So many finallys. Galaxy vs Fire post-game commentary

Chad Barrett scores his first gol for the Galaxy after astrally projecting his spirit into Chicago's attack causing open gol misses and allowing him to pound his chance home.

It took until the (league-most) seventh game played but at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL, the LA Galaxy finally got a second gol from a striker, finally got more than one gol in a game, and finally got the full three points from a game in this 4800-mile road trip.

The first 45 minutes of the game, featuring a midfield I’m sure Bruce Arena hadn’t planned on using at any point this season – Magee – Stephens – Cardozo – Birchall – was probably the best single half the team has played this season, largely due to the decision by the Chicago Fire’s Carlos De Los Cobos to search for offense on the counter. This allowed the very quick Michael Stephens and Paolo Cardozo to run around the slower Logan Pause and Mike Videira. Bruce Arena also played a fairly unbalanced game by allowing Miguel Lopez free reign to run basically anywhere on the pitch, which distracted the Fire from the fact that the right side of the Galaxy lineup was incredibly vulnerable given the tandem of Chris Birchall and Frankie Hejduk there.

That and the fact that an astral projection of Chad Barrett invaded the bodies of the Fire attackers forcing two open net shots wide of the posts, while freeing the corporeal Barrett to net his first gol of the year, and the Galaxy were able to hang on for three points in an increasingly sloppy but never dull game.

The biggest distinguishing factor in this game versus the other two was the desire on the part of the Galaxy players. These guys just wanted it more than the Fire did and getting an extra day to rest probably helped a bit as well. That said, while the defense did come up pretty big on occasion, the scoreline could easily have been 2-2 at the half and Hejduk was victimized consistently whenever the Fire remembered to attack down their left side. (There’s concern for the future here as Leonardo was stretchered off the field just as the game ended – believe it or not the stats say he’s doing to most for the Galaxy’s efforts to this point in the season.)

The other concern is that the Fire played the last 20 minutes of the game down a man (Cory Gibbs was injured just after they made their 3rd change) yet managed to score on a counter in the 89th minute after Leonardo fell and Donovan Ricketts totally blew the save from a rocket of a shot from Dominic Oduro. More worrisome, this was after Arena inserted two first-choice players in Sean Franklin and Juan Pablo Angel into the line-up and brought on Bryan Jordan for his speed. Franklin’s presence instantly made the right side of the field more dangerous for the Galaxy, but that advantage was negated when he and Jordan switched positions, leaving the Galaxy with speed on the attacking right wing but no ball control or decent decision-making.

Aside from the fact that the young midfield more than held its own for the majority of the game, the teams was tough down the spine with Omar Gonzalez and Leonardo owing the center of the park and Gonzalez getting the game winning gol for the team. In fact, Gonzalez clean-up a lot of Heydude’s messes and the astral projection of Chad Barrett did the rest.

The worrisome part is that the midfield cohesion, built largely on enthusiasm and the willingness to run all day long didn’t last far into the second half as the Fire’s savvier, more experienced middle asserted itself after having held its energy in reserve for the first half. Having said that I was pleased with the performance of Cardozo and Lopez who bring a dose of creativity that has been missing from the Galaxy team for, well, years, especially in the middle. Stephens did well too, patchily taming his desire to be everywhere enough to be effective for long stretches. Looking at the game, this could bode well for the Galaxy’s participation in all three competitions this season.

Overall, I’m happy with this performace. Positive result from a hard road swing with a make-shift line-up. I’m ready for the Timbers next Saturday.

Man of the Match: Omar Gonzalez beating out Miguel Lopez who picked up his first two assists of his MLS career.

What about you guys? Who was MOTM? What about that makeshift midfield? Does Birchall add anything at all when placed wide right? Leave you thoughts in the comments below.

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Category: post-game analysis