"It was one of those games where one team was going to jump on an opportunity," said Galaxy coach Bruce Arena.
The Wizards certainly did that, scoring in the 67th and 69th minutes to break open a scoreless draw. There were plenty of possible reasons for the Galaxy's woes.
A week ago, the Galaxy were without four internationals as their winless skid set a then-club record. The national teamers were all back for the Wizards match, but David Beckham made the trip from Croatia after playing with England on Wednesday, and Landon Donovan had two full matches with the U.S. national team against Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago.
"It was a tough game for us again," Beckham said. "No one likes losing and we've gone a long time without winning a game. Today's another tough one to take. In the second half they just had a little bit more in them than we did."
One thing the Galaxy did well was limit the Wizards to few chances. Despite the two minute flurry, the Wizards forwards didn't get many looks at the goal.
"(Josh) Wolff and (Abe) Thompson had very few chances," Arena said.
The Galaxy has plenty of firepower in Beckham, Donovan and forward Edson Buddle. But there were too many missed connections, too many missed opportunities for goals.
Arena thought the match came down to a quarter-hour in the second half. It was in that stretch that Wizards midfielder Herculez Gomez engineered two dangerous chances. One resulted in Josh Wolff scoring in the 67th minute, then Davy Arnaud blasted a 35-yard shot in the upper right corner of the net to double the lead in a goal sure to garner attention for MLS goal of the week.
"The difference in the game was a 15-minute segment in the second half. I thought Kansas City brought more energy to the game in the second half than we did," Arena said. "We were suspicious going into the game that we were going to have some issues with fatigue and that showed. But give Kansas City credit. They deserved to win the game."
The reality that comes with the loss is a bleak outlook for the playoffs for the Galaxy. But at least one player is keeping a stiff upper lip.
"I think we realize it's going to be very tough, but it's possible. I think once we get that first win mentally it will be better," Beckham said. "Even today, you could see we were a little bit down. I'm not sure we had the belief that we could win this game. That's obviously part of the mental side of it. Once we get over that, once we get our first win I think it'll be all right."
Galaxy still clinging to playoff dreams
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