LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena suggests his side were fatigued in their opening MLS match of 2012.

The reigning champions held a one-goal lead after Edson Buddle's 71st minute opener but conceded three times in 12 minutes to lose 3-1 to Real Salt Lake at home.

After drawing 2-2 with Toronto FC in the Champions League quarter-final during the week, the Galaxy came into the match with a few tired bodies and Arena admits he made a mistake in fielding a stale line-up.

"This game is on me. It's my fault," Arena said. "I should have used fresher bodies. We hit the wall and made mistakes that are attributed to fatigue.

"The travel, the two games this week added up to being a pretty tired team over the last 20 minutes, and it cost us the game. I take full responsibility for that."

But captain Landon Donovan said tiredness could not be used as an excuse for such a poor performance late in proceedings.

"We knew it was going to be hard, this start to the season - playing a hard game on turf and then traveling, naturally guys are going to be a bit tired," Donovan said.

"That's not an excuse. We had enough opportunities to win the game. We're up a goal with (19) minutes to go, we should do a better job of finishing it."

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