Deficient defending has been the foundation of the LA Galaxy's end-of-season swoon, and the troubles sure were magnified in Wednesday's Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs showdown at Seattle, emphatically ending the defending MLS Cup champs' bid for a fourth title in five years.
Miscommunication cost LA two goals in the first 11 minutes, deficits from which they quickly rallied. But they had no answer when Erik Friberg struck in the 73rd minute after the Galaxy failed to adequately clear a ball from their box. That goal gave the Sounders a 3-2 knockout-round victory, and a conference-semifinal assignment against FC Dallas or Vancouver.
“I think Christmas came early in Seattle,” Galaxy coach Bruce Arena told media at CenturyLink Field. “We absolutely gift-wrapped that game for them tonight. Our play in front of our goal defensively was atrocious tonight. Just gift-wrapped three goals for them.
“Give them credit, they jumped on the mistakes, but we were shockingly poor on those plays.”
It amplified problems that beset the Galaxy over the final two months of the regular season, when they won just one of their last seven games and slipped from the top spot in the league to fifth place in the West.
They've been particularly poor defending set pieces and crosses, and Seattle victimized them three times in such situations.
Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts spilled an Andres Ivanschitz cross after he was screened when Omar Gonzalez charged past in an effort to head the ball away, and Clint Dempsey put it away for a fifth-minute lead.
Sebastian Lletget pulled LA even moments later, but the Sounders' Nelson Valdez made it 2-1 in the 11th minute. That's when he finished a Ivanschitz free kick at the left post--Arena was unhappy that a foul was called on “maybe the best tackle of the night”--as Ricketts and Steven Gerrard each waited for the other to deal with it.
The Galaxy, who were the better side in the first half, answered that one, too, via Gyasi Zardes in the 22nd minute. But Seattle took command in the second half and Friberg netted the winner after A.J. DeLaGarza headed a Sounders cross high into the air, and Leonardo sent it out of the box on a bounce for Friberg to volley.
“I think if we analyze the entire season [since I arrived in July], we were brilliant up until three or four weeks ago,” said Gerrard, who noted that he and Ricketts shared responsibility for the second goal. “Then all of a sudden we've been conceding sloppy goals, and that's certainly got carried into tonight.... In general, we're conceding too many goals on set pieces and crosses into the box. It feels like we've got to score two or three goals to win games at the moment, and that's not how it should be.”
The Galaxy, who exit the playoffs at the earliest point during Arena's seven years in charge, were happy with their attacking play, which created ample opportunity, mostly through Giovani Dos Santos. But the attack wasn't on their minds when the game was done.
“We played pretty well. We should have won this game tonight,” Arena said. “We literally gift-wrapped the game. If you're going to give away goals like that, you don't deserve to win. That's for sure.... To concede the three goals that we conceded is absolutely poor.”
