Galaxy rally from two down for one point
A tie felt more like a win — or at least a significant step in the right direction — for the Galaxy, who ended a 243-minute scoring drought and overcame an early two-goal deficit to earn a 2-2 draw with the Chicago Fire at the StubHub Center on Saturday night.
After giving up two goals in the first 16 minutes and going almost three full games without a goal, the Galaxy (2-5-2) found the back of the net twice within 11 minutes in the second half and had the better of the scoring chances for the remainder of a physically bruising game.
“We became a team tonight,” said first-year Galaxy coach Curt Onalfo, who appeared to be on shaky ground in light of his team’s rocky start. “That’s the Galaxy team that you’ll see moving forward. I think it was a galvanizing moment for our group. We’ve been through a lot already.
“It was a pretty darn good second half. I told them at halftime that I felt if we just got one goal, the second would come, and we’d have the opportunity to turn this thing into possibly three points. But we’re walking out of here with one.”
Both of the Galaxy goals came after Romain Alessandrini corner kicks, the first coming in the 56th minute when the midfielder sent a ball in from the right side.
Daniel Steres, practically unmarked at the right corner of the six-yard box, redirected a header into the lower left side of the goal to cut Chicago’s lead to 2-1 and give the Galaxy its first goal since Alessandrini scored in the 83rd minute of a 2-1 loss at Orlando City on April 15, three games ago.
In the 65th minute, Alessandrini sent an in-swinger from the left side. Dave Romney’s leaping header from the left corner of the six-yard box missed the lower right side of the goal but landed on the right foot of Giovani dos Santos, who volleyed it past goalie Matt Lampson for a 2-2 tie.
Chicago nearly went ahead in the 76th minute when Dax McCarty sent a long pass to Luis Solignac, whose header caromed off the crossbar. Three minutes later, the Galaxy nearly scored when Alessandrini tapped a pass into the right corner for Bradley Diallo, who sent a cross to Gyasi Zardes, whose header sailed just over the crossbar.
“We could have thrown in the towel at halftime, but we didn’t,” Steres said. “We fought back, we left everything on the field.”
Chicago scored just 11 minutes into the match when Galaxy defender Jelle Van Damme tripped Fire forward Nemanja Nikolic in the goal mouth while trying to clear a cross from Brandon Vincent, and David Accam converted the penalty kick.
Referee Kevin Stott actually nullified Accam’s first shot because a player moved into the penalty box too soon, but Accam scored easily when he shot to Brian Rowe’s right while the Galaxy goalkeeper guessed left.
Five minutes later, Accam, the Chicago midfielder, collected a ball near midfield, raced down the left flank and pushed a perfectly timed and placed pass to Nikolic, who beat Steres while staying onside. Nikolic poked a shot past the diving Rowe for a 2-0 lead.
Onalfo, clearly displeased with the play of Van Damme, pulled the team captain in favor of Romney in the 33rd minute of the first half.
“I expect our players to be right from minute one,” Onalfo said. “I’m the leader of the team, and if guys aren’t, then I have to make substitutions to get our group to where it needs to be. I brought in Romney, and he did a solid job. We didn’t concede another goal and created a lot of chances.”
It was also a rough first half for Galaxy midfielder Jermaine Jones, who had a ball kicked hard into the left side of his face by Joao Meira in the 38th minute and left soon after with an apparent right leg injury. He will undergo an MRI test Sunday.
