United feel fortunate for draw in L.A.
As it stood, however, the Los Angeles Galaxy's lack of finishing touch helped D.C. United earn a point Saturday as the two sides tied 0-0 at The Home Depot Center.
Despite an edge in the possession, D.C. United was lucky not to lose.
"When we go back and look at the tape, the possession is good but we still need to create more opportunities," Olsen said. "They still had quite a few opportunities that a team on a good night will beat us 2-0."
D.C. United had an edge in total shots (17-9) and shots on goal (6-2) but the Galaxy had clear chances that they failed to put away. Galaxy forward Nate Jaqua was alone in front of the goal in the fourth minute but he sent a cross well over the crossbar when a tap-in could have opened the scoring.
Landon Donovan too had a few opportunities but his own lack of finishing kept the hosts from scoring as well.
Despite United's first shutout of the season, the backline can stand to get better.
"Defensively we can improve," defender Bobby Boswell said. "Even though tonight we kept a zero we still gave up a lot more chances I would have liked. We didn't keep the balls well enough to help the guys in the midfield and up top well."
From the start, D.C. United put itself in a bad position. The club wanted to achieve two things but failed on both counts.
"I was real disappointed the way we came out in the first half," coach Tom Soehn said. "We said the key for us being successful today was going out and establishing ourselves in the first 15 minutes and being good on the ball. On both of those, we didn't accomplish that."
Still, D.C. United had four shots on goal in the first half. Galaxy goalkeeper Joe Cannon stood firm and stopped all the shots he faced. In the second half, the effort improved -- perhaps because the club felt lucky to be in the game in the first place.
"In the second half, I thought we did (play better) but the way we started out we could have been two or three down and that's disappointing," Soehn said. "You come in the locker room thankful that you are not down and know that now you have been given an opportunity to come back and I thought we put together that decent play but that final pass was missing, that final strike."
Jaime Moreno, Christian Gomez and Luciano Emilio had their dangerous moments. Gomez twice had shots on goal from close range that Cannon turned away while Emilio had a point-blank header that had he not hit right to Cannon would have hit the back of the net.
"A game of missed chances on both sides," Boswell said. "Fortunately they didn't score on us but unfortunately we didn't score on them. A point on the road is not the end of the world."
Still, although United controlled the possession and had six shots on goal, the Galaxy could have put the game away on several occasions.
"We had a lot of possession. That's usually the case. They did a good job in the way they played. They exposed us a couple of times," Olsen said. "We're lucky we got out of here with a tie because they definitely had a lot more chances than we did."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
