Editorial (August 23, 2017) – Columbus Crew SC beat the LA Galaxy at home tonight by a score of 2-0. A first half red card to Ashley Cole set the visitors up for a long night. Ola Karam and Justin Meram scored the goals for the Crew and DP winger Pedro Santos made his first ever MLS start.
Crew Beat 10-Man Galaxy Team 2-0: Three Big Takeaways
Goalkeeper Jon Kempin did everything he could, stopping two PK attempts. Still, the Crew were able to find two goals and win the game with a solid performance.
The Early Returns On Pedro Santos Are Good:
Pedro Santos arrived in Columbus with much fanfare. His signing was the biggest transfer fee in club history. The winger made his debut on the weekend, coming off the bench in a 1-1 draw with Orlando City SC. Tonight, the Portugese DP went almost 70 minutes. He had an assist on the winning goal.
More than that, Santos was dynamic. He brought service from the wing in a way we haven’t seen Columbus midfielders do this year. He cut inside, creating scoring chances for his teammates and himself. He earned a PK and won most of his head-to-head encounters with Jonathan dos Santos.
Pedro Santos did work for #CrewSC tonight. pic.twitter.com/2njVc3B2vh
— Matt Pollard (@LWOSMattPollard) August 24, 2017
He still needs to get fit, but he looks like a DP version of Ethan Finlay circa 2015 so far. He’ll bring a lot of creative ideas the Crew need to make the playoffs.
Defensive Errors Continue To Haunt LA Galaxy:
It’s been a theme all season for the Galaxy. Critical breakdowns have cost the Galaxy goals and points. Whether it’s getting torn apart on counter attacks, young players making critical errors, or Jermaine Jones destroying the midfield shape, the Galaxy are a leaky defense.
While both goals came with the Galaxy down a man, there were a number of things they could have done differently. Cole was given a red card for a serious foul just 18 minutes in. The card was issues upon VAR review.
I was watching the game on MLS Live which has the Columbus broadcast. The angles weren’t great for determining where the contact was. Even then, Cole could have avoided contact with Santos a little better. He was the last defender back, with Santo and Karama about to go in on goal. The rest of his defense could have backtracked better.
On Kamara’s goal (down a man), the Galaxy didn’t attack the ball or mark Kamara well. The pass went by at least three (possibly five) Galaxy players who could have intercepted it. Credit to Santos for threading the needle. No center back picks up Kamara on his run, leaving Pele van Anholt and Kempin out to dry.
The Galaxy made errors on the two PKs they gave up and the marking was poor on the second goal. Their season is pretty much over, but it’d be nice to seem them try to break some bad habits.
The VAR Process Is Still Confusing:
This game might have set a record for Video Assisted Replay (VAR) in its young history in MLS. VAR was involved in three plays in the first thirty minutes of the first half. It was involved in Cole’s red card. It ruled a foul by Jonathan dos Santos was inside the box and thus a PK.
It also called back a header goal by Daniel Steres that would have given LA the lead. This play and review were particularly confusing. The goal was ultimately called back due to a foul by Joao Pedro on Hector Jimenez. That ruling was independent of whether Pedro got a touch to the ball from an off-sides position.
It was clear on all these plays that the players didn’t immediately know what was happening. For a good minute after the Steres goal, the scoreline still showed 0-1 on the Columbus broadcast. The Santos PK call was pretty straight forward once you knew the play was under review and saw the replay.
But the others could have used some explaining. It took the broadcast team a bit to piece everything together. I can’t imagine the confusion with fans inside the stadium. The officiating crew could have followed the VAR rules perfectly and no one could tell. It’s still going to take the fans and pundits some time to get used to the VAR process. It might be helpful to have the officials in some way explain the ruling post-review similar to what the NFL and NHL do.
