Galaxy beats the Columbus Crew, 2-1, with an unlikely lineup
The Galaxy talked a lot last week about the opportunities Saturday’s showdown with the Columbus Crew presented.
With five starters unavailable, the game offered a number of lightly-used players a chance to shine. With just one of the three teams ahead of them winning Saturday, the game gave them a chance to move up in the Western Conference standings.
And with Bruce Arena sitting on 199 career wins, the game offered their coach a chance to become the second man in MLS history to reach 200 victories.
Then there was the opportunity that fell to second-half substitute Baggio Husidic, whose 25-yard strike from the left wing found the upper corner of the net just inside the far post, snapping a scoreless tie and sparking the Galaxy to a 2-1 win before a crowd of 24,693 at the StubHub Center.
“I took a risk. I just smashed it,” said Husidic, whose 78th-minute goal was his second of the season.
“It was,” he added “one of the better goals I’ve ever scored as a pro.”
Giovani Dos Santos got the Galaxy’s other score four minutes later, latching on to a deflected ball near midfield, outrunning Columbus defender Nicolai Naess into the penalty area, then lifting a left-footed chip over goalkeeper Steve Clark.
It was his third score in five games, giving him a team-high 10 for the season. And when Adam Jahn knocked the rebound of a penalty-kick save past Galaxy keeper Brian Rowe in stoppage time, Dos Santos’ goal became the game-winner.
But Husidic’s goal may be remembered as the one that got the season back on track for a Galaxy team that hadn’t win in six games and as many weeks.
“It will be huge for us,” midfielder Sebastian Lletget said. “Our confidence is going to rise through the roof.”
The Galaxy played Saturday without midfielders Steven Gerrard and Gyasi Zardes and defender Jelle Van Damme, who are all injured. Captain Robbie Keane was also missing to international duty while midfielder Nigel de Jong is gone for good after he jumped to Turkish club Galatasaray.
Only Keane is expected back before next weekend, which has forced Arena to go deep into his bench for starters. One of those he summoned for Columbus was Raul Mediola, who probably needed to be introduced to some of his teammates since he was making the first start of his MLS career and his first appearance of any kind in more than two years.
But at least he had an excuse. Some of the Galaxy’s other starters also looked like they had just met as well and they’ve been playing together for six months. So when Husidic came on for Mike Magee after 65 minutes, he was just looking to the give the team a spark, not necessarily a goal.
Instead he did both.
“Getting subbed on, you’re tied in the game, you’ve got nothing to lose going forward,” he said. “We’ve been talking for the last couple of weeks about being a bit selfish and shooting around the goal. And that’s exactly what I did.”
“When I took a touch I wasn’t planning on shooting. But it just laid up so perfect, I’m like ‘I’ve got nothing to lose’.”
The result was the Galaxy’s first goal in 189 minutes.
“Hopefully this is the momentum we need,” Husidic said.
They certainly needed the three points, which gave them 43 for the season and left them in a three-way tie, eight points back of division-leading Dallas. The Galaxy came take sole possession of second place with a win at Real Salt Lake on Wednesday.
“The goal tonight was to get three points,” Arena said. “That was accomplished.”
As for 200 MLS wins, something only Sigi Schmid had accomplished before Saturday, Arena said it’s a milestone he’ll cherish later.
“I never really get all hung up on those things,” he said. “I know one day it will be important, probably for my grandchildren to read about it. I’m honored to have just coached some great players in this league and that’s the reason why I’ve been able to pile up a few wins along the way.”
For Dave Sarachan, the Galaxy’s associate head coach, the record wasn’t so easy to dismiss.
“The guy’s a winner. And you can’t say that about everybody,” he said of Arena. “This is a hard league to win in. So 200, that’s a pretty impressive number.”
Follow Kevin Baxter on Twitter @kbaxter11
