LA Galaxy vs. New York Red Bulls: Key Takeaways from MLS Showdown
Playing their third game in eight days, the Los Angeles Galaxy hosted the New York Red Bulls Saturday night at the Home Depot Center.
Despite the fact that the Red Bulls were forced to play without several of their stars, including Thierry Henry, the Red Bulls managed to pull off a 1-0 victory over the Galaxy.
Here are six thoughts from the game.
Ryan Meara Continues Strong Play in Net
1 of 7The rookie goalkeeper again looked solid, playing strong off his line to catch, push and punch away multiple Galaxy services into his box.
Earning his second shutout in as many games, Meara is looking increasingly confident.
Midweek, Meara, who is eligible to play internationally for both the United States and the Republic of Ireland, was given a call-up to Ireland’s U-21 squad.
For U.S. fans who watched both Sean Johnson and Bill Hamid struggle in Olympic qualifying, they can only hope that reports of Meara pledging his international future to Ireland are premature and untrue.
Robbie Keane May Be Struggling to Score, But...
2 of 7He’s still brilliant. Although Keane only has three goals so far this MLS season, and even missed a penalty last week against FC Dallas, Keane is still a very dangerous forward.
He had great passing to setup chances for his teammates and even had a brilliant chip cleared off line in the 13th minute.
LA’s Decision to Rest Its Stars Against Seattle Midweek Didn’t Work
3 of 7With three games in eight days, Galaxy manager Bruce Arena decided to rest many of his stars against the Seattle Sounders in their midweek game hoping they would be fresh for Saturday’s battle against the Red Bulls.
The decision to not bring David Beckham, Robbie Keane and Josh Saunders to Seattle, and to not start Todd Dunivant and Mike Magee, resulted in a 2-0 loss to the Sounders Wednesday (their first loss to Seattle in two years).
To make matters worse, the gamble didn’t pay off, and LA lost again on Saturday at home.
The Galaxy now find themselves in seventh place in the Western Conference with a paltry 10 points from nine games.
Joel Lindpere Made the Difference
4 of 7With New York missing many of its key players, including key goal-scoring threat Thierry Henry, someone needed to step into the void.
That someone was New York workhorse Joel Lindpere, who, in the 19th minute, took a pass from Jan Gunnar Solli, danced into the Galaxy penalty area and deposited his left-footed effort into the net for what would be the game-winner.
Connor Lade Held His Own
5 of 7Connor Lade, a rookie and St. John's product with only four MLS appearances, was slotted into the starting lineup for the Red Bulls at left back to face Landon Donovan and Sean Franklin—who have over 350 combined MLS appearances—coming down the Galaxy right side.
Despite facing the best player in MLS history in Donovan and one of the most widely regarded right-backs in Franklin, Lade did well keeping the game in front of him and limiting any Galaxy attacks down his side of the field.
In the second half, the Galaxy moved Mike Magee to the right to try and get something going to no avail, as the diminutive 22-year-old continued to stymie any potential Galaxy scoring threats.
Lazy Defending by LA’s Midfield Cost Them the Winning Goal
6 of 7New York, which played 10 behind the ball for much of the game, was able to get their one goal when Joel Lindpere was able to arrive into the box unmarked because LA’s entire midfield failed to recover.
Replays showed Landon Donovan, Juninho, David Beckham and Mike Magee all lazily jogging back on the play, which eventually cost them the game.
The Addition of Edson Buddle Seems to Have Messed with LA’s Mojo
7 of 7The offseason re-acquisition of Edson Buddle seemed to be a great move for the Galaxy, who were so thin at forward last season that they were forced to start Adam Cristman up top in the MLS Cup final.
However, Buddle looked poor on Saturday night, fumbling a number of half chances, unable to generate anything on his own, and never looking on the same page as his teammates.
For the season, Buddle has only scored one goal in nine appearances, and the once-dominant attack of the Galaxy looks as pedestrian as ever.
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