Final
Crew SC, Galaxy square off at Mapfre Stadium
Jun 12, 2015 - 8:21 PM Columbus, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - A pair of Major League Soccer originals will clash on Saturday as the Los Angeles Galaxy travel to Mapfre Stadium to battle Columbus Crew SC.The defending MLS Cup champions Galaxy enter the fixture hoping to break a modest two-match winless streak following a 1-0 loss to West rivals Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
Kekuta Manneh created the only goal of the day for Vancouver when he drove down the right side of the pitch and ripped one on frame that beat Los Angeles goalkeeper Brian Rowe to the near post.
The home side picked up the urgency in the second half as manager Bruce Arena sent goal poacher Alan Gordon on as a substitute in the 60th minute and fellow attacker Sebastian Lletget into the fold with 15 minutes to play.
The fourth official's board showed four minutes of added time and the Galaxy continued to push for an equalizer, but Vancouver's defense held out to claim an important three points.
"Conceding that goal in the first half, it was tailor made for their team. The way they play, and with their speed on the counter, and we gave away a ball in our middle third of the field and they got a goal," said Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena. "They certainly did a very good job having good numbers behind the ball, and countering us in the second half. We had some chances to have a little bit better quality, perhaps create a few dangerous chances, but we fell short."
Columbus, meanwhile, will aim to get back on the winning track following a 2-1 loss to the Montreal Impact on home soil last week.
Crew SC fell behind through a second-half goal from Maxim Tissot and Andres Romero doubled the lead for the visitors.
The hosts pulled one back through Federico Higuain, but it wasn't enough as Gregg Berhalter's men suffered the defeat.
"There are no excuses tonight. I'll take full responsibility for the performance," said Berhalter. "I think we lacked organization, we lacked ideas, we lacked the ability to move the ball quickly and that's on me. I'll take full responsibility for that."
"We got scored on off of our own set piece at the top of the box. I think that says enough. The organization needs to be there. You can't expect against a counter-attacking team to play like that and win the game. You can't expect it," Berhalter added.
"[We're just] disappointed. [We're] not happy, obviously. None of us are," said defender Michael Parkhurst. "We weren't good enough tonight and it's disappointing coming off of some results where we should have done better playing in front of our home crowd against a team that also played three games in seven days, it's really disappointing."
- LOS ANGELES: 1
COLUMBUS: 1
Final
Jun 13 11:34 PM - LOS ANGELES: 1
COLUMBUS: 0
Halftime
Jun 13 10:31 PM - LOS ANGELES: 0
COLUMBUS: 0
2nd Half - 90'
Jun 13 9:45 PM
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