Galaxy forced to settle for draw against Vancouver Whitecaps

CARSON >> With a win, the Galaxy could have moved into first place in the Western Conference, which would have been an important accomplishment in the early days of the Greg Vanney project.

However, nothing is easy in Major League Soccer and especially for the Galaxy.

Despite a first-half goal from Kevin Cabral, the Galaxy (10-6-2, 32 points) was unable to see the game through, eventually settling for a 1-1 draw in front of 16,234 at Dignity Health Sports Park, Sunday.

“They came out the first 15 minutes of the second half, they were the better team,” Galaxy defender Derrick Williams said.

Cabral’s goal in the 32nd minute was the just reward for another strong first-half performance by the Galaxy.

The club led 1-0 at halftime, but the inability to add to its lead, ended up costing the Galaxy.

“We had a lot of the game, we had a lot of the game in their half of the field, the ball was moving quick, but initially in the first half, we weren’t finishing our attacks,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “As the half progressed, we started to get more purposeful and we started getting guys to the end line, starting getting behind and started creating chances …obviously, the thing is we need to finish more of those chances.

“If you get a team against the ropes, you have to put them away and take your chances and be more efficient around the goal.”

Vancouver found the equalizer in the 50th minute off of a corner kick. Ranko Veselinovic went up and beat Galaxy goalkeeper Jonathan Bond, who was coming out to punch the ball away. Veselinovic beat his defender and got the ball into the goal.

“Second half, we were lacking energy,” Williams said. “We should have won it (the game) in the first half.”

A troubling trend that is brewing for the Galaxy is its slow starts to second half. So far this season, the Galaxy has allowed six goals within the first 15 minutes of the second half.

“We came out, I thought lethargic, slow, we didn’t work through their adjustments and give ourselves the opportunity to readjust to what they were doing,” Vanney said. “The energy level coming out of it and working through that moment, where they finally for the first time in the game, they have their share of the attack and ball in our half of the field, we have to as a group, we have to work through that moment until we can adapt and adjust to take the game back.”

Later in the second half, the Galaxy tried to “take the game back”, but was stalled on each attempt by Vancouver goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau.

Then in the late stages of the game, Cabral got a touch on the ball inside the penalty box and with Crepeau coming out, Cabral went to the ground, looking for a last-second penalty, but referee Baldomero Toledo, rightfully, didn’t give it, sending both teams home with a draw.

With the draw, the Galaxy remains in the third place, behind Sporting Kansas City (34 points) and Seattle (33).

This post first appeared on ocregister.com

Related

Share this post