Bruce Arena took the blame after the LA Galaxy let a lead slip away in the final 15 minutes Saturday night to see a five-game unbeaten streak disappear in a 2-1 defeat at FC Dallas.
The Galaxy (3-3-5, 14pts) gave their best performance in more than a month and were on track for their first road win since last August, thanks to a Gyasi Zardes second-half header, but it all fell apart down the stretch.
Mauro Diaz created two goals with exceptional feeds, scooping the ball over LA's defense for Blas Perez to finish in the 77th minute and then switching play to isolate Tesho Akindele on the left for a superb winner in the 86th. The Galaxy, who missed a stoppage-time penalty kick in Wednesday's 0-0 draw at Real Salt Lake, have played a dozen away games without victory.
“We didn't do well at the end of the game, obviously the last 15 minutes, and that's my responsibility,” Arena told media in Frisco, Texas. “When a team plays that poorly on the road, they're not well-coached.
“We blew a lot of points this week. We could have walked away, stole maybe six points this week, [and instead] we walk away with one, and that's my responsibility. I have not done a good job with this team, to get them tactically right at the end of games.”
Late-game collapses have cost the Galaxy a lot of points the past two seasons, and it hurt them already this year in Portland, where Alan Gordon's stoppage-time header (WATCH IT HERE) salvaged a 2-2 draw after the Timbers went ahead in the 90th minute, and at D.C. United, where LA wasted its best showing this season when Chris Pontius' goal beat them in the 93rd minute.
“It's a little weakness we have, that we're conceding goals late in games,” midfielder Stefan Ishizaki, who delivered the corner kick that Zardes finished in the 59th minute, said on Time Warner Cable SportsNet's postgame telecast. “But over the last couple of games, I felt like we've done real well. ... I think we've become a little better at it, but it's something that we still have to work a little.”
Perez scored after a free kick, making a run from left to right behind LA's defense to chest down and poke home the ball from Diaz. Akindele was left alone with right back Dan Gargan, who conceded too much space -- he had one eye on Michel, at the top of the box, seemingly unaware that defender Omar Gonzalez had raced in to provide support -- and the second-year forward's shot deflected slightly off Gargan and just beat diving LA 'keeper Jaime Penedo to find the inside of the right post.
It spoiled an otherwise decent performance by a makeshift side, thanks to the ongoing injury crisis, playing in an unfamiliar 4-1-4-1 formation.
“We kept possession well, we had a lot of guys moving and wanting the ball, and I thought we made it really hard for [Dallas] ...,” Ishizaki said. “I thought we played really well for probably 75 minutes, but the game is 90 minutes, and we just have to close out these type of games.
“We wanted to come out with the win, but sometimes you concede a stupid goal, and, after that, we've just got to be smarter and go for the draw. We let them counter on us three or four times after they scored their 1-1 goal, and that's why they're the best countering, with [Fabian] Castillo and Diaz and those guys. We should have played a little smarter at the end.”
Arena thought so, too.
“At the end of the game, we shouldn't look like that,” he said. “At the very worst tonight, we get a point, and we get out of there. We shouldn't lose that game. ... [What we need to do now is] train, get them better, get them to be able to think when they're tired.”
Scott French covers the LA Galaxy for MLSsoccer.com.
