KC-LA Recap. Wizards let another 2 points get away in a tie that could have been a loss but should have been a win.

By: Herschel | June 1st, 2009

You have to feel for Bruce Arena. He has taken over the mess that is the LA Galaxy, tried to bring on new blood while mixing in veterans to serve as teachers and it’s these veterans that keep putting LA in a hole they have to dig themselves out of. Last Saturday night was no exception, when Greg Berhalter, the experienced LA defender let Claudio Lopez get passed him and was forced to commit a foul that denied a goal scoring opportunity and earned him a red card.

That was in the 59th minute. Prior to that it was all LA with the exception of a Davy Arnaud shot that was stopped by Donovan Ricketts’ chin/chest. The Galaxy took the game to KC, that was missing regular starters Santiago Hirsig and Josh Wolff. Curt Onalfo countered by making a mess of his starting lineup moving Jack Jewsbury from the A-Mid position, where he was doing a good job in the past few games, back to the D-mid position; bringing in Kevin Souter on the left for Roger Espinoza, Michael Harrington moved to right of the midfield and Hercules Gomez was in for suspended Josh Wolff up front

From the beginning it was clear that KC was being outmatched in all lines and had Alan Gordon not done his best impression of Toronto’s Chad Barrett, missing chance after chance, LA would have finished the first half with a comfortable lead. The LA midfield suffocated a KC line that had not punch moving forward, since Jewsbury had been moved back, Arnaud was being collapsed on by the Galaxy midfielders when he tried to run with the ball, Souter, although penciled in the lineup was absent, and Michael Harrington proved once and for all that he is in a serious slump, rarely being able to make a pass to someone on the KC team. Thanks again to man of the match Kevin Hartman, the crossbar and Alan Gordon, the game was still tied at half time. KC was outplayed at all lines, and again both the right and left side defenders were abused by the LA attack; clear example of this was the shot on the post where a long ball from the midfield caught Lance Watson in with the central defenders, allowing Eddie Lewis a clean unobstructed cross to Gordon who missed a sitter. Coach Onalfo, Watson is not a defender so please keep him off the field.

The Second half started as the first had ended. With KC on the ropes while LA ran up and down the field but with little to show for it. But again, poor Bruce Arena, when his team was playing at its best Mr. Berhalter was slow to react and was forced to pull Lopez by his shorts and/or shirt to stop him from going in against Ricketts. Red card and gone. LA had to play the last half an hour with 10 men.

Right after the ejection Onalfo saw an opportunity to move forward and try to win the game so he brought in Espinoza and rookie Graham Zusi to bolster the offense for the Harrington and Souter (yes he was playing). First of all, Zusi? Really? I understand the Espinoza change but Zusi has shown very little and true to form brought nothing to the game. Instead of bringing in a midfielder like Kurt Morsink that can pass the ball and allow Jewsbury to move forward and be effective and moving either Arnaud or Gomez to the right, Onalfo brought in a rookie who had not played since week 2. Still, his other sub, Roger Espinoza was able to track down a long pass on the left side of the LA box and get a nice cross to Hercules Gomez who made a mess of his header towards goal that ended up as a wide shot and was redirected by a trailing Davy Arnaud to open the scoring.

Before that Kevin Hartman, Alan Gordon and the post continued to keep the game scoreless, even with one less player. The goal in the 84th minute looked to give KC a nice, yet undeserved, away win to make up for the 9 player Chivas game the week before, but that was not the case. A silly Jewsbury turnover on the KC side of midfield let Landon Donovan place a nice cross for sub Edson Buddle (who came in for Gordon), who unmarked, due to Watson’s absence on the right side, slid the ball past Hartman from the right side of the KC box. A tie and the end of the game.

Player Ratings - Hartman 7, Watson 3, Conrad 5, Hohlbein 5, Besler 5, Arnaud 6, Jewsbury 4, Harrington 2, Souter 3, Gomez 4, Lopez 5. Subs Espinoza 6, Zusi 4, Thompson N/A

Man of the Match: Kevin Hartman again. The save he made off a Chris Klein shot in the second half has to be one of the best saves this year. Thanks to him and the inability of LA to score let KC leave LA with one point.

Commentary: I still fail to understand the “tactical” planning and way of thinking that Curt Onalfo uses for some of his games. So you lose a forward and a holding mid. I believe you have a forward, and a physical one at that, on the bench (Abe Thompson) and you have an experienced holding midfielder (Kurt Morsink) that can take Hirsig’s spot without sacrificing your best midfielder (Jewsbury) to a position where is less effective. Did Espinoza play that badly against Chivas that he deserved to be benched for a player who has not seen the field all year and has not been that impressive since coming to KC anyway? I don’t think so.

I am still trying to figure out what our system is week by week but whatever it may be the constant experiments need to end. Also, am I the only one starting to worry about how bad Michael Harrington is playing (granted he’s not starting, lost his spot due to injury and is slotted into different places in the midfield each game); it seems to me that his shine coming out of college is starting to show the wear and tear of the Onalfo system of player development.

KC was lucky to leave with one point; we deserved none but should have done better a man up and gotten 3.

By the way, I am quick to criticize refs when they screw up, I will give kudos to Terry Vaughn (Terriblon for those in Costa Rica) who had a good game and was quick to keep the game under control when it got a bit chippy.

Next up: Columbus.

Here are the highlights of the game. You have to love the Hartman save on the Klein shot.