Galaxy unable to get on track and suffers loss to Colorado

CARSON >> After a six-game unbeaten streak, the Galaxy was unlucky in attempt to increase it to No. 7.

Down a goal in the second half, things fell apart for the Galaxy (4-4-3, 15 points) as Julian Araujo received a second yellow card in the 75th minute and was sent off and three minutes later Jonathan Lewis added another goal to help the Rapids put the finishing touches on a 2-0 win at Dignity Health Sports Park, Saturday.

“I think they played well,” Galaxy coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto said. “They won the game and they deserved to win because they played very well. We never were able to manage the ball as we wanted, as I wanted.”

The loss was the first for the Galaxy since July 18, when it suffered a 6-2 loss to LAFC at the MLS is Back Tournament in Orlando.

The Rapids (4-4-4, 16 points) entered the game riding a four-game unbeaten streak against the Galaxy (3-0-1). The last time that the Galaxy had defeated the Rapids was Sept. 2, 2017.

Rapids opened the scoring in the 40th minute as Cole Bassett’s header off of a cross from Sam Vines that flew into the back of the net. The goal was a just reward for the Rapids, who had taken control of the game by that moment of the game.

The goal was the first allowed by the Galaxy in 220 minutes. The Galaxy entered the game having recorded consecutive shutouts over LAFC and San Jose.

In search of an offensive spark, Guillermo Barros Schelotto first two substitutes came in the 54th minute as Jonathan dos Santos and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, replacing Perry Kitchen and Ethan Zubak.

Galaxy goalkeeper David Bingham got a bit of luck in the 65th minute as the Rapids’ Jonathan Lewis shot from the left side of the box hit the bar and moments later, Bingham had to go low to stop a shot from Andre Shinyashiki.

However, in the 78th minute, with a one-man advantage, Lewis added the final goal for the Rapids.

“This team (Colorado) we played tonight played on Wednesday, so we should have been the fresher team,” Galaxy defender Daniel Steres said. “We didn’t look it and we didn’t create the opportunities for us to be fresher and move the ball and it almost worked the other way; we probably did more running in that first half and it killed us.

“We’re upset, not happy. We didn’t play well tonight. And yes we’re going to be tired for Wednesday, but we have to get ready for it, we have a chance to bounce back and get back to how we were playing before. We’ve got two more games to do that this week.”

The loss leaves the Galaxy on 15 points in the ultra-tight Western Conference. There are just seven points separating first place (San Jose) from 11th-place Real Salt Lake (14 points).

With two games remaining in this second phase of the regular season, it is safe to consider the conference standings as a fluid situation, subject to change with each game.

Earlier in the day, the Rapids announced they had traded former forward Kei Kamara (Leuzinger HS/CS Dominguez Hills) to  Minneseota United FC in exchange for $150,000 in General Allocation Money for 2021 and a second-round draft pick in the 2022 SuperDraft.

The Galaxy will travel to face Real Salt Lake, Wednesday (6:30 p.m.).

“We’ll need people to be fresh before the game against Salt Lake because we need to win and for that we need everyone to be 100 percent,” Schelotto said. “I am not worried about that, I think we lost because Colorado played well, they played better than us. We now have the game in Salt Lake and we need to try to win.”