CARSON — There are bad days at the office and then there are the type of performances the Galaxy turned in within the first 25 minutes against FC Dallas.
Things transpired quickly for the Galaxy (6-4-1, 19 points) and none of it was good in front 25,174 at Dignity Health Sports Park.
FC Dallas (6-1-4, 22 points) took advantage of three miscues in defense by the Galaxy and scored in the 11th, 20th and 23rd minutes, sending the crowd into a shocked state.
By the time the smoke cleared, FC Dallas had a 3-1 win and the Galaxy was left facing a short turnaround with a game Wednesday against Minnesota United and next Sunday against Houston.
“I thought we weren’t up to the speed of it,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “Right from the start, I felt like we were slow with the ball, we were passive sometimes, we weren’t transitioning fast enough and they came out sprinting.
“We made some mistakes right in front of our back line, we made some other mistakes …we gave up three goals in 12 minutes, a lot of which are our own mistakes again just us, for me, just not being at the speed we needed to be against a team that is lethal in the transition with three dynamic fast players at the top …then we spend roughly 70 minutes chasing the game, swimming upstream …”
Douglas Costa ended the shutout in the 68th minute with a goal on a free kick. The goal was just his second this season.
Entering the game the Galaxy had one of the stingiest defenses in Major League Soccer having allowed just seven goals and only during the run of play.
The strong backbone suffered a hit with left back Raheem Edwards sitting out due to muscle tightness. His replacement Chase Gasper was victimized on the first FC Dallas goal, letting Jader Obrian get by him on the wing and getting off a cross that eluded a diving Derrick Williams and hit Jesus Ferreria perfectly for the tap-in.
The Galaxy nearly had the equalizer in the 18th minute on a header by Chicharito Hernandez. However, FC Dallas goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer got a hand on it and the ball bounced backward toward the goal. For a moment it appeared to cross into the goal, but Maurer was able to corral it.
Two minutes later, FC Dallas’ Jesus Ferreira scored his first and in the 23rd minute he got around Galaxy goalkeeper Jonathan Bond for easy walk-in to make it 3-0.
To start the second half, Galaxy coach Greg Vanney made one substitution, taking off Efrain Alvarez and inserting Dejan Joveljic.
Later, Samuel Grandsir and Sacha Kljestan came on in the 60th minute, replacing Rayan Raveloson and Kevin Cabral.
FC Dallas nearly had a fourth goal early in the second half, but Matt Hedges was called offside.
Thursday, Galaxy midfielder Mark Delgado was asked when would he like to see the team playing its best.
“There’s a saying midseason form, that’s when you’re at your best,” he said. “Your body is coming along and everything is coming along nicely. Mid-season is where guys have to be there best, from that point on, depending where you are in the standings, teams are starting to give it their all and that’s how it kind of is in this league.”
After Saturday’s performance, the Galaxy proved that it isn’t there yet.
