Down a man for the final 32 minutes, the Los Angeles Galaxy did well to keep the Kansas City Wizards at bay. The visitors, though, finally broke down the Galaxy's defense and nabbed a potential game winner six minutes from time.
But the Wizards could not crack the Galaxy's character.
Edson Buddle scored three minutes later and the Galaxy walked away with a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Kansas City at The Home Depot Center on Saturday.
Even without 10 men, Galaxy players said they wanted and deserved more than a draw.
"We played well and deserved more," said Landon Donovan, who set up Buddle's goal with a deft pass. "A little unlucky, could have been better in front of the goal but at the end of the day we keep showing that we have a lot of character and (Saturday) we showed we were a good team."
The Galaxy had 13 shots and three on goal but were done in by bad luck and poor marksmanship. Twice the Galaxy hit the crossbar and several times Galaxy players missed the goal altogether on other occasions. Former Galaxy star Kevin Hartman came up with several strong saves as well.
What isn't in question, to players and coaches, is the Galaxy's strength as a team.
"To get a point out of this (Saturday) you have to be a good team," Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said. "If there's a criticism, it's poor finishing. Maybe you say not a whole lot of luck but our guys played real well and I'm just pleased to see the progress that we're making."
Alan Gordon had several opportunities to score but was denied once by Hartman, who turned him away in the 22nd minute after a quick breakaway, another time by the crossbar, which Gordon nailed in the 38th minute, and yet another time by his poor marksmanship as Gordon sailed a shot over an open goal in the 57th minute.
And then disaster struck. Gregg Berhalter saw red after he got a handful of Claudio Lopez's jersey. Lopez got past Berhalter and was set to go in alone on goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts when Berhalter grabbed Lopez's shirt.
Berhalter, though, said his shirt tug wasn't much of a foul.
"I kind of gave him a quick grab but it was nothing. It was nothing," Berhalter said. "It was a quick grab and might have slowed him down a bit but the ball skipped to Donovan. I thought it would be a yellow."
Instead Berhalter was sent off for the second time in his brief MLS career. For nearly a half hour, the Galaxy held off Kansas City but the visitors broke through when Davy Arnaud knocked in a ball in the 84th minute.
"Then I said 'Oh man,'" Berhalter said, then paused. "Actually I can't say what I really said. I thought bad thoughts. Obviously it was disappointing but the character that we showed again is unbelievable ... we keep coming back, we keep fighting."
The Galaxy, though, struck three minutes later when Donovan found Buddle inside the penalty area.
"Dema (Kovalenko) did a good job (of winning the ball) ... and got it to me quickly, which was good," Donovan said. "I had space to run at them and Edson made a good run wide and I wanted to put it in front of him and give him some time to get there. It kind of went away from him a little but he did a good job hitting it."
Buddle said he reacted quickly to the play once Kovalenko won the ball.
"I knew that Landon was going to get it once Dema got to it and just to give Landon an option I made sure I got wide enough," Buddle said. "He could gone himself or he could have given it to me. He chose me and I was able to get a good strike on goal. That's the kind of balls you get (from Donovan), the kind of quality he has."
The game was the Galaxy's fifth consecutive draw and eighth in their last nine games. Although the Galaxy are not pulling out victories, players and coaches said the team is improving bit by bit.
"We kind of went through stages where we worked hard on getting the defensive part right, and now we have the defensive part right and we're doing well and we're moving forward a lot and have gotten a lot better," Donovan said. "We just have to be a bit sharper in front of the goal. It's kind of the final step now."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com
