CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy continue to lead MLS in goals scored with 49, but surprisingly haven’t been able to find the scoresheet in their last two games.
A reason for concern?
Not in the opinion of Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena as his team prepared for Saturday’s meeting with Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah (6:30 p.m., Time Warner Cable SportsNet, Time Warner Cable Deportes).
Arena said he and his coaches tried nothing new in training this week to snap his club out of its offensive malaise. The Galaxy haven’t scored since a 5-1 drubbing of New York City FC on Aug. 23, and Arena said all he’s asked his players to do is “play better.”
“If we could create a practice session to score goals, then you’re in a dream world,” he said after training Thursday. “We score the most goals in the league as a starting point. If everyone could have a training session to score goals then they’d be doing it every time. We’d have games that are 10-9 all the time.
“The hardest part of soccer is scoring goals. Sometimes you don’t get goals, but we have players that are capable of scoring goals, so I would imagine over time they’ll produce goals.”
One of those is Robbie Keane, who is tied with New York City’s David Villa for third in MLS in goals with 15 behind the Columbus Crew’s Kei Kamara (20) and Toronto’s Sebastian Giovinco (17). Keane said he isn’t so much worried about scoring as he is about the club bouncing back from last weekend’s disappointing 0-0 tie with the Montreal Impact at StubHub Center.
“We’re always wanting to get the three points regardless of how we did in the last game,” he said. “It’s always in our nature to do that.
“This will be the same. We’ll go there and hopefully put a good performance in and get three points.”
The Galaxy’s Sebastian Lletget, second on the team with seven goals, said the team must change its approach.
“It’s tough when you pay attention to certain parts of your game,” he said. “We’ve been emphasizing our defense, which has been good, but now we have to transition that into the attacking part of the game. It hasn’t been good enough.
“I think if we get this win, it’ll be huge.”
The Galaxy (13-8-8, 47 points, tied for second in the West with FC Dallas) face a Real Salt Lake team (9-11-8, 35 points, tied for eighth in the West) that is coming off its second-ever victory in Houston.
Arena expects Real Salt Lake, recently boosted by the signing of designated player Juan Martinez, to play desperate, considering its current position in the standings.
“It’ll be a difficult game,” he said. “If I’m not mistaken right now, they’re out of playoff contention so they’ll need to get a lot of points.
“Certainly, they’ll throw everything they can into the game.”
The Galaxy’s Gyasi Zardes, who hasn’t scored since the 5-1 romp over New York City FC, said there is no denying the urgency of Saturday’s clash between conference rivals and the remaining four games in the regular season.
“We really want to tighten things up because if you look at the standings, the table is very tight,” he said. “You can win a game and go up a couple of spaces or lose and fall.
“We’re just trying to keep going forward and get wins.”
REAL SALT LAKE vs. LA GALAXY
RIO TINTO STADIUM, Sandy, Utah
September 19, 2015 (WEEK 29, MLS Game #293)
6:30 p.m. PT (MLS LIVE)
Real Salt Lake and the LA Galaxy renew their Western Conference rivalry for a third time this season when the clubs face off at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday evening. Real come into the match off a rare victory at the Houston Dynamo in a 3-1 triumph last weekend, which left them six points outside the top six and the playoff-paying positions in the division. The Galaxy hit the road off a second consecutive shutout at StubHub Center, reaching a scoreless draw with the Montréal Impact last weekend that dropped them into a tie for second place in the conference.
- Juan Manuel Martinez scored his first MLS goal and Javier Morales scored for a second time in three games as Real Salt Lake won for just the second time ever in league play in Houston, claiming a 3-1 win against the Dynamo on Saturday evening at BBVA Compass Stadium.
- The Galaxy were shut out for a second consecutive game – their first back-to-back attacking shutouts since March 28-April 4 – reaching a goalless result with the Montréal Impact on Saturday evening at StubHub Center.
- The teams are meeting for the second time this season. Juninho scored the game’s lone goal from a penalty kick after seven minutes for a Galaxy victory May 27 at StubHub Center; they played to a scoreless draw May 6 at Rio Tinto Stadium.
- The last three meetings at StubHub Center have all ended in a 1-0 scoreline, the Galaxy winning two. The last two matchups in Sandy have ended in draws.
- The teams have met three times in the last four years in the postseason. The Galaxy have advanced on two occasions, including in last year’s Western Conference Semifinals, when they took the series after a 5-0 win in the second leg at StubHub Center. The teams also met in MLS Cup 2009, RSL winning in a penalty shootout.
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REFEREE:
Kevin Stott. AR1 (bench): Adam Wienckowski; AR2 (opposite): Kyle Atkins; 4th: Tyler Ploeger
MLS Career: 272 games; FC/gm: 25.5; Y/gm: 3.3; R: 69; pens: 70
SUSPENDED:
none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: RSL: Jordan Allen, Olmes Garcia, Demar Phillips … LA: Baggio Husidic
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: RSL: Kyle Beckerman … LA: Juninho, Mika Vayrynen, Omar Gonzalez, A.J. DeLaGarza, Gyasi Zardes, Robbie Rogers
DISABLED LIST:
LA: Brian Perk (season-ending injury)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES:
none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (30 meetings): Real 11 wins, 45 goals … Galaxy 12 wins, 43 goals … Ties 7
AT SALT LAKE (14 meetings): Real 5 wins, 23 goals … Galaxy 3 wins, 19 goals … Ties 6
2015 (MLS):
5/6: RSL 0, LA 0
5/27: LA 1, RSL 0 (Juninho 15)
- The teams are meeting for the third time this season. Juninho scored the game’s lone goal from a penalty kick after seven minutes for a Galaxy victory May 27 at StubHub Center; they played to a scoreless draw May 6 at Rio Tinto Stadium.
- The last three meetings at StubHub Center have all ended in a 1-0 scoreline, the Galaxy winning two. The last two matchups in Sandy have ended in draws.
- The teams have met three times in the last four years in the MLS Cup Playoffs. The Galaxy have advanced on two occasions, including in last year’s Western Conference Semifinals, when they took the series after a 5-0 win in the second leg at StubHub Center. The teams also met in MLS Cup 2009, RSL winning in a penalty shootout.
- Coaches record: Bruce Arena vs. RSL: P21 W8 L7 D6 … Jeff Cassar vs. LA: P5 W1 L2 D2
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