Sporting Kansas City's captain mans the back line, but on Thursday evening, Matt Besler was instead a spectator, away from the team on international duty. The other half of his typical center-back pairing stayed home with an injury. A potential fill-in was injured during practice this week.
But the band-aid defensive unit kept the league's best scoring team silent in Los Angeles.
Sporting Kansas City earned a crucial road point in a 0-0 draw with the LA Galaxy late Thursday at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.
The Galaxy, which entered play Thursday leading Major League Soccer in goals per match, didn't even manage a shot on goal, nor a corner kick.