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Galaxy earns draw with Earthquakes

Apr 19, 2009 - 6:21 AM SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- Off to slow starts this season, the San Jose Earthquakes and Los Angeles Galaxy were both desperate for a win Saturday night.

They settled for a 1-1 draw. After the match, the Earthquakes (1-2-2) sounded as if they had lost and the still winless Galaxy (0-1-3) sounded almost as if they had won.

It was a matter of perspective.

"A lot of our guys are not playing as well as they can," San Jose coach Frank Yallop said. "Especially defensively. We seem weak and scared to make a decision.

"We're working hard to make it right. The players have to take some responsibility and play better. I think we're playing nervously and apprehensively. We're not like that."

San Jose's Pablo Campos and Los Angeles' Bryan Jordan scored the game's only goals. The Earthquakes, playing without injured midfielder Darren Huckerby, took a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute on Campos' goal. San Jose defender Chris Leitch sent a long pass down the middle to Campos, who somehow got behind the entire Galaxy defense.

At that point, Campos was one-on-one against Jamaican goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts. Campos faked left and pushed a right-footed shot the other way past a diving Ricketts.

Los Angeles tied the game in the 76th minute on Jordan's goal. Taking a perfect pass from former Earthquakes forward Landon Donovan, Jordan headed a shot past San Jose goalkeeper Joe Cannon.

"Overall, I was encouraged by our performance," Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said. "Obviously the early goal we gave up is a concern, but I think our guys showed a lot of character.

"I was encouraged at halftime. I thought we could win the game, not just get a point."

Jordan wasn't even in the game until the 56th minute, when he replaced starting forward Mike Magee and gave the Galaxy an instant boost of speed and energy.

"Jordan's pace helped," Arena said. "It helped out attack to have a little more speed there."

After a corner kick, Donovan took a pass from Dema Kovalenko to the right of the goal. He then found Jordan streaking down the middle.

"We were putting them under quite a bit of pressure," Donovan said. "I wanted to put it in a good area. It was a great header by Jordan.

"We played a very good game in most aspects, but we can't spot a team a goal like that."

The Earthquakes got off to a great start when Campos took Leitch's long pass and scored easily, taking advantage of what Arena called "a little bit of poor communication on the back line."

Last week, San Jose blew three leads and settled for a 3-3 draw with Chicago.

"I think we have to learn how to win," Campos said. "I'm talking about the last game as well. We scored three goals and gave up three goals at home. ? We have to learn how to keep the lead."

Campos said he didn't think the Earthquakes were nervous or apprehensive.

"It's a team rhythm we have to work on. It's the communication, the passion to win games," Campos said. "We're missing passion and communication."

As they did last year, the Earthquakes moved both of their games this season against Los Angeles to the Oakland Coliseum from Buck Shaw Stadium to accommodate what they expected to be a large turnout to see David Beckham. Last year, the matchups drew crowds of 39,872 and 26,071.

Beckham, though, threw his team a curve this year when he extended his stay with AC Milan in Italy's Serie A. He won't rejoin the Galaxy until mid-July and will miss both games in Oakland.

Saturday night's game drew a crowd of 15,862.