By Ridge Mahoney, Senior Editor
Soccer America
The Los Angeles GalaxyÆs last two games encapsulated the 2006 season for the last yearÆs championship team and several of its players, notably outside back Chris Albright.
In a 3-0 thumping of Chivas USA Sept. 30 that kept the GalaxyÆs playoff hopes alive, Albright set up two of the goals. His storming run up the right flank and cut-back ball to Alan Gordon led to Pete VagenasÆs opening goal, and another foray produced a cross that Gordon drilled into the net for goal number three.
Last week, Albright let Carlos Ruiz sneak behind him to head home a Richard Mulrooney free kick for the first FC Dallas goal, and then Kenny Cooper escaped his marking to tally the second early in the second half.
A precise diagonal cross from Albright set up Landon Donovan for a goal that reduced the deficit to 2-1, but in the remaining 20 minutes the Galaxy couldnÆt net the equalizer that would have kept it in the hunt. In the game, like the season, L.A. just fell too far behind to catch up.
For the first time in the franchiseÆs 11-year history Los Angeles missed the playoffs.
''I really felt that this year, we just left ourselves too deep a hole to climb out of,'' Albright said of a disastrous 2-8-1 start under former coach Steve Sampson that replacement Frank Yallop wasnÆt able to overcome. ''This league is too tough, too competitive to start off really badly. At one point we were 2-10-2, and a lot of those games were at home. We left a lot of points out there.
''The attitude needed to be changed and Frank did a good job of that when he came in, but in the long run, you canÆt survive in this league without players. I think there have to be some personnel changes during the offseason.''
Emotions have torn at Albright all year. In 2006 he experienced the joys of being named to the U.S. World Cup squad as well as becoming a father for the first time, but he also wears the stigma of the first Galaxy team to miss the playoffs — despite at one point posting seven shutouts in nine games.
''The strong point, I think, of our team is the consistency of our back four, but too many times we didnÆt get the job done, myself included,'' he says. ''Last year, weÆd keep it at zero and then usually get the goal that won us the game. This year, the mistakes and breakdowns really cost us.''
A sputtering attack also cost the Galaxy this season. It has scored just 32 goals, more than only Columbus (30), in 31 games. Last season, Los Angeles scored 45 goals while posting a 13-13-6 record. The defense has conceded fewer goals this season (35 as compared to 44 last year), but when the attack ran dry in September, scoring just two goals in three must-win games, even the subsequent victory over Chivas left the team too much to do.
''It was a good year in some ways,'' he says of his personal accomplishments. ''I got named to the World Cup team even though I didnÆt play, and of course having my daughter exceeds anything IÆve done as a professional player. ThatÆs been fantastic. But itÆs not a good feeling to be part of first Galaxy team to not make the playoffs, especially as the defending champions.''
Once the season finishes, Albright will take his wife Leah and 4-month-old daughter Eva to their hometown of Philadelphia for the holidays. Then he plans to train like crazy in preparation for 2007, which will be the final option year of his contract, should MLS decide to exercise said option.
In 1999, MLS signed him as a Project-40 player to a contract worth about $80,000 a year. He was the first P-40 player to be paid so handsomely, and since then, of course, a few young players have signed for far more than his current figure of $122,500.
But more than money is at stake. He wants to stay with the Galaxy and wouldnÆt mind a chance to impress the incoming U.S. coach, whoever it might be. He turns 28 in January, so the 2010 World Cup is a possibility.
''ItÆs a big year coming up for me, definitely,'' he says. ''Come January and February, I want to be as fit and ready as possible.''