LA Galaxy lean on championship experience to open 2015 with victory over chicago
CARSON, Calif. --
In the final few moments before the MLS season finally kicked off, several LA Galaxy players watched as the vindication from last season emerged from the massive new board atop the north end of the StubHub Center.
Their accomplishments from a year ago manifested as the championship banner rose high into the southern California night. The visual confirmation of the title won just a few months ago inside this stadium offered a representation of the team poised to take the field once more against Chicago.
Some of the actors changed during the close season. Landon Donovan is off in retirement. Marcelo Sarvas joined Colorado to tutor the emerging Rapids from his usual perch in central midfield. But the fabric of the team, the essence of why the club has won three titles in four seasons remains. It showed as the Galaxy commenced their title defense against Chicago with a persistent and professional 2-0 victory on Friday night.
“I think experience definitely carried us through,” Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez said.
This opening match carried some familiar hallmarks. This is not the first time an opponent traveled to the StubHub Center with modest ambitions and a fervent desire to play on the counter. This exercise required the patience cultivated over years of practice to churn through the kinks of creating opportunities without Donovan and sharpen the work from preseason to a sharp enough point to secure the result.
Everything starts with the necessary application. The home side lacked cohesion and quality in the opening half hour, but they improved enough in the final 15 minutes to ask genuine questions of the visiting Fire. One or two chances passed along the way, but the conviction about the eventual payoff persisted.
“We thought that we put them in a position where their team would tire out a little bit,” Arena said. “They had to do a lot of defending in the first half. Our guys kept their concentration. They had the kind of discipline they needed to have. When they got the first goal, I think they felt pretty comfortable that they would be able to get a second one and get three points.”
The knowledge of similar endeavors and the dearth of menace presented by the opposition allowed the Galaxy to pursue that critical first goal methodically. It finally arrived with a bit of help from a poor Fire square pass just after the hour, but José Villarreal took his chance with aplomb nevertheless.
Once the Galaxy went in front, they understood exactly how to close out the game. Gonzalez and Leonardo spent most of the night cutting off the direct and predictable service toward Kennedy Igboananike, while Juninho ushered Shaun Maloney out of the game with little trouble. The visitors proved inefficient and ineffective in their attempts to use possession. Those failings left the Galaxy with the straightforward task of staying organized and waiting for the time to punish the Fire’s desire to chase an equalizer.
“There were a lot of veterans on the pitch, as far as our team,” Galaxy forward Gyasi Zardes said. “That really comes into play around the 75th minute or so. You know how to kill the game off.”
There are few, if any, players better at accomplishing the feat than Keane. He released much of his frustration on the night by placing himself in position to smash a Baggio Husidic knockdown into the net for the second. His gestures after the goal suggested some displeasure still lingered on a night when his teammates did not connect with him effectively or place him in positions to threaten often enough.
Even for a settled team like the Galaxy, there are some of those inevitable issues to work out in the early stages of a new season. Keane will need to adjust from the precise combination work of Donovan to his more mortal teammates. The incisive forays from Villarreal from his perch on the left and the supply from Stefan Ishizaki on the right created new outlets from midfield, but the dexterity and the reliability on the ball must increase to ensure Keane’s frustrations dissipate along the way. The curious absence of regular number one Jaime Penedo – a healthy scratch after battling some injuries, according to Arena – creates some uncertainty in goal, too.
None of those concerns threatened to sidetrack the road from coronation to celebration on this night, though. This game offered a chance for the champions to manage their way to victory and set the tone for more consistency at the start of the season. They took it as expected.
“We weren’t as sharp as we needed to be, but it’s the first game of the season,” Arena said. “The players don’t fully have their legs yet. It’ll get better. If we were a little bit sharper in the first half, we’d get a goal or two, no question about that.”
That time will come at some point down the line as time progresses and the stakes increase. Until it does, the Galaxy can show why that banner hangs in its ground and work its way into position to claim another one in December.
