Galaxy Lacking Inspiration

The carrot has not worked and now neither has the stick. Not completely anyway.

Several Galaxy players were reminded that the cutoff date for guaranteeing Major League Soccer contracts is Friday, but the news did little to inspire Coach Steve Sampson’s stuck-in-a-rut team.

Instead, Los Angeles continued its almost year-long winless streak away from the Home Depot Center when it was held to a 1-1 tie Wednesday night by Real Salt Lake in front of an announced 15,112 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.

Brazil’s Ednaldo de Conceicao did score his first goal of the season after a series of uninspired performances, but his 17th-minute strike after blowing past two defenders was not enough on a warm evening in Utah.

Instead of capitalizing on its advantage, the Galaxy allowed Real Salt Lake back into the match, and the home team eventually tied it on Jamie Watson’s goal off an Andy Williams pass 10:44 into the second half.

Ignoring an “away” victory over Chivas USA at the Home Depot Center on May 28, the Galaxy has not won on the road since June 27, 2004, at Chicago.

The goals have dried up for Los Angeles (7-4-3), which has scored only twice in its last four games.

“I think it has a lot to do with our service,” Sampson said. “I think we need to be a lot more precise. We’re not putting the ball where it belongs. That was the case again tonight.”

Real Salt Lake (3-8-3) knows all about scoring droughts, of course.

The game’s 35th minute came and went without incident, but it meant Real had reached an MLS-record 536 consecutive minutes without scoring a goal.

Just under 11 minutes into the second half, the streak ended, at 557 minutes -- more than nine and one quarter hours -- when Watson received the ball from Williams, got past defender Michael Umana and then beat Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman.

The Galaxy’s last chance to end the woeful road streak before it reaches a full year comes Saturday against the Earthquakes at San Jose, where Landon Donovan’s return to Spartan Stadium is likely to be greeted by some hostile fans angry at his move south.

The Galaxy finished 2-1-1 against Salt Lake this season.

Jones reported from Los Angeles.