CARSON, Calif. – Against the Houston Dynamo on Saturday night, the LA Galaxy drew a match that played out similarly to March’s season-opening home loss.
The Galaxy began their 2017 with a 2-1 home loss to FC Dallas, a match that saw a last-second attempt in six minutes of stoppage time go painfully wide left. On Saturday they managed to scrape and pull away a point from MLS’ other Texan side, again in six minutes of stoppage time.
“Earlier in the year,” said head coach Curt Onalfo, “we had similar cases at home where we had the chances at the end and we didn’t convert. We’ve become a team, and we find ways to make things happen.
“I’m pleased we got the point. I wanted three, but under the circumstances we’ll take one.”
While the comeback is a nice boost to the club’s confidence, their 1-3-3 home record is quite unusual in MLS. One reason for that: The Galaxy have struggled to keep a healthy roster. They were only able to field a 17-man roster Saturday night with injuries, suspensions, and international duty starting to pile up.
“We were definitely depleted,” said Onalfo. “We certainly had some youth on our field – Hugo Arellano is 19 years old, getting his debut. I felt like it was pretty sloppy to start, we’re a little bit out of rhythm with all the changes we had to make, and then gave up an untimely goal.
“We just have to continue to grow, knowing that in games like this we developed a lot of depth for our team. We guys some valuable minutes that haven’t gotten minutes. In the end that just makes us better.”
Of course, the tone after the match would have been quite different if it weren’t for that stoppage-time goal. Roman Alessandrini started the play offside and tried to get back on in time for Bradford Jamieson’s pass. On replays he looked to be leaning offside, and even live, Alessandrini waited for the assistant referee’s decision before celebrating his goal.
If it was offside, it’s not going to keep the Frenchman up at night.
“I don’t know, maybe?” said Alessandrini when asked if he thought he was offside. “We don’t care.”
