CARSON — The third game in an eight-day stretch is always the toughest and it again proved to be that way for the Galaxy.
Coming off of consecutive wins, the Galaxy looked a step off the mark throughout Saturday night’s game against the Houston Dynamo.
The game went into halftime scoreless and that’s how it ended in front of 20,035 at Dignity Health Sports Park. The draw moves the Galaxy (7-10-8) to 29 points in the Western Conference and five points below the playoff line with nine matches left in the regular season.
“It came down to a game of who would give up first and I think it is something we have to be proud of, because in times if things didn’t go our way, we might have lost,” Galaxy goalkeeper Jonathan Bond said. “If we’re not going to lose it, it’s good to take a point.”
Looking for a spark, Galaxy coach Greg Vanney made four second-half substitutions at once in the 63rd minute, bringing on Billy Sharp, Michael Barrios, Edwin Cerrillo and Daniel Aguirre.
The Galaxy’s best chance arrived in the 76th minute. On a three-on-two advantage, Aguirre took a shot from just outside the 18-yard box that Houston goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell got his hands on. The rebound came off and Sharp recovered and fed Barrios, but his shot was also stopped by Tarbell, who finished with four saves in his first career appearance for Houston.
On the next attack for Houston, Bond was pressed into action and he delivered, getting a hand on a long shot by Hector Herrera in the 78th minute to keep the game scoreless.
The night took an even wilder turn as defender Lucas Calegari went down with a knee injury in the 85th minute. He eventually walked off, but that left the Galaxy playing with 10 men. Vanney had already used his five subs, leaving the Galaxy shorthanded.
The Galaxy also had to survive seven minutes of added time after Calegari’s exit, but the club found a way to preserve the draw.
“The third one (game) you would have loved to get three points out of this game,” Vanney said. “In my opinion, it was a game of lost opportunities in our attacks. We would consistently get into the attacking half of the field, but we would falter in the final action. … We need to be more detailed, sharper and be cleaner and finish out there.”
The game kicked off a three-game stretch for the Galaxy against three of the top four teams in the Western Conference. The Dynamo (11-10-6, 39 points) entered the week in fourth place, and next Sunday the Galaxy will host first-place St. Louis City SC (15-10-2, 47 points) before a short trip to take on third-place LAFC (11-7-7, 40 points) on Sept. 16.
“It’s a real challenging stretch, but if we want to move up the table and we want to get into a playoff position and ultimately have a chance, these are the type of teams that you’ve got to have to get results against,” Vanney said Friday.
“Over this last stretch of league games, we’ve been very solid in many ways, so now we get to do that and test ourselves against those teams but in order of where we are with the table and how many games are left, you have to play these teams and you’ve got to get something out of these games.”