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Shorthanded Galaxy Fall 2-0 To Crew

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11 points out of the final playoff spot and winless since June the Los Angeles Galaxy headed to Columbus Wednesday evening to take on the Crew.

An injury to Giovani Dos Santos left the Galaxy a little short-handed in this one as he would be left out of the lineup. That wouldn’t be the only change to the lineup though as this was the club’s first game without former Captain Jelle Van Damme on the roster since his transfer earlier this week. Another change of note was the benching of Brian Rowe for Jon Kempin in goal in what was a coaches decision.

It didn’t take long for this one to get interesting and for Los Angeles to realize that missing Dos Santos wasn’t going to be the only thing leaving them short-handed. In the 18th minute Columbus went on a run into Galaxy territory when fullback Ashley Cole tackled the attacker close to the box. Cole was given an immediate Red Card and when the play went to Video Review the red card was upheld to the surprise of just about everyone watching.

A clear mistake by the referee crew would leave Los Angeles down a man for the rest of the match. The “entertainment” wouldn’t stop there with Video Review as just minutes later a foul that was given outside the box was reviewed and deemed a penalty. A poor shot by Columbus forward Federico Higuain led to an easy save by Kempin.

Video review was not done making its mark just yet in this one. Just minutes after that second call going in Columbus’ favor a third call would go their direction as a headed goal by Daniel Steres would be overturned. After review it was deemed that Joao Pedro got his head on the ball in an offside position leaving the score at 0-0. You be the judge.

With any momentum Los Angeles attempted to gather being completely taken from them it was only a matter of time before the Crew took advantage and they would do just that getting a goal in stoppage time from forward Pedro Santos.

The second half saw Columbus continue to push the ball forward on the 10 man Galaxy squad but the defensive effort by Los Angeles was strong. They never allowed a clean shot from their opponents and continued to make getting a goal difficult for the Crew.

In the 77th minute Columbus would catch another break as they were awarded another penalty this time with the foul called on Kempin in the box. But yet again Kempin would keep his team in the game with another great penalty save keeping the score at 1-0 Columbus with about 10 minutes to go.

In the 90th minute the dam would finally break for the Galaxy defense as Justin Meram got by the defense and fired one by Kempin putting his Columbus squad up 2-0.

A solid defensive performance from Los Angeles for being down a man but it was clear the team was doing everything they could to hold on after the dismissal of Cole early on.

Los Angeles have their biggest rival the San Jose Earthquakes coming up Sunday on FS1 as the team needs to try and build some sort of momentum with the season winding down.

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