My Thoughts on LAFC 6-2 LA

Photo credit: Phelan M. Ebenhack

I refuse to recap that game in length. If you want a recap then here, I will do a very shortened recap of each goal:

A good play down the wing gets squared and hits Blessing’s foot and goes in for an own goal, 1-0 LA.

A soft penalty is given after BWP goes down easy in the box, Rossi sends Bingham the wrong way and scores, 1-1.

Jaković goes in late on Pavón in the box, the penalty is rightly given, Pavón’s first effort is saved, but Sisniega jumped his line so Kichan got to take it again and this time scored, 2-1 LA.

BWP shoots straight at Bingham but the ball pops out and Steres whiffs it, giving Rossi an easy finish just before the break, 2-2.

Just after our third goal gets ruled out for offside, BWP takes lots touches in the box and Giancarlo González never attacks the ball which lead to BWP burying his shot nicely into the far bottom corner, 3-2 LAFC.

Too many Galaxy players get caught up field and LAFC practically walk the ball into the net thanks to a 2 on 2 with Rodríguez and Rossi against Bingham and González, 4-2 LAFC.

We give up and allow El-Munir a shot from within 25 yards that Bingham seemed to think is going wide but was actually hit well and went in, 5-2 LAFC.

We continue not to try and in stoppage time a far too open (and granted, offside) Rossi gets the ball squared to him and taps it home, 6-2 LAFC.

Alright, so there’s no two ways about it, this hurt. But, it was coming. We are not a good team currently and LAFC are. Yes, it hurts worse that it was LAFC, but that wasn’t the biggest issue. Giving up six goals was. Derby losses happen to everyone, conceding six in a derby, does not. That is an utter disgrace. I usually try to be nicer on here than I am in reality with the Galaxy, but today I can’t. It is one thing to have a subpar team, it is one thing to have a bad team, it is one thing to have an absolutely horrendous team, yet it’s a whole other to have a team that doesn’t care. If we had lost 6-2 just because we were awful all game, then oh well. It would still sting, but we could hold our heads high – we at least tried. The Los Angeles Galaxy of yesterday did not try after the 75th minute. That is just sad. The only person who showed a real passion for the team was Emil Cuello. When he pushed Diego Rossi down after getting in the face of Joe Corona, that was a real player’s mentality. He was at war, and when someone in your troop is getting attacked you fight back – he fought. It was worth the yellow if you ask me. Granted, for all my praise of Cuello I will say that Araujo, Lletget, and Pavón all also fought hard and ran as much as they could. Yet, Schelotto kept Lletget on longer than he could go and near the end of the game he looked dead, and well, we saw how the last minutes of the game went.

Offensively we were not bad at all in the first half. An own goal and a penalty might feel like we got lucky, but we played very well and deserved those goals. However, sadly, in typical Galaxy style we failed to lock it down into the half and sloppily let LAFC level the game just before the break. Then it really just all went downhill.

Again though, what I can’t stand about us is the lack of motivation, from the bench to the field, half the people look like they don’t really care. Schelotto seems uninterested most of the time. He rubs his face and looks as if it is out of his hands when in reality, it is not! To only make one sub until we go three goals down is unbelievably uncreative. Really? You have nothing you want to do about the fact we are losing in the derby and are on the brink of elimination? “Oh, I know! Why don’t I take off the player who has shown the most heart today instead of Lletget, who appears to be totally gassed! Perfect!” (Side note: I was glad to see Gordon Wild come on, just it shouldn’t have been for Cuello.) It is just sad to see. Then to make three subs once we are 5-2 behind? Perfect timing dude, once we are already long out of the game only now should we see what Efra, Harvey, and Kljestan can add. Great.

After the game against Houston I will go more in depth into all the deep rooted issues I see in my beloved organization. From the backroom, to the coaching staff, to the players – so much needs to change. People like Giancarlo González don’t just anger me because of a lack of ability, they also just don’t seem like they care very much. I’m sorry if guys like González, who haven’t watched much American soccer, don’t get it – but we are the LA Galaxy. Our pride lies in winning. So players and staff members like that need to step up and realize that their job is to win, not just to put in a little effort and collect a paycheck. If that’s all they see us, a paycheck, then I don’t want them anywhere near my club.

At the end of the day I’ll never leave this team. It sucks right now, yeah. But it was only one game. It’s only one spell of history. As I said, we are the LA Galaxy we’ll bounce back. As for the supporters as a whole, we’ve never left and we never will. ACB, Galaxians, LARS, Outlawz, and those who are unaffiliated will all still be here. Those who aren’t going to stick around weren’t real fans in the first place. At the end of the day, supporting the club is bigger than any result or bad few years. You come and support no matter what. Vamos Galaxy.

Best player: Sebastian Lletget (He put tons of pressure on the backline of LAFC and forced Blessing’s own goal. The only reason he slowed down later was because was running so hard in the first half.)