United Creates Little

United 0, Galaxy 0

CARSON, Calif., June 2 -- D.C. United stretched its unbeaten streak to five games Saturday night with a 0-0 tie against the badly undermanned Los Angeles Galaxy, but the performance was barely worthy of a point in the cluttered MLS Eastern Conference standings.

Lacking the offensive personality of recent weeks, United (3-3-2) was fortunate not to fall behind by multiple goals in the first half. Play improved after the break, but the club still rarely tested goalkeeper Joe Cannon and had to endure a few late scares before settling for the draw in front of a quiet crowd of 21,069 at Home Depot Center.

Perhaps the only positive for United was its ability to record its first shutout of the year. The Galaxy (1-3-3) was largely responsible for that, though, after squandering an abundance of opportunities.

"I told them [at halftime] that we were fortunate to be in the situation we were in, but now that we are, it's a gift to be able to come out with three points," Coach Tom Soehn said. "I thought we had our opportunities, but we still gave them a couple in the second half. Overall, it was a sub-par performance."

With the return of team captain Jaime Moreno from Bolivan national team duty, Soehn altered his frontline pairing, but instead of dropping the slumping Luciano Emilio, he sent rookie Guy-Roland Kpene to the bench.

The other changes were necessitated by injury (Brian Carroll) and unstable performance (Josh Gros). Midfielder Clyde Simms was awarded his second start of the season, lining up uncharacteristically at right back, which pushed Bryan Namoff to left back. Gros, who had struggled on the left side of defense, returned to his comfort zone in midfield.

The experiment did not last long, however. The Galaxy, desperate to find a rhythm before David Beckham arrives next month, took the initiative. Namoff's giveaway in the second minute triggered a dangerous combination that ended with Landon Donovan narrowly missing wide.

Two minutes later, Cobi Jones, nearing his 37th birthday, found space on the right and crossed nicely to Nate Jaqua, who inexplicably failed to score on a six-yard volley. Another minute passed when Troy Perkins came off his line to touch the ball away before Donovan could run onto it.

With Los Angeles continuing to mount a potent attack, Soehn returned Namoff to the right, dropped Gros to left back and slid Simms into midfield. "Formation wise, we weren't cutting it," Soehn said.

United was tighter defensively, but continued to labor on attack. There were a couple of stray corner kicks, mild threats by Emilio and Fred, and Simms's 25-yarder just over the crossbar, but the Galaxy crowded the middle of the field to limit playmaker Christian Gomez's space and had no trouble containing Moreno.

"It was more about us trying to go through the middle a lot," Moreno said of the team's problems. "We knew that they had a lot of guys in the middle and we weren't smart enough to play the ball wide and try to cross some balls and create some chances."

United was constantly chasing the game and was fortunate to reach halftime in a tie. Donovan should have scored on the final touch of the half, but shanked a one-timer from 12 yards.

"We were not putting the passes together, weren't keeping the ball, we weren't moving off the ball," Perkins said. "There were times where Christian got the ball and there was no one -- our movement was bad. . . . Especially against a team [missing so many] players, we've got to do better."

United began to find its way in the second half. Gomez crossed to Emilio for a sharp, downward header at Cannon and Fred failed to put away a six-yard header set up so well by Moreno.

The Galaxy was back at it in the 72nd minute when Donovan was sent through. Confronted by Perkins, the Galaxy star touched the ball back to Jones, whose shot was blocked by the retreating Namoff. Donovan got another chance in the 80th, but Bobby Boswell scrambled back to block it.

"At the end of the day," Moreno said, "a point is a point."

United Notes: Carroll has a bruised quadriceps and did not make the trip. The club expects him to be available for next Sunday's game against New York. . . . Because of five injuries, two starters on international duty and Kyle Martino's suspension, the Galaxy had just four players (instead of the usual seven) on the bench. . . . Perkins's first save of the night came just before kickoff when he trapped a bird that refused to leave the field and had eluded Fred and Boswell. The crowd cheered.