This has been a May of futility for Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy. No wins, only one draw. Could things get any worse for Arena? Could his role as the boss be in grave danger?

On Tuesday night, the Galaxy surrendered a one-goal lead to the Carolina RailHawks and lost 2-1 to crash out of the U.S. Open Cup.

With a long, long break before the Galaxy return to MLS action, here are six things we learned regarding the culmination of a futile month of soccer for the Galaxy.

1. Arena Fails To Take the Cup Seriously

This was perhaps doomed from the beginning. A number of key starters were not on the plane to North Carolina: A.J. DeLaGarza, Sean Franklin, Todd Dunivant, Juninho and David Beckham.

Because of this, Carolina were able to take advantage of an under-strengthed LA Galaxy side and leave the match late.

2. A Full 90 minutes from Leonardo

One of the bright spots to take from this defeat was that Leonardo, who was injured for a majority of last season, earned a full 90 and stoppage starting in the back line for the Galaxy. Whether or not his performance will lead him to playing time during the MLS season remains to be seen.

3. Tommy Meyer Continues To Improve

Center-back Tommy Meyer starred for the Galaxy in the back line but had to be subbed in favor of David Junior Lopes. During his time on the pitch, Meyer made routine clearances and helped generate some sequences offensively. However, the lack of experience meant that he could not do it alone.

4. Wholesale Changes Could Be on the Way

A number of players could be on their way out of Los Angeles: Bryan Jordan, Michael Stephens, Kyle Nakazawa, Chad Barrett, Lopes and even Hector Jimenez, among the notables. If the Galaxy expect to contend for the rest of this season, a number of contracts have to be eaten up and a new wave of transfers come in this season.

5. Arena Is Definitely on the Hotseat

Phil Anschutz had better take a look at this string of results and ask himself, do we really want to keep Arena now? It is very clear that Arena has lost control of this team, and the failure to take this competition seriously only adds to the case against this three-time MLS Cup winner.

A managerial change, at this point in the season, might be the way to go before the year is completely a wash.

6. Galaxy Have a Long Time To Think Before Portland

The international break is going to be something the Galaxy will want to take advantage of. It gives them plenty of time to think before the MLS slate kicks up on June 17 at home against the Portland Timbers.

A lack of offense, a porous defense and no drive has plagued this Los Angeles Galaxy team. If they don't make changes, and fast, this season will be a wash before Tottenham and Real Madrid say hello.

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Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy have one last chance to salvage their season when they travel to Cary, N.C., to take on the Carolina RailHawks in the third round of the U.S. Open Cup.

Kickoff at WakeMed Soccer Park is scheduled for Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. ET.

Here are 10 bold predictions for this week's matchup.

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After a 2-1 loss this past Saturday to the Columbus Crew, Austin Berry (second career goal) and the Chicago Fire have to be licking their wounds.

The biggest problem the Fire has is getting off to better offensive starts. Going down 2-0 in Columbus marked the ninth time during the season that the Fire have been forced to fight back from a deficit.

No one will question the Fire’s resiliency and toughness. There are no issues with the talent. The team has talent ranging from the aforementioned Austin Berry to Mexican superstar Pavel Pardo.

Adjustments have been made with Rafael Robayo being added to the starting 11. Before the FC Dallas game, Robayo would be a late game substitution to provide a spark on the offensive end. The thought process behind including Robayo with the starters was: passing would be crisper, shot opportunities would increase, and there would be more spacing on the field.

As a result, teams have stacked their defenders around midfield in an attempt to interrupt the Fire’s offensive flow.

The Fire must come out with a purpose at the opening kick. They must find Dominic Oduro as well. He has been missing in action ever since suffering from minor leg injuries.

Watching the games, I cannot help but wonder if Oduro has lost some of his confidence.

Playing against the Michigan Bucks in the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Cup tomorrow could help Oduro and the Fire gain some confidence before heading out to Gillette Stadium on Saturday to face the New England Revolution.

With the Fire headed into the midway point of the schedule, the time is now to gain some momentum.

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Sporting Kansas City rode first-half goals by C.J. Sapong and Kei Kamara to a 2-1 victory of the San Jose Earthquakes in front of 19,974 fans at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. The win snaps Sporting KC's four-match winless streak.

The win was also the first in the month of May since May 16th, 2009 in a road win against Real Salt Lake, a span of 13 matches without a win.

Sporting KC opened the scoring in the fifth minute. Earthquakes defender Brad Ring poked the ball away from Teal Bunbury, but Graham Zusi got the ball right back. Zusi made a pass out wide to Kei Kamara on the right. Kamara crossed the ball into the penalty area where Sapong put the ball in the back of the net with a sliding one-timer from about seven yards out.

