Two teams headed in opposite directions will tangle at the StubHub Center on Wednesday as the Los Angeles Galaxy host the struggling New England Revolution.
The Revs enter Wednesday's match having lost their last five contests, with the latest coming in a 1-0 setback at home to Chicago over the weekend.
Quincy Amarikwa scored the lone goal of the contest for the Fire inside the opening three minutes, while New England was unable to come away with an equalizer despite a good spell of pressure in the second half and a penalty kick chance for Chris Tierney in the final five minutes that was saved by Chicago goalkeeper Sean Johnson.
"We had a few solid set pieces and the PK obviously. I thought for the second half, besides the one on one we gave them, we carried the play, but that's soccer," said Revs defender Andrew Farrell. "We could have come away with a victory but it just wasn't our day."
The loss was especially disappointing for New England head coach Jay Heaps, who felt his side was ready to offer up a big response after some tough losses in the previous weeks.
"That one really hurt because I thought we had some tough decisions against us last week and I thought we responded well," Heaps said after the defeat to the Fire. "Then tonight, I thought we were going to come out flying and we got punched right in the face the first two and a half minutes. We have to be better and it's on us."
Los Angeles enters the fixture on a seven-game unbeaten streak after the side managed a 1-0 victory over Real Salt Lake courtesy of a 20th-minute goal from Gyasi Zardes.
Marcelo Sarvas missed a penalty kick in the closing stages of the match as well which would have added another coat of gloss to the result, but Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena wasn't totally satisfied, and he feels as though there is still work to be done.
"Any time you get a shutout it speaks volumes for the whole team," Arena said. "I think for the most part we played well and deserved to get the three points tonight. We know we need to get a little bit better. That's certainly not a perfect performance."
At the moment the Galaxy won't need a perfect performance to extend their unbeaten run to eight games. Unless, of course, the Revs are able to raise their level of play, which is something they haven't done since their last win on May 24.
[SportsNetwork.com]
