Two mediocre sides play out a scrappy game; poor Kansas finishing, two
straight reds and substitute makes manager look good as Galaxy win on the road
for the first time in more than a year; 0-1.
Not too hot at Arrowhead, a
packed house; for an MLS game anyway; no Beckham; but the crowd is vocal and
vibrant, the ‘Blue Army’ making the noise for the home fans. With the NFL in progress the football pitch
has been made smaller which takes the edge off the home side’s game.
Onalfo has Hartman in goal with a
back four of Jewsbury, Conrad, Garcia and Harrington; Arnaud, Zavagnin;
holding; Burciaga and the attack minded Marinelli make up the midfield with
Johnson and recent signing Colombano up front.
Yallop has the flu hit Gordon in
attack with a five man midfield of Donovan, Vagenas, Martino, Jones and Tudela;
the four man back line, staring together again is Klein and Randolph on the
flanks with Harden and Roberts in the centre; Cannon keeps goal.
The first goal mouth action is a
muffed clearance from Roberts off Marinelli; a stunned Cannon is thankful it
goes for a corner off the frame of the goal.
The more orthodox second chance
is also a home side one; Arnaud runs at and through LA lays the ball off to
Johnson who coolly slots it past Cannon only to see his effort come back off
the post.
Gordon actually gets on the end
of a neat Martino cross, but free in the six yard box he heads wide of the
mark.
Johnson beats the LA offside trap
but can’t beat Cannon; an advanced Randolph
drops a beautiful ball in behind a flailing Hartman but Gordon is static and no
other Galaxy player is attacking the goal, great opportunity squandered by the
visitors.
Johnson shoots wide with only
Cannon to beat; maybe he should have tried to go around the ‘keeper to play in
the onrushing Colombano at the back post.
Then Roberts is involved in the action
again, he fluffs a simple clearance allowing Johnson to get to the byline and
cross to the back post, the run of Colombano wasn’t that good and the
opportunity goes begging.
A spell of Kansas pressure ends
up with the ball going out off the crossbar, Jewsbury getting up to head on a
Marinelli cross.
Kansas’ poor finishing and LA’s lack of any
attacking bite keep the game scoreless at the half.
No changes at half time. Yallop was pleased with a tepid LA
performance; he liked the production; and wants more from Donovan in the second
half.
Onalfo bemoans the finishing and
wants his forwards to exploit the relatively poor LA back line.
Kansas get he first opportunity
in the second half, Colombano gets free on the right but plays a poor ball into
the area; Marinelli gets forward and finds himself with ball in the area
surrounded by three Galaxy defenders, he smashes it well wide; chance off the
game for Kansas City, sloppy work in midfield from LA gives Kansas the ball,
Marinelli plays a great through ball fro Colombano; with the hard work of
rounding Cannon accomplished the Argentinean shanks his shot; on an unguarded
goal; into the side netting; terribly profligate and he knows it.
Not long after that chance Kansas
City are down to ten men, Conrad; possibly peeved at a clash with Klein a
moment earlier; goes flying into a tackle with Vagenas, his studs are up and he
catches his opponent flush in the shin; the referee goes for his back pocket,
red card; Onalfo just goes with three at the back
The first penalty area action in
the ten versus eleven game is for the ten men of Kansas City, Marinelli crosses for Johnson
but the ball is well cut out.
Vagenas fires over from a Donovan
cut back; Marinelli puts Johnson in but the forward can only prod the ball at
Cannon; the Kansas number ten sees Cannon straying off his line and tries a
chip from forty yards which goes a couple of feet over; Burciaga puts a free
kick wide and then LA go in front. Randolph;
now with more license to attack gets forward on the left; Tudela’s overlapping
run draws out Arnaud and the space opens up for a great cross, Glinton; the
substitute; gets in front of Harrington and heads past Hartman.
Then Arnaud gets a straight red
for late challenge on Vagenas, the midfielder is knocked to the ground with the
trailing leg.
Johnson had four great
opportunities to score; only one brought a save from Cannon. Marinelli sprays the ball around with style
and composure. Colombano kept his head
down too much and missed a sitter and two important players are out with
suspensions. A game KC probably should
have had sewn up before the interval.
Gordon is pretty awful, he has no
first touch and has no positional sense in the area, and he got onto maybe
three or four crosses all night. Donovan
wasn’t at his best, Martino always did something with the ball, Klein and Randolph looked good when
they attacked. Three points is three
points, you’ll take them even if you don’t really play well and your defence is
pretty soft. A result that flatters to
deceive; Yallop will be looking for a new job next season.
Good refereeing; the game flowed
without too much stoppage; the game wasn’t exactly a tough tackling affair
though; and he gave out two reds which were both correct. One of the better refereeing displays of this
MLS season and better than he was last time out.
