The LA Galaxy haven’t played to their usual standard this season, but at no time have they been worse than they were in Sunday’s 4-0 thrashing at Orlando City SC.
The Galaxy made a cavalcade of errors in the loss, which was their worst defeat since a 5-0 disaster at New England in June 2013.
“We were awful on the day,” head coach Bruce Arena told media in Orlando after the match. “Out of 14 players that played, I thought about three of them played in an acceptable manner. We were outplayed all over the field, and, really, there's not much you can say.
“You go into a game and most players lose their battles on the field, you don't have a chance to win.”
The Galaxy were awful, building nearly nothing in attack – they didn't put their first shot on frame until the 88th minute – and paying for their miscues in the back, where Arena was forced to make moves when Omar Gonzalez, on the bench but not available because of a previously unreported knee ailment, joined left backs Robbie Rogers and Todd Dunivant on the lengthening injury list.
Regular midfielder Baggio Husidic played at left back and Tommy Meyer and Leonardo showed little chemistry in the middle, with Orlando City taking full advantage of LA's defensive woes.
Galaxy errors, two by Meyer, cost them on Eric Avila's and Cyle Larin's first half goals, and Kaká won and converted a 56th minute penalty kick that put the game out of reach.
Arena wasn't pleased with referee Jair Marrufo's call on the play, in which goalkeeper Jaime Penedo came off his line and slid into Kaká but appeared to get a piece of the ball.
“We needed to get the first goal [in the second half], and certainly what I thought was a poor call by the referee for the penalty basically put us out of the game,” he said. “A real poor call by the referee. The goalkeeper did an outstanding job coming out and blocking the shot.”
Realistically, the call didn’t make much difference. LA never had anything going, and the latest of a series of makeshift lineups – one that started with youngsters Bradford Jamieson IV and Ignacio Maganto up front – struggled everywhere on the field.
“That was one of the least experienced lineups we've probably ever played with, and it showed,” said right back A.J. DeLaGarza. “But I've been here seven years, and I probably had the worst game.”
Said forward Alan Gordon, who came on at halftime: “We're playing a lot of guys in a lot of different spots. The flow was obviously not there, probably has something to do with it, but we need to look at ourselves in the mirror, and we've got to have a better effort next [1662831762" tabindex="0">Friday at home against Houston.]”
Gonzalez's absence hurt. The US international is the 13th LA player to miss time this year due to injury.
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“Of course you miss him, but we basically helped create every one of their goals on the day, with our poor passing and getting dispossessed in the last half of the field,” Arena said. “Injuries are part of the game – what are you going to do? It's guys' jobs to step up for players that can't play, and we didn't get that done today.”
Gordon said it was “tough to say” that 1662831763" tabindex="0">Sunday's performance was worse than the Galaxy’s 2-0 loss at Vancouver in April, but “in reality, it doesn't really matter if we lose, 2-1 or 4-0. But when you take a big loss like this, it hurts deep, and you've got to make a real assessment of what's going on out there and change things.”
DeLaGarza called it “just one of those nights.” Arena hopes he's right.
“It better be an aberration,” he said. “If not, then that's not a good sign.”
