “Morales was 10 yards behind our back line. It’s really no different than if they were to take a shot and it deflects off one of our guys and goes to Morales who is standing 10 yards behind our back line. It’s still offside. The linesman saw it and makes a judgment that it went off one of our guys, and that’s why it was not offside. After the game he admitted that he was wrong. What else can you say? He missed a call.”

So, the AR helps RSL end the Galaxy’s undefeated streak heading into the 2-week World Cup break (and you guys are following that over the The Offsides World Cup blog, right? Because Galaxy co-blogger Jen is helping out over there and not only can you get your Jen fix, you can also participate in the world’s largest sporting event. Just sayin’.) in a manner that was pretty galling, all things considered.

However, you often learn more from failing than you do from succeeding and I think this game adds more evidence to that hypothesis. For one thing, it’s pretty clear that without Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle, the team lacks the explosive offense that is so necessary to late-game comebacks. Juninho and Stephens can be sparks, but they just aren’t good enough yet to lead the charge. To this point, it hasn’t been the kind of issue that holds the team back, but it is kind of a cautionary note for future contests.

For another thing, while the depth of the team has been trumpeted by pretty much everyone, including me, it’s true that the wing midfield spots are still a bit unsettled. Stephens has been playing on the right lately and continues to have solid games. But Alex Cazumba’s play on the left was uneven and fairly tentative on Wednesday. I was hoping that he would have come off about 15 minutes before he did, to give the team more midfield possession and help with offense. Eddie Lewis did come in, but later than I wanted and he was never able to help with the offense, especially in the last 10 minutes when the team really needed that equalizer.

Aside from these points, the game the Galaxy put together at Rio Tinto was pretty solid. The defending was up to par and Donovan Ricketts really earned his money on the night, making several big saves including two in a goal-mouth scramble near the end of the first half. Juninho is getting more and more comfortable with his responsibilities and it shows. He and Stephens are communicating well and combining for good passing sequences. Chris Birchall put in the kind of game that frustrates opposing attackers. While no one ever wants to lose, the Galaxy picked a fine time to have the breaks go against them. They get a 2-week break to concentrate on strengthening weaknesses, they stepped out from under any building pressure to keep an undefeated streak going, and they can nurse a bit of righteous anger about the result and channel it into proving the game was an unfortunate aberration, not a harbinger of things to come. At least, that’s how I’m going to think about it.

Man of the Match: Donovan Ricketts for keeping a clean sheet until the blown call in the face of RSL’s high-octane offense.

What others are saying:

Bruce Arena post-game comments – video
Chris Birchall post-game interview – video
MLSSoccer.com recap
Luis Bueno at MLSSoccer.com with the Galaxy perspective
Randy Davis at MLSSoccer.com with the RSL perspective
LA Galaxy official blog with post-game stats and info
LA Galaxy official blog with post-game quotes and reactions
James Edwards at the Deseret News with the post-game recap
James Edwards at the Deseret News with implications of the win for further into the season
James Edwards’ blog on the game
Jeremy Horton at Goal.com
Jo-Ryan Salazar at Bleacher Report with the play by play
Jo-Ryan Salazar at Bleacher Report with the post-game analysis that saw a worse game than I did
Game recap at LASoccerNews.com
Ridge Mahoney at SoccerAmerica.com
Michael Lewis at the Salt Lake Tribune with the game recap
Michael Lewis at the Salt Lake Tribune with analysis of the impact going into the break

What about you all? What did you think about the call on the goal? What do you think this means for the team? Who was your Man of the Match? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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Category: 2010 Season, Player News