CARSON, Calif. -- Juninho didn't miss from the spot this time, and the defensive play did the rest. Things haven't quite fallen into place yet for the LA Galaxy, but they're starting to look, here and there, like the team that's won three of the last four MLS Cup championships.
Their 1-0 victory Wednesday night over visiting Real Salt Lake wasn't a beauty, by any means, but Juninho's precision on a seventh-minute penalty kick -- against the netminder who stopped him three weeks earlier -- and another superb defensive showing pushed the Galaxy within a point of the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference and just three behind first-place Seattle.
It was LA's second straight shutout and third of the month, and what occurred a week and a half ago at Orlando City, where they were humiliated by a 4-0 count, is just a distant memory. RSL managed just one shot on frame just five days after Houston put only two shots on target in a last-minute 1-0 triumph.
The Galaxy did so despite another on-the-fly lineup, with Baggio Husidic again at left back, and an RSL attack that put the Galaxy on their heels during long stretches in both halves. They bent, perhaps, but never broke.
“It's good,” head coach Bruce Arena said. “I think right now, where we're at, and obviously with the patchwork with the backline a little bit and [with] the whole team, to get a couple shutouts against teams in our conference is important.”
Some 14 players have missed games this season through injury or illness, but LA are starting to get healthier -- everywhere but the backline. They were without their first four options at left back, with Robbie Rogers, Todd Dunivant and A.J. DeLaGarza nursing injuries and Oscar Sorto serving a red-card suspension, but it wasn't obvious.
“We're feeling good,” said Omar Gonzalez, who broke up RSL's best chance to score, an 84th-minute pass by Joao Plata meant for Olmes Garcia in the goalmouth. “There's always different changes back there, but we seem to be dealing with it great. We have a good understanding of everyone who is back there, we help each other out with a lot of communication, and the few chances Jaime [Penedo, the goalkeeper] is getting, he's doing very well with.
“I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but I love getting shutouts.”
Juninho's seventh-minute finish was just as important, and he raced for the ball after referee Baldomero Toledo whistled Jamison Olave for a hand ball as Ignacio Maganto tried to lift it past him in the RSL box.
The Brazilian midfielder could have given the Galaxy three points on May 6, but RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando dived to his left to corral a stoppage-time penalty, and that game ended at 0-0. On Wednesday, Rimando again leapt to his left, but Juninho ripped a shot to the other side of the net.
“As long as he wanted that ball, I was OK. I just wanted to make sure he was good with that,” Arena said. “The other option we have on PKs when Robbie Keane's not in is Gyasi [Zardes], but Juni grabbed the ball. He wanted it.
“I would have bet Nick was going to go to his right this time, and he went back to his left, kind of surprised me there. Juni did well with it.”
Juninho was tickled with how it played out.
“I feel so good afterwards,” he said. “I knew I was going to score this time, against Rimando, and this time I hit it hard and low. ... I said I'm going to cross [the ball to the left] this time. Last time I hit the ball low and the right side and [Rimando] catch it. This time, I cross, and he can't save it.
“The guys know how important to me to get a goal again, especially against Real Salt Lake. It was very special for me.”
