CARSON, Calif. -- Rarely have the LA Galaxy done so little with so much as in Saturday night's home loss to Vancouver, but frayed connections and the Whitecaps' superb defensive game plan proved too great to overcome.
The Galaxy held 65.6 percent possession and played nearly the entire second half in Whitecaps territory, but they never put a shot on frame and succumbed, 1-0, after Kekuta Manneh tallied on a first-half counterattack.
LA has struggled to implement a coherent attack much of the season, thanks primarily to an injury crisis that has forced them into a series of makeshift lineups, and they labored to find forwards Robbie Keane, making his first start in more than two months, and Edson Buddle, in the first XI for the first time all season.
All credit, they say, goes to Vancouver, and especially center backs Pa Modou Kah and Kendall Waston and holding midfielders Gershon Koffie and Matias Laba.
“It was a difficult game because of the way [the Whitecaps] play,” said Keane, making just his third appearance since suffering a groin injury that sidelined him seven weeks in the April 4 loss at Vancouver. “They've got two guys at the back who are very big, and then they have the two midfielders who just sit in front of the back four. It was very hard for myself and Edson to try to get on the ball.
“A lot of balls were wide to [Stefan] Ishizaki and Nacho [Maganto], because it was too congested in the middle of the park.”
The Galaxy were able to move the ball, often freely, on the flanks and through midfield, but penetrating into Vancouver's box was nearly impossible until a late push for a hoped-for equalizer.
“We tried real hard,” Ishizaki said. “They're very, very tight, especially in the center of the field. They're playing with a tight back four and then two guys sitting in front and making it really hard to find our strikers and really get any possession centrally [in Vancouver territory]. We didn't play the ball fast enough on the wings, and we didn't cross it early enough, especially in the first half.
“I thought we played better in the second half, and we penetrated them a little, and we did have chances. Even if we didn't have any shots on goal, we did have our chances. With a little bit more luck, we could have scored and maybe even gone for a second goal.”
Ishizaki set up the best chance, beating Manneh at the edge of the Whitecaps' box and then playing the ball toward substitute Alan Gordon in the goalmouth. They did not connect.
“Ishi played a great ball, but I thought I was offside,” Gordon said. “So I was trying to toe the line there and didn't have any momentum to go for that ball.”
Vancouver used their defensive mastery to fuel a counterattack that nearly scored several goals, with Cristian Techera and Pedro Morales hitting the left post.
“They came here with a set tactic, and they played it very well,” LA defender Omar Gonzalez said. “They have everyone behind the ball, they clogged holes, we couldn't find Robbie [Keane], we couldn't find Edson [Buddle]. We were just going side to side, trying to open them up, but they shifted as a team very well and didn't allow us to break them down too much.
“[We're] unlucky on a pass, Manneh picked it up and just takes off. I tried to take him to the outside, and he just cut inside very quickly and got a shot off, so that's how that goal happened.”
Head coach Bruce Arena said he was happy with his team's effort if not its precision and suggested the Galaxy “should have shot a few more times, in particular that second half.” LA had been held without a shot on goal just twice before, at Colorado in 2003 and at Kansas City in 2013.
The loss ended a 29-game StubHub Center unbeaten streak, all competitions, which bothered the Galaxy less than their failure to snare points at home.
“I've played over 500 games. I've been through this,” Keane said. “I'm not going to start crying.”
Scott French covers the LA Galaxy for MLSsoccer.com.
