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It was a night of familiar storylines at last night's Galaxy game.
Weather -- warm, but nice L.A. summer night.
Attendance -- 4th sellout of the year.
Galaxy offense -- flowing and scoring.
Galaxy defense -- erratic.
MLS officiating - subpar.
The Galaxy jumped out to an early lead when forward Landon Donovan pounced on a loose ball in front of the Columbus Crew goal after Crew goalie William Hesmer bobbled a cross from Galaxy midfielder David Beckham at the 4th minute. The early lead inspired the blue-and-gold attack to apply more pressure, and a few minutes later, Donovan nearly scored his second of the night after redirecting a ball from Beckham just wide of goal.
As the first half wore on, the Galaxy took advantange of Crew mistakes to create more danger. At the 23rd minute, Beckham nearly snuck one in over Hesmer's head from about 30 yards out. A play that resembled his 70 yard strike against Kansas City a few weeks ago.
The remainder of the first half saw the Galaxy take a greater share of possession, but the Crew took their share as well and used it to generate a few chances on goal. However, none of them proved to be too dangerous and the Galaxy took a 1 - 0 lead into the locker room.
Galaxy forward Edson Buddle started the Galaxy's second half much like Donovan started the first. Buddle got himself on the score sheet for a second week in a row when he scored his 9th of the season at the 47th minute. Being down by 2 goals, Columbus was forced into focusing more on generating offensive opportunities. Their change in tactics opened up the game, providing opportunities for both teams and increasingly putting pressure on the Galaxy defense.
Pressure continued to build on the Galaxy defense as the minutes ticked by. The blue-and-gold gradually began to lose control of the midfield and struggled to get out of their own half, as has been the case during long periods of most games this season. Eventually Columbus managed to break through the Galaxy defense, scoring at the 67th when the Galaxy defense was unable to clear a cross into their penalty box. Minutes later, the Crew tied the score at 2 when Crew offensive machine Guillermo Barros Schelotto converted a dubious penalty called by referee Mark Geiger against Galaxy workhorse Chris Klein.
Ten minutes later, Geiger would call another dubious penalty. Beckham fell at the top of the box after having received a ball from Buddle who had just made a great run down the left flank to create the chance. Donovan converted the penalty, increasing his league leading goal tally to 11.
With only a few minutes left in regulation, the Galaxy seemed en route to another win, but Geiger made another questionable call against the Galaxy, leading to the Crew's equalizer. Galaxy defender Abel Xavier charged in to win the ball from the Crew's Robbie Rogers who was streaking in on the Galaxy goal. It appeared as though Xavier had cleanly intervened, but Geiger thought otherwise, then gave Xavier a yellow card to boot.
Schelotto took the ensuing free kick and put a choreographed set play into motion for the Crew. Galaxy 'keeper Steve Cronin saved the resulting shot on goal, but left a very dangerous rebound in the 6 yard box. The Crew's Steven Lenhart pounced on the rebound, netting the tieing goal, bringing the final score to 3 - 3.
Overall, the story was the same for the Galaxy: good offense, questionable defense. Adding subpar officiating into the mix certainly doesn't help, but regardless, this factor does not justify sloppy defending or lack of concentration for the entire 90.
Highlights are available here.
Next week is the revival of the original MLS rivalry: Galaxy vs. D.C. United. Should be a very interesting game given both teams have their defensive problems.
Photo by John M. Padilla/used with permission
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