CARSON, Calif -- The LA Galaxy’s 1-0 loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps left Galaxy head coach Curt Onalfo and his charges frustrated by the game's precious few chances which kept the Galaxy from leapfrogging the Whitecaps in the Western Conference Standings.
“I thought at times tonight we played some good soccer,” Onalfo told the press. “We didn’t capitalize on some key opportunities and I thought our level dropped a little bit in the second half. We gave away a goal on a set piece and we didn’t capitalize on the few chances we had.”
Captain Jelle Van Damme echoed his coaches sentiments.
“It was a pretty close game,” Van Damme said. “We had a few opportunities and, like I said before, in those kind of games you have to be efficient. I don’t think we were efficient in the third part and sadly for us those kind of games get decided on set pieces and that’s what happened today.”
The Galaxy’s best chance came in just the fourth minute as Bradley Diallo's pinpoint cross found the head of a streaking Jack McBean, but the forward couldn’t keep his effort down.
“I want that one back,” McBean lamented. “That would have changed the game. You never know how the game would play out, but going up early like that against a team that’s kind of sitting back, that’s exactly what we were looking for.”
While chances were missed at one end, Van Damme took full responsibility for the game’s defining moment at the other.
“It was my man,” the Belgian claimed of Tony Tchani’s 64th-minute headed strike from Christian Bolanos’ free kick. “I had to mark him so it’s my responsibility. I’ll take that. It was just a misjudgment. I ran with him and at one point I stopped because I thought Brian [Rowe] was coming, but Brian was shouting, ‘Away!’ So it’s my responsibility, but that’s the way it goes in life. Like I said, I take it and just move on.”
For Giovani dos Santos, it was one of those days where soccer plays a cruel joke, putting in the work but still not score. For the 2017 MLS All-Star selection, he wouldn't use the seeming bad luck as an excuse.
“It was one of those games where you keep trying and you don’t get the reward,” dos Santos concluded. “We had control of the game, but as I’ve said, we have to stop conceding goals, at home especially, and when we have the chances we have to try to score them.”
