Toronto FC 0-0 LA Galaxy
Toronto FC visited the best team in the league, the Los Angeles Galaxy, and came away with an undeserved point. Toronto didn’t deserve the points and neither did Los Angeles. But, that’s the way it goes with uninspiring, tense draws. Neither team was able to get into any rhythm. Neither side really threatened.
I don’t mean to be over critical, but LA’s offense was dismal. Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle both played like they were trying not to get hurt. With the National team camp approaching, you would think that others like Jovan Kirovski or Mike Magee would step up, especially playing at home. In previous games, the rookie Michael Stephens made his presence felt. This is the first game that he was completely invisible. Overall, the two Toronto frontmen, Chad Barrett and Dwayne De Rosario, were the only offense that showed they wanted to be there and they showed their motivation from the very earliest part of the match. Omar Gonzalez was very nearly red-carded in trying to stop them.
This draw wasn’t due to rock-solid defenses either. Although, if I had to judge both teams by their defenses, I would probably go with LA being the better.
LA was unable to show any urgency in staying the cream-of-the-crop of Major League Soccer. Up until now, their tremendous run of 7-0-1 was due entirely to their professionalism in taking the game to their opponents. There was an urgency to prove that last year’s end of season form wasn’t a fluke.
Besides the fact that Landon Donovan may have had his mind elsewhere (i.e., the World Cup), this game may be the first sign that teams are falling into their mid-season MLS form. MLS doesn’t create a drive for teams to make needed changes mid-season (like in other leagues worldwide) because making the playoffs is all that is necessary. Teams like Toronto and Los Angeles are able to take their foot off the pedal because they have a sufficient amount of points to get them through the next several months. Coupled with the coming heat of summer, clubs know that all the other clubs are falling into the same attitude. Teams doing badly, like DC United and Chivas USA, are trying to right their ships but they know there’s no urgency to do so. There’s still a whole month before they need to make a run. Overall, the existence of playoffs makes for boring soccer at this time of the year.
Some have made a big deal of the fact that Toronto’s goalkeeper, Stefan Frei, was forced to make four saves. None of those attempts were going to be dangerous, even for a keeper with one of the worse Goals Against Average. Buddle put the ball on the post once, Magee had two close range shots (5 and 10 yards out) that he put right at the keeper, while Dunivant could only put a rebound right back at Frei as well.
I’m looking forward to seeing what this LA team will look like now that Donovan (and Buddle) are away with the National team. I have a feeling we’ll see Buddle back before Donovan but it will be good to see how this midfield does without their captain making those diagonal runs. I would love to see Alex Cazumba get some more playing time on the left. From what we’ve seen so far, Clint Mathis isn’t going to help this team. I think Bruce Arena would agree with me, as he’s chosen to go with Chris Klein ahead of Mathis.
While he didn’t impress me in the first couple of games, Juninho is proving to be a good asset to this team. He has potential to be a Cienfuegos type player, sitting right behind the forwards and making magic!
So, (beer glasses raised) here’s to MLS being what it is, the Galaxy doing some damage to Dallas on Thursday, May 20th, the young kids on the team picking up some good experience in the friendly against Boca Juniors, and another LA victory in the match-up of the undefeated’s on May 29 – Los Angeles at Columbus!