STANFORD, Calif. -- The LA Galaxy followed their five-goal outburst in the past two outings with an early goal to take command of Saturday night's California Clasico against the San Jose Earthquakes. Then it all fell apart.
Juninho's third goal in as many games gave LA an advantage they couldn't hold onto, and the Quakes bullied them throughout the second half at Stanford Stadium en route to a 3-1 triumph at Stanford Stadium that wasn't nearly so close.
Galaxy coach Bruce Arena was disgusted, which he made clear in a combative, 114-word postgame session with the media.
“We were bad second half,” Arena said after LA's road winless streak, dating to last August, reached 16 games. “What can you say? Whatever the reasons are. We got outplayed. Very poor performance on our part. ...
“We were crappy. You can come up with all your theories, we stunk in the second half. You can use all your theories you want, you have no clue. We couldn't do anything simple and right. From giving away the ball that [led] to their first goal -- from that point on, we were no good.”
The Galaxy looked good to start and went ahead on a 30-yard Juninho blast in the 17th minute, a fine follow-up to successive blowout wins -- 5-1 a week earlier over Philadelphia and 5-0 Wednesday night against Portland, both at StubHub Center.
But a giveaway led to Chris Wondolowski's stirring volley to the upper-right corner, against the run of play in the 28th minute, and LA managed just one chance the rest of the way: a Sebastian Lletget half-volley at San Jose goalkeeper David Bingham from a Stefan Ishizaki corner kick just before the break.
The Galaxy, playing their fifth game in 15 days (of seven in 23), took just one shot in the second half, not on frame, as the Earthquakes dominated in every fashion. The home side was unfortunate to score just twice after halftime.
“We just switched off,” captain Robbie Keane said. “Certainly on [Clarence Goodson's go-ahead header in the 52nd minute], and from then on, they controlled. To be fair, they were the better team, so we've only got ourselves to blame.
“This is a kick to the backside. Maybe we were getting a bit carried away with ourselves scoring a lot of goals, and, you know, we have to be concentrated all the time. We just weren't at the races tonight.”
Said Juninho: “We're still conceding late goals in the second half, and we struggle on the road still. We have to get better, play better on the road. ... We have to put ourselves in a better position and fix whatever we have to fix.”
The Galaxy, who are 0-5-5 away from StubHub this year, have taken the lead in five road games and failed to hold onto any of them.
Keane pinpointed the Galaxy's struggles on the night as needing immediate attention.
“We want to stop this as soon as possible,” he said. “No excuses tonight. Hold our hands up, in the first half we played well, we controlled it. Second half, we didn't play as well. We switched off the [Goodson] goal, and they were the better team. From then on, we were chasing the game.
“They put everyone behind the ball. The midfield were compact and [Matias Perez Garcia] was running around and Wondolowski, they made it hard to get in between them. You have to give them credit.”
Scott French covers the LA Galaxy for MLSsoccer.com.
