Galaxy again falter against St. Louis

Things apparently aren’t getting better for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

St. Louis City SC continued the early misery of the Galaxy on Sunday night. Chris Teuchert was the catalyst for the visitors from the Gateway City, as he scored an opportunistic first goal, then assisted on a second goal, and St. Louis ran out of Dignity Health Sports Park with a 3-0 win.

“I mean, it’s the worst start that we could have,” Galaxy midfielder Marcos Reus said. “We played four games, four losses. Conceded too many goals. We are not scoring so many goals. Just one. I think today in the first half, we played, I would say, well. We created many, many chances. But at the end, we lost the game and that is really what matters.”

The Galaxy thought they would find the back net in the 24th minute, but a right-footed volley by Marco Reus from exactly 23 yards out hit the far post. St. Louis eventually made the Galaxy pay for that missed chance just before halftime, as Marcel Hartel sent a corner kick into the penalty area, Galaxy keeper Nico Micovic got his hands on the ball, but could not get a grip on the ball, thus spilling the ball back into play. Galaxy defender Emil Garces kept the ball from trickling into the goal, but the ball remained free inside the six-yard box and and Teuchert came in and buried the point-blank shot for a 44th minute goal.

St. Louis controlled the match in the second half. St. Louis scored four minutes into the half, as Teuchert played Hartel into the penalty area on a fast break. Hartel fired a left-footed shot that got past Micovic at the near post to double the St. Louis lead. St. Louis kept up the aggression, almost getting a third goal a minute later, but a shot by Joao Klaus bounced off the far post. St. Louis eventually did find that third goal in the 84th minute, as they were on a counter, Simon Becher played a ball out left to Kyle Hiebert, Hiebert passed a ball back to Becher, who got into the penalty area, then fired a shot that beat Mocivic near post to seal the three points for St. Louis.

“At the end of the day results are about goals, on both sides,” Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney said. “Today, I felt like there was some progress in the use of the ball, the coordinated movements, the chance creation, because we haven’t seen a ton of that in the first few games. But then just the ease at which we give up goals can be demoralizing; I think that was a piece of it today.”

The Galaxy will attempt to redeem themselves on Wednesday night, as they host CS Herediano in the second leg of its CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16 matchup.