May 31, 2008 MLS Toronto FC vs Los Angeles Galaxy (from MLSnet.com)

05/31/2008 8:05PM
Absence of stars noticeable in Galaxy loss
Beckham, Donovan miss game; Los Angeles struggles against Toronto
By Mark Polishuk / MLSnet.com Staff

TORONTO -- When a club has two players combine for over half of its goals and assists totals, it's hard to escape the label of being called a two-man team. That label sticks even more when the team loses two consecutive games without those players.

This is the situation in which the Los Angeles Galaxy find themselves. Without offensive dynamos David Beckham and Landon Donovan, the Galaxy dropped a 2-0 result to Toronto FC on Saturday at BMO Field.

Beckham was missing from the squad due to international duty, while Donovan was sidelined with the groin injury that led to his early exit last Saturday against Kansas City. Donovan was in the lineup against Toronto but didn't take the field as the striker missed his first match of the season.

The absences were noticeable. L.A. managed just one shot on goal and four shots overall against TFC, and were outshot 12-4 by a Reds side that just seemed to overwhelm the Galaxy in the second half. Toronto scored both goals in the second half, the first by Julius James after heading a Rohan Ricketts free kick, and the second on a finish by striker Jeff Cunningham.

The scoreline could've easily been more lopsided, were it not for some misses from TFC's players and four saves from Galaxy goalkeeper Steve Cronin.

"If you see how we started [in the second half], first touch we give it away, second ball we touch, we give it away and that sets the tone," Gullit said. "I think that the free kick changed the whole game and there was a moment that we could have conceded more goals.

"After [Cunningham's goal], they could've scored three, four, five goals. They had lots of opportunities. You could see [our team] lost confidence a little bit."

The Galaxy seemed to run out of gas in its sixth game in a 22-day span. Gullit, however, said the problem wasn't with his team's fitness or lack of certain players, but rather with their difficulty in adjusting to BMO Field's artificial surface. A short rainstorm near the end of the first half made the surface very slick and Gullit said it hampered his team.

"It is a huge difficulty to play on this turf," Gullit said. "Slipping, sliding and the ball is just a half yard in front of you and then it's gone. So it was a huge problem for us, especially in the second half."

The loss was L.A.'s second of the year to the Reds, who beat the Galaxy 3-2 at The Home Depot Center on April 13. Gullit said he felt his side outplayed TFC in that game, and for the first 45 minutes of Saturday's match, it looked as if the Galaxy were playing a classic tight road performance.

"It's disappointing especially when we played OK," said Galaxy defender Chris Klein. "You know I think it was a little bit of bend and don't break. Finally they get through on a set piece and that changed the game we really didn't have much. I don't know how many chances we created but it's obviously disappointing but we'll look at it and move on."

The loss means that L.A. could be out of first place in the Western Conference by the end of the weekend. It is the second loss in a row for the Galaxy, who were knocked out in the first round of the U.S. Open Cup last Tuesday after a 1-0 defeat to the Colorado Rapids.

In that match, L.A. had 11 shots on goal and looked competent on attack, but the results speak for themselves: two games with Beckham and Donovan, and no goals scored.

"It's difficult missing Landon and David," said Klein."But we're going to have to deal with it because in this league you play games when the national teams play too, so we're going to have games where we're missing those guys."

The bright side for the Galaxy is that Beckham will be back for next Saturday's game against Colorado, and Donovan's groin injury is not seen as overly serious. Perhaps best of all for L.A. is the fact that the team will finally settle into a regular one game-per-week schedule.

Mark Polishuk is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.

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