Image courtesy of LA Galaxy’s official Web site.

The LA Galaxy game held on the Fourth of July should’ve been a great day for us LA fans, but we were disappointed by our team’s result.  After LA won 3 games in a row a few weeks ago, it looked like the old LA Galaxy was back – the one from 2011. Then LA lost to San Jose last week and that brought LA fans back down to earth. This week, we thought LA could get a win against Philadelphia, a team that had only won 3 games before this one. Unfortunately, Union left the Home Depot Center with all 3 points.

Coming into this game, there were mixed feelings. Some people were sure LA could get a win, others, not so much. One thing that everyone was happy about was Omar Gonzalez’s return. Not only was this was his first game of the season, it was also his first start of the season. In January, he went to train with Nurnberg. On the first day of training, he collided with occasional USMNT defender Timmy Chandler and tore his ACL. He was set to be out 7-9 months. When LA’s season started, and they were losing, people were saying the reason for all the losses were him not playing. He recently started training again and surprised a lot of people when it was announced that he’d be playing.

With his return, it almost seemed like there was no way LA could lose. At least, that’s what LA fans thought. LA started off just like they had against San Jose. They had a few chances to score early in the game. There was also another missed handball that the ref missed. LA should’ve been rewarded a penalty early on, but just like in the San Jose game, the ref did nothing about it. It was scoreless for most of the first half. It wasn’t until almost HT that Philadelphia scored and ended the half one up on LA.

Gonzalez was subbed out at the beginning of the second half and was replaced by Sean Franklin. I thought Gonzalez did a good job. With him, the defense seemed a little better than before. But when he was subbed out, it was shaky again. It wasn’t until the 73rd minute that LA scored a goal, the equalizer coming from substitute Chad Barrett. It looked like LA was going to settle for the draw. At the end of regulation time, however, the ref decided to add 6 minutes of extra time. In those 6 minutes, Philadelphia scored yet again, to the disappointment of all the Galaxy fans at the HDC. The game ended 2-1 Philadelphia.

So LA lost again. While having Gonzalez back for the team is great, the defense isn’t the only problem with LA’s team. Our attack needs more work. The team had 9 corners, but weren’t able to take advantage. LA also had 16 shots and 6 of those were on goal. With all these chances, it’s a little worrying that LA was only able to score one goal. One thing that some people think is important in games is possession. Well, LA had approx. 56% possesion and that didn’t help them at all. I need to give the Philadelphia keeper, Zac MacMath credit though. He made 5 saves last night. LA’s next game is on Sunday against Chicago Fire.