Los Angeles Galaxy fans endured a frustrating 3-2 loss to Toronto FC on Sunday. The L.A. Times Grahame L. Jones described it as a “strange” game because the Galaxy (read: Landon Donovan and David Beckham) looked brilliant at times, creating numerous chances in the first half, in particular. But when Donovan or Beckham couldn’t be found, as it happened for long stretches of the second half, the team looked absolutely wretched.
Coach Ruud Gullit summed up the loss as “the consequences of not being able to bury this game early.” Donovan missed three breakaways in the first half (although he did manage to score, eventually), one of which was an open goal after he’d rounded the keeper.
But Toronto seemed to grow in stature with each L.A. miss, and the Galaxy paid for it in the second half. As Jones says, “the result was almost inevitable,” coming after substitute Jeff Cunningham out-muscled L.A. defender Greg Vanney to beat goalkeeper Steve Cronin and earn the Canadian team’s first points of the MLS season. “The chances we had, it was incredible,” Gullit lamented. “They had three possibilities and they scored three. The goals that we gave away were incredibly sloppy.”