On Saturday evening, the Los Angeles Galaxy laid down a major marker in their quest to claim the Supporters Shield. FC Dallas, one of the few teams with any hope of denying them the Shield were in town, and had gone up 1-0 thanks to an absolutely superb strike by Marvin Chavez within the first nine minutes. No matter, though - the hosts came roaring back to score three unanswered goals, bringing the gap between themselves and the losers to six points (although Dallas do have a game in hand).
LA Galaxy Vs. FC Dallas: Hosts Earn 3-1 Win Despite Going Behind Early
For a good while, it didn't look like it was going to be Bruce Arena's night. Not ten minutes had passed before right back Ugo Ihemelu has release Maicon Santos through the Los Angeles left. When confronted by a reforming defence, Santos did the sensible thing and laid the ball off to Chavez. Chavez did not do the sensible thing. Instead, he did a crazy, beautiful thing. He shot towards Josh Saunders' goal from 25 yards. Even he was a little surprised by how well it turned out - the ball was sent scorching over the goalkeeper's head, bounced off the underside of the crossbar and then rippled the back of the net.
1-0 Dallas, and that was bad news for the Galaxy, especially with the Seattle Sounders contriving to win their game at Sporting Kansas City with two very late goals. A win for the visitors would have meant the Western Conference race tightening up considerably, but the Galaxy were having none of that. This was their big chance to break away from the pack.
They wouldn't have managed it without considerable help from Dallas goalkeeper Kevin Hartman. Normally a rock at the back, the veteran charged out to pick up a ball swung into the box. He might have gotten there had he not tried to run straight through one of his own defenders in the process, which resulted in the Galaxy's Omar Gonzalez picking up possession in space one yard away from an empty net. He nodded home. It wasn't hard.
The half ended 1-1, but Los Angeles upped the ante in the second. Shortly after the hour mark, the hosts earned a rather dubious free kick near the corner flag, and David Beckham's delivery eluded the Dallas defence. Greg Berhalter didn't really make the most of the opportunity, weakly popping the ball up, but possession eventually ended up with Juninho, just outside the penalty box. If you're Dallas, that is most emphatically not where you want the ball to be, and Juninho punished them, volleying off the ground, off Hartman's right-hand post and in to give the Galaxy their first lead of the evening.
Now Dallas pushed back, without ever looking particularly dangerous. There would be no heroics for the visitors, however - Mike McGhee made sure of that in the 80th minute, heading in a corner from that man David Beckham to make the score 3-1. At the rate Dallas were attacking (i.e. ponderous), two goals with ten minutes left was an insurmountable deficit, and so it proved. Four minutes of extra time passed, and Los Angeles had earned a key win. Not a good day to be a Dallas fan - they suddenly find themselves just a point ahead of Seattle and seven behind the leaders.
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