In the locker room after the game, Sapong told us he was wearing a pair of cleats borrowed from Kamara. "I must have packed my shoes in the wrong bag or something," Sapong said. "I came early, didn't even look until 10 minutes to go out and realized I didn't have my cleats. I tried to keep quiet about it. I mean, he (Kamara) is the closest person to my shoe size. About a full size smaller, but we made it work."

The goal was Sapong's first since April 1st, a span of seven matches without scoring. The team's record when Sapong scores, dating back to last season, is 9-0-0.

Defender Seth Sinovic had to leave the game in the 23rd minute with another injury. Chasing down a ball in the San Jose end of the field, Sinovic fell over the LED board behind the endline. Sinovic's left hand came down on the brace supporting the board and got a nasty cut that ended up requiring 20 stitches to close. Sinovic made way for Michael Harrington.

During the postgame press conference I attended, manager Peter Vermes said Sinovic will be available for the US Open Cup game against Orlando City on Tuesday.

Sporting KC looked like the more dangerous team throughout the first half. In the 22nd minute, Kamara fed the ball through to Bunbury, who was making a run into the penalty area. Bunbury's initial shot was blocked by defender Jason Hernandez and Bunbury put the second attempt just outside the far post.

San Jose's first truly dangerous chance of the match came in the 31st minute. Steven Beitashour took a shot from about 32 yards out, but goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen tipped the ball wide with a leaping save.

Eight minutes later, Kamara doubled the Sporting KC lead. Defender Chance Myers made a pass out to the left wing for Harrington. Harrington settled the ball and took one touch back to put the ball on his right foot. His cross found Kamara in the penalty area and Kamara's header bounced past Earthquakes goalkeeper Jon Busch.

The goal was Kamara's fifth on the season, his first in four matches. Harrington notched his first assist of the season, while Myers tallied his third, all on goals by Kamara.

Bunbury had another chance denied in the 56th minute. Making a run on the left side of the penalty area, Bunbury's shot was blocked by a sliding Justin Morrow.

San Jose pulled one back in the 72nd minute. Defender Ramiro Corrales headed the ball down to Simon Dawkins. Dawkins moved forward a couple of yards in front of a backpedaling Aurelien Collin before shooting the ball inside the far post past a diving Nielsen.

The goal was Dawkins' second of the season, and Corrales now has three assists.

The Sporting KC defense clamped down on San Jose after that and limited the Earthquakes to one shot for the rest of the match.

With the win, Sporting KC is now 8-3-1 and lead MLS in points per game with 2.08. Their next league match is June 16th against Toronto FC. The match kicks off at 7:30 p.m. CDT and will be shown on KSMO-TV.

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The cold, hard, nasty truth must be hitting David Beckham of the Los Angeles Galaxy straight in the face. It's hitting him straight in the showers, following him everywhere he goes. A footballer that is 37 years young, and the truth dangles in front of him like a carrot on a stick.

 No, it's not the fact that Engelbert Humperdinck's song for Eurovision was the second-worst in the entire contest (courtesy of Scotland on Sunday). It's the fact that Beckham is consigned to working with a team of Boy Scouts in man-suits.

But despite seeing his Galaxy drop another match, 2-1 to the Houston Dynamo at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, Texas, Beckham did show flashes of his past self, as seen in the 10th minute of the match.

Beckham delivered a through ball to Chad Barrett, who found Edson Buddle in open space. The goal was Buddle's second of the season, but the Galaxy's defensive issues would make the lead short-lived.

 A flash of brilliance from the Brit, who is still pining for a certain Stuart Pearce.

But alas, there is only so much a man with experience can do when leading this group of Boy Scouts. It leaves the embattled soul frustrated, seething, desperate, battered, broken and unbowed.

Such is David Beckham's personal passion that is not unlike the suffering that Jesus of Nazareth went through before his demise many centuries ago.

This is the truth, the harsh reality that Beckham must face, at least until the other stars of this team, though fading in their own rights, return to salvage a campaign that has come unglued.

Rating 7/10

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This is turning out to be quite the broken record: it's another soul-crushing defeat for Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy, who can't beat the Sisters of Mercy with their mastery of gong show football.

Despite being able to score first, as with the San Jose match Wednesday, the Galaxy capitulated on a own goal by Mike Magee and poor set piece defending en route to a 2-1 loss at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston.

Now there are some readers who argue that my ratings are not fair. Well, to those, I say this: life isn't either, and to the players of the Los Angeles Galaxy, you will continue to get dismal ratings for your performance until you do something right for once and win a game. It's so simple, even a rocket scientist monkey can comprehend it.

With all that said, it's time to break down the player ratings.

