Galaxy Is Searching for a Little Defense
Turnovers make all the difference. Laker Coach Phil Jackson hammers that point home constantly, and so does Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid.
Failure to hang on to the ball cost Los Angeles last Saturday at San Jose, where a 4-2 loss to the Earthquakes meant the Galaxy’s lead atop Major League Soccer’s Western Conference was cut in half, to one game.
What had been a six-point edge could have become a nine-point advantage but instead shrank to a three-point gap -- all because the Galaxy failed to keep possession.
Going into tonight’s match against the Dallas Burn at the Home Depot Center, Schmid’s team leads the league in goals with 18 but also shares the lead in goals allowed with 14.
“We’re trying to be ‘Showtime,’ L.A. Lakers, ‘90s stuff, back to the Magic Johnson days,” Schmid said, tongue-in-cheek. “We’re supposed to be L.A.’s team.”
He then turned serious.
“Obviously, we’re pleased with the offense we’re producing,” he said. “We’re displeased with some of the goals that we’re allowing.”
Poor tackling, failure to mark opposing players tightly enough, errant passing and bad decision-making have been blamed for the leaks, but Schmid said the underlying cause was turnovers.
“Ultimately, we get ourselves in trouble in games when we lose possession at points of the game when we really should be keeping it,” he said. “We give possession away too easily and it forces us to defend a lot.”
That becomes a problem because Danny Califf and Tyrone Marshall are sidelined by injury, meaning the Galaxy is missing half its starting defense -- its two central defenders.
“We miss Danny and Tyrone a lot,” defender Chris Albright said. “Those guys have been our two best defenders over the past three years.”
Korean veteran Hong Myung-Bo and Ryan Suarez have been filling in, but Hong is 35, Suarez played a limited amount last season and three games in eight days take their toll.
“You have to look at the personnel on the field,” Schmid said. “For Bo, playing 270 minutes in a week is asking an awful lot for him at this stage, and especially playing four in the back, which is not necessarily his favorite [system].
“I’m sure Suarez can’t remember the last time he played 270 minutes in a week. So we’re asking a lot of him in that regard.”
Schmid said he could have changed tactics at San Jose but elected not to do so.
“As a coach I could have made it easier and said, ‘OK, let’s just go in there and bunker it in the back, play ugly, play defensive,’ ” he said. “But that’s not the style we want to play, that’s not the style we want to promote. We’re going into every game saying, ‘We’re coming here to win the game.’ ”
Albright said the postage stamp-size of the Spartan Stadium field was instrumental in the loss to the defending MLS champion Earthquakes.
“Giving the ball away at San Jose is probably a problem for any team that goes in there,” he said. “That’s a really difficult place to play. I think maybe we could have been a little more composed.
“That’s one of the hardest places to possess the ball because they know how to play so well on that field. They pressure you all over the field and it’s tough to keep it.”
Schmid said the transition game, especially from defense to offense, needed some work.
“What’s concerning to me is that when we do a good job defending and we win the ball back, we give it away right away,” he said. “Those first five or six seconds after we regain the ball, we have to be a little bit sharper and quicker.”
Against Dallas, the Galaxy will try to show that it can not only win the ball back but keep possession.
“The game’s a turnover sport,” Schmid said.
“If you react well to them, you’re a better team.”
*
TONIGHT
vs. Dallas, 7
ESPN2 (10 p.m.)
Site -- Home Depot Center.
Radio -- KMPC (1540), KMXE (830, Spanish), Radio Korea (1230).
Records -- Galaxy 4-2-3, Burn 2-3-2.
Record vs. Burn -- 1-0.
Update -- The Galaxy, which defeated Dallas, 3-1, at the Cotton Bowl on May 8, will be without striker Carlos Ruiz (right ankle sprain), midfielder Peter Vagenas (midweek groin strain surgery) and defenders Danny Califf (right knee) and Tyrone Marshall (left knee). Forward Jovan Kirovski could return from a foot injury. The Burn, which has lost three in a row, will be minus forward Bobby Rhine (right knee), opening the way for veteran Jason Kreis to start. U.S. national team defender Cory Gibbs could return after being sidelined because of a groin strain.
-- Grahame L. Jones
