Wrapping Up The Crew At Galaxy

The difference in the game was Sean Franklin's 70' strike off a set piece rebound:

"I’m excited," said Sean Franklin. "I think it might have been deflected. They might call it an own goal, but I’m going to try and claim it as my first goal. I’m happy that I got it, but more happy that the team played well tonight. We created numerous chances—corners, shots—the whole team’s effort was great tonight."

With regards to those numerous chances, the Galaxy continue to feel the effects of letting Edson Buddle go. While Bruce Arena may not care where the goals come from, fans got used to the Galaxy having a guy up front with a nose for the ball. Whether it's fair or not, putting the ball in the back of the net is what wins MVPs. Not only was Buddle the team Golden Boot winner and MVP last year, he was selected as player of the year by the supporter's groups. (Sidenote: I want to apologize for wrongfully attributing last night's "We want Buddle" chant to the Riot Squad. Clearly it must have been the Angel City Brigade, as I could hear it.) ((Just joshing Riot Squad))

"I think what’s more frustrating is that we’ve had a lot of chances and we just aren’t putting those in," said Franklin. "We know we have to get three points at home. Tonight we did that, and hopefully, three points at home will start to come a little more easily."

Of course, much will be made of the team failing to convert from sixteen corner kicks, but I think Landon Donovan hit it on the nose:

"It’s unfortunate that on a night like tonight we didn’t have Omar [Gonzalez]," said Donovan, "because Omar would have been dangerous on them. We still got a few good chances out of them. I think it was indicative of the pressure we put on them all night."

Surely the Galaxy missed Omar's head last night, but Juan Pablo Angel still isn't finishing his chances. The Galaxy can put up all the pressure they want, but without someone to finish, the goals just aren't going to magically appear.

"I’m trying to get goal and it’s just not happening right now," said Angel. "I felt today I was more involved in the game. I had a couple of chances. Hopefully, the goal will come for me at the right time. I’m frustrated today. I would have loved to score a goal. I felt I was a little more involved in the game, participated more in the build of the game."

Has it been the case that the team hasn't folded him in yet? Does he feel like he just isn't looked for as a target? Surely that's a combination deal, if he was finishing better, his team mates would look for him more, but since he isn't finishing...is it the role of the team to feed their striker the ball even if they aren't scoring goals? Certainly Donovan giving up the ball to an Angel coming in from the wing, and then Angel failing to hit the broadside of a barn, show his teammates still trust him, but patience is wearing thin from the supporter's perspective.

Finally, David Beckham was the first to congratulate Sean Franklin. The look on Beckham's face was one of pure joy, so you know he's just pulling Franklin's leg when he says:

"I’ve tried to tell him it’s an own goal, but he’s not having that," said Beckham. "He had a shot in the first half which he could have scored from. He hit this one really well. We needed it tonight it was important for us to get the three points tonight and we said yesterday that Seattle was starting to creep up, so it was important tonight."