Brian Perk 5.5

Perk was not helped by the likes of Mike Magee in the first half and could not save the set piece conversion by Andre Hainault in the second half. However, he did make collections and stop a number of chances from Houston.

Bryan Jordan 4

Dead weight is dead weight. Poor decision making and lack of confidence has been a hallmark of Bryan Jordan's playing career with the Los Angeles Galaxy. The fact that Jordan is still on this team baffles me, to say the least.

Sean Franklin 5

Not great with his long ball delivery, but did perform his assignments without fail. Quiet day for Franklin.

Bryan Gaul 6

Competent defender with textbook distribution, and therefore, someone that we will probably have to get used to seeing. Tired out late and had to be subbed out for David Junior Lopes.

Todd Dunivant 4.5

Dunivant failed to mark Bryan Ching on a delivery that culminated in the Mike Magee own goal. He didn't have the legs today, and I suspect the Texas heat got to him. To be honest, he wasn't the only one suffering.

A.J. DeLaGarza 4.5

This was one of the few times where A.J. DeLaGarza was upstaged by Gaul in terms of being the best defender on the back line. A key reason: DeLaGarza failed to mark Andre Hainault, resulting in the eventual game-winning goal for the Dynamo.

Kenney Walker 6

A good day out for Kenney Walker. He didn't play out of position and held his own for 45 minutes. Not sure why Arena elected to sub in Michael Stephens, as Walker probably would have done more of the same in the second half.

Mike Magee 2

The goat of the match. Not only did he commit an own goal that brought the Dynamo back into the game, but he also earned an unnecessary yellow card for a lack of class. Can we finally put aside the Mike Magee facts for now? His fire was doused by orange Gatorade today.

David Beckham 7

Man of the match for orchestrating the only goal of the game: a sequence that involved Chad Barrett and Edson Buddle. Beckham can only do so much as a field general, as he was essentially the field general for a team of Boy Scouts in man-suits.

Chad Barrett 5.5

Helped deliver the final pass to Edson Buddle for the Galaxy's only goal of the game.

Edson Buddle 5.5

Buddle's strike in the 10th minute was his second of the season. He also had a number of other opportunities on goal but couldn't finish.

Michael Stephens 4

Not sure why Stephens was used in the second half other than to bring experience. But in spite of the many games under his belt, Michael Stephens's presence did not leave an impact on the match.

Pat Noonan 4.5

In spite of being brought in to jump-start the Galaxy offense, Noonan didn't do much to change the dynamics of the contest.

David Junior Lopes NR

Came into the game late, no rating given.

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This May has nothing short of a month of horrors for Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy, who have no defense, have a lackluster offense and have another loss to their ever-putrid ledger.

On Saturday afternoon, the Galaxy stunk it up once more and suffered a 2-1 defeat to the Houston Dynamo at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, Tex.

Here are six things we learned from Saturday's defeat.

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When looking back on Major League Soccer's 16-year history, you probably can recall several events that have remained strong in your memory.

From the good, to the bad, to the heroic, the league has been full of memorable moments that have been stuck in the minds of fans since the day of their occurrences.

Instead of searching through the archives of your brain to remember some of these events, I have conveniently listed some of the best moments in league history in this slideshow.

Take a trip down memory lane and enjoy.

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The 2012 Major League Soccer season has not been the kindest of years for Bruce Arena’s Los Angeles Galaxy. With a dismal record of 3-7-2 (11 points), they have lost their touch when it comes down to applying the simple fundamentals in playing the game the right way.

Still, there is plenty of time for them to turn the ship around and contend for an MLS Cup Playoffs spot, but they have to hurry. Saturday’s tilt with the Houston Dynamo could be the starting point for a comeback of significant proportions.

As for the Dynamo, head coach Dominic Kinnear will aim to right the ship for his ball club, who are 3-3-4 (13 points) and currently sit seventh in the MLS Eastern Conference.

Kickoff is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. PT/2:30 p.m. ET and will be televised by NBC Sports.

Keep it right here on Bleacher Report for continuing coverage of the 2012 MLS season and all things world football.

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Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy sport the worst record in the MLS Western Conference at 3-7-2 (11 points). It doesn't seem that there could be any letting up in terms of maintaining their cold streak when they face the Houston Dynamo on Saturday at BBVA Compass Stadium.

Or is there not?

It has not been a pleasant May for Los Angeles, who have yet to win this month. This is their last chance to salvage something this month in league play. Houston currently sports a 3-3-4 record (13 points), and are similarly struggling to get points in the MLS Eastern Conference.

Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. (EST) and will be televised by NBC Sports.

Here are 10 bold predictions for Saturday's afternoon tilt in H-Town.

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