The LA Galaxy let points slip three different times on Sunday against the Seattle Sounders, in a wild affair that the visitors eventually lost 4-3.
“I think that we all have to look in the mirror and see what we are doing wrong and it’s going to be important to see what’s missing from the games,” Corona said afterward.
With the tightly packed Western Conference, points are at a premium. This defeat pushed the Galaxy to the brink of the playoff line, as they now sit seventh in the table on 42 points. If they can get back on track, though, a multi-game winning streak could take them near the top of the table once again. However, Sporting KC and the Portland Timbers are hot on their heels, with the former only five points back.
After a slow-moving first half, Seattle took the lead with minutes to go before the halftime interval through Raul Ruidiaz. Giancarlo Gonzalez could not clear the ball far enough away from the penalty area and Nicolas Lodeiro got the clearance. The Uruguayan found an unmarked Ruidiaz at the far post who tapped the ball into the empty net.
Galaxy score three in wild second half
The hosts scored again scored ten minutes after the restart to double their advantage over the Galaxy. Christian Roldan stepped around Gonzalez inside the box and fired his effort past a helpless David Bingham.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic finally got the Galaxy on the scoresheet 65 minutes into the match. Sebastian Lletget swept in a corner and the veteran striker beat Stefan Frei to the ball and headed it in behind to cut the lead in half.
Ten minutes later, the Galaxy leveled the match at two. Favio Alvarez’s initial shot deflected off of Ibrahimovic and fell into the path of Uriel Antuna. The Mexican international then raced into space before depositing his shot over the diving Seattle goalkeeper.
Jordan Morris and Ruidiaz played a quick one-two with each other in the 77th minute of the match. The return pass from the latter sprung Morris in behind the Galaxy defense. This allowed the US Men’s National Team forward to expertly beat Bingham one-on-one.
It looked like, for an instant, that perhaps Ruidiaz was in an offside position when he played the ball back towards Morris. But the assistant referee never put his flag up for offside and referee Chris Penso did not go to the video review to check.
With ten minutes remaining in the match, the Galaxy made it 3-3 through Jorgen Skjelvik, who scored his first goal for the club. Diego Polenta lifted a ball into space which got Skjelvik into a prime scoring position. The Norwegian speedster hit a left-footed attempt past Frei with defenders closing in on him.
In the dying moments of the match, Julian Araujo, after only just entering the fray, picked off the initial pass. He slipped, though, which allowed Brad Smith to step up and hold possession for the Sounders.
Smith played the ball out wide to Morris, continued his run into the box, received a pass back before firing a cross towards the far post. Roldan was waiting there unmarked and tapped home the game-winning goal.
Next Up
The Galaxy will not play again until September 11th, when they take on the Colorado Rapids at DSG Park. Kickoff for that match is scheduled for 6:00 PM PST.
