(East Los Angeles, CA) October 6, 2020 [From The Editor’s Desk]: There are some very strong concerns about the way the Galaxy have remained winless in their last six outings, having dropped four in a row. Last Saturday night, 10/3, in San José, they dropped another “badly-need-to-win match,” this time against the San José Earthquakes in the Cali Clásico by the score of (2-1). Once again, the lack of a productive and consistent offense has been the nagging culprit during this bad and costly “slump.”
Through the MLS insiders and sports writers grapevine, some emotions are starting to surface and some panic is beginning to spread that they may not qualify for the playoffs even with the expanded version of this year’s COVID-19 MLS season. And time is beginning to get short with only 8 matches left to play.
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(Match Summary): (1st Half) – It appeared that the wake-up call went answered by the Galaxy as they opened the scoring with a direct shot-on-goal by “Chicharito,“ however it sailed too strongly to the right, collided with the goal post, and then ricocheted back to the front of the net, where a streaking and crossing Sebastian Lletget found it squarely with his right leg, and banged it through cleanly for the goal, (1-0) Galaxy. The score came at the 4′ minute mark.
(Photo Gallery): Major League Soccer @MLS; LA Galaxy @LAGalaxy & San José Earthquakes @SJEarthquakes. To view match highlights click here.
The teams played on pretty evenly until the 42′ minute mark, when the Quakes, Marcos Lopez, slipped behind the Galaxy defensive line, and then after capturing a great crossing pass just inside the left-side of the box, had plenty of time to take a directly aimed, shot-on-goal, and lift it high enough to pass over the rather extended arms reach of Galaxy goal keeper, David Bingham, driving it deep into the right back-side of the goal. Score was now tied at (1-1) going into the half.
(2nd Half): After playing most of the period without much definitive action, on either offense or defense, there came the 82nd-minute penalty kick by Andy Rios that would lift the Quakes to the eventual (2-1) Cali Clásico win over the Galaxy. In describing the kick, Rios drew good aim and sent a rocket just past the outstretched arms of David Bingham. Leading to that penalty kick, the match Referee spotted the infraction when Galaxy defender Rolf Feltscher got tangled up with the Quakes, Defender, Nick Lima, and pulled him down. It was all-academic from there to close out the match and secure the victory. The Galaxy’s record now reads (4W-7L-3D=15 points), good for 12th place as of this writing.
(Factoid): The Cali Clásico overall leader is the Galaxy (32-24-16). However, the Quakes lead in the last (8) encounters (4-2-2). The last Clásico match was played on 9/13 and ended in a scoreless tie.
(Next Up): Wed, Oct. 7th, Portland Timbers, 7:30 PM PST | To Watch: MLS “LIVE” on ESPN+ in U.S.; MLS “LIVE” on DAZN in Canada. LOCAL TV: Spectrum SportsNet, ROOT Sports NW
