The LA Galaxy suffered a 2-1 loss at City Park against 13th-place St. Louis City SC.
Marco Reus couldn’t carry the team without Riqui Puig, and now, thanks to the yellow card accumulation, they will have to face LAFC without Joseph Paintsil.
Glancing at the table before the match suggested an easy fixture for the LA Galaxy. St. Louis City SC found themselves in 13th place, the same position the Galaxy struggled to get out of last season. The Angelinos were comfortably on the opposite side of the table, sitting in first place and with the chance to lock down a spot in the playoffs with a win today.
Perhaps the Galaxy players paid too much attention to the table before the match, as they played with far too much ease. A lack of sharpness and pressure gave St. Louis a hold of the game early on.
The hosts applied pressure from the beginning, forcing a poor clearance from Galaxy keeper John McCarthy. From there, a simple series of passes saw City carve themselves into the Galaxy’s box.
The ball came to Cedric Teuchert near the top of the box, and he released a shot, but Mark Delgado came sliding in and blocked it. Unfortunately, the bounce landed in Teuchert’s favor, giving him a second chance near the penalty spot, which he slotted calmly into the bottom right corner to put St. Louis 1-0 up in the ninth minute.
The Galaxy seemed to wake up at that point. Gabriel Pec got a chance to dribble and create a good chance with Marco Reus and Diego Fagundez in the 13th minute, which was good.
But the Galaxy’s tendency to need a slap in the face before fighting for the result is shameful at this point.
Veterans Maya Yoshida and Miki Yamane are usually blameless in this regard, with the former constantly putting in great last-ditch challenges and the latter making forward runs to stretch the play from the first whistle. It’s the rest of the team that seems to take their foot off the gas unless there’s something, like a deficit, forcing them to start accelerating a little bit more.
Even as they began to push, the LA Galaxy generally struggled to find much joy in the first half. Marco Reus took up the playmaker role in the absence of Riqui Puig, who was serving a suspension for yellow card accumulation.
He played simply as he did in his stellar debut against Atlanta United.
Still, without an acclaimed Spanish player by his side to distract defenders, simplicity was not enough to yield results.
The first half ended 1-0 St. Louis, and head coach Greg Vanney must’ve had some heavy words for his players at the break. Diego Fagundez was recalled in favor of Miguel Berry, and the squad played as if they had just received a kick in the behind, that is to say, much better than how they started the first 45.
The change and extra motivation yielded almost immediate results for Vanney and his team. Gabriel Pec, who showed great impetus in the first half to little avail, combined with Berry to get inside the box from the touchline, and his first-time shot blasted past Roman Bürki to put the Galaxy level in the 46th minute.
The match seemed to level out from there, with each side exchanging inquisitive looks into the other’s box. Nothing seemed too fruitful until the 68th minute when City had a solid run of possession and created a chance that the Galaxy seemed to clear.
Joseph Paintsil ended up with the ball not far from his own box and looked to start a Galaxy attack. As the Galaxy’s defenders started to transition and lost sight of their marking assignments, Paintsil released a careless pass, which found a red shirt.
St. Louis took full advantage of this gift and immediately attacked the unprepared defense.
Jayden Reid’s pass slid between three defenders and found Marcel Hartle, whose first-time effort landed in the top right corner and gave City back the lead.
After that, the LA Galaxy didn’t have much of a note besides bringing back an injured player and losing another through suspension.
Dejan Joveljic returned to play in the 78th minute for the first time since picking up an injury against Minnesota United on July 7th. He nearly had a couple of good chances to mark his return with a goal, but St. Louis strongly defended their lead.
Later on, during the second minute of stoppage time, Joseph Paintsil committed a foul and immediately began complaining to referee Joe Dickerson. Paintsil must’ve said something pretty incendiary as the cameras showed Dickerson quickly swiveling and handing the Ghanaian a yellow card for dissent. Joseph Paintsil will now have to miss the home match against LAFC after earning his 5th booking.
Greg Vanney will be disappointed at his side for their poor performance and losing the chance to take sole ownership of first place and book their ticket to the playoffs. Their next opportunity will come on September 14th against 2nd place LAFC, a team who has gotten the better of the Galaxy each time they’ve played this year.
There is clearly much left to be written about the Galaxy as the regular season comes to a close in a more dramatic fashion than might be necessary. They must start matches as they intend to finish them and keep their heads when facing adversity.
The LA Galaxy clearly have a championship-quality team, but do they have the championship mentality?
PHOTO: Scott Rovak/USA TODAY Sports
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