So Far, a Perfect World for Galaxy
Can 109,602 fans be wrong?
That’s how many have turned out for the Los Angeles Galaxy’s first two Major League Soccer games at the Rose Bowl.
On Sunday, 40,347 showed up to see goals by Jose Vasquez and Mauricio Cienfuegos earn the Galaxy a 2-1 victory over the San Jose Clash on a hot but thankfully smog-free afternoon in Pasadena.
The victory improved the Galaxy’s record to 3-0, the best in MLS, and left the team firmly in first place in MLS’s Western Conference.
It was the team’s third 2-1 victory in as many games, but judging by the number of clear scoring opportunities the Galaxy created, the score could easily have been 4-1 or 5-1. Poor finishing was to blame.
Three games, no goals. “The tank,” Eduardo Hurtado, is running on empty.
Don’t ask Eric Wynalda to sympathize with the Los Angeles striker, however. The Clash forward is having enough woes of his own. With 36 seconds to play Sunday and his team trailing by one goal, Wynalda curled a free kick past the Galaxy’s defensive wall, only to see it bounce off the right goalpost.
Wynalda has not scored a goal since his tally in MLS’s inaugural game on April 6. The Clash hasn’t won since then, either.
Wynalda’s miss Sunday left Los Angeles as the league’s only unbeaten team.
The Galaxy created the early chances. Clash goalkeeper Tom Liner was forced to dive to his left in the sixth minute to block a shot by Hurtado, who had been set up by a useful pass from fellow striker Jose Vasquez, making his first start for Los Angeles.
In the 15th minute, midfielder Arash Noammouz squirmed his way past two defenders and into the penalty area before lifting a shot over the crossbar with only Liner to beat.
San Jose’s first opportunity came in the 22nd minute when Galaxy goalkeeper Jorge Campos had to make two saves within a minute, the first off a sharp header by Chile’s Victor Mella and the second off a low drive by Wynalda.
But it was Los Angeles that drew first blood, a perfect pass from Cobi Jones giving Vasquez the opportunity to steer the ball past Liner and just inside the right post in the 26th minute.
Vasquez, from Santa Ana, raced back to the Galaxy bench to be congratulated by Jorge Salcedo, the former UCLA midfielder who scored the winning goal off a Vasquez pass in last weekend’s victory at Washington D.C.
Five minutes later, Nigerian defender Michael Emenalo earned his third yellow card of the season, this one for dangerous play, when he kicked Galaxy defender Dan Calichman in the chest. Jones put the resulting free kick over the crossbar.
San Jose Coach Laurie Calloway, sensing the need to inject some life into his team, took off Eddie Lewis and replaced him with Jamaican national team midfielder Altimont Butler.
The Galaxy almost made it 2-0 in the 33rd minute, but midfielder Mark Semioli of Stanford somehow managed to hoist his shot from close range high over the crossbar.
Five minutes before the half ended, Liner denied Hurtdao his first goal by rushing out of his net to deflect the Ecuador national team striker’s shot wide of the right post on a one-on-one break.
Vasquez was shaken up when fouled by Guatemala’s Jorge Rodas at midfield, but it was a foul by Mella, who elbowed Jones in the face at the edge of the penalty area, that brought the second goal.
An excellent free kick by Cienfuegos curled into the upper right corner of the net, beyond the fingertips of Liner, and the crowd erupted in response as the El Salvador midfielder sprinted the sideline, sliding on his knees with his arms upraised, before being engulfed by teammates.
The second half opened with the Galaxy continuing to force the pace. It was only Liner’s ability in the nets that kept the score from increasing. He made back-to-back saves from close range off Cienfuegos in the opening minutes of the half and later again denied the midfielder after Cienfuegos had dribbled past three defenders.
Vasquez was substituted with about 18 minutes left in the game, Galaxy Coach Lothar Osiander sending on John Garvey in his place.
Los Angeles came close to scoring a couple of other times, but the final shot always went astray. Jones and Hurtado both missed high and wide when it might have been easier to score.
Finally, San Jose struck back when a corner kick by Wynalda found Paul Bravo unguarded in front of the net. Bravo’s header from point-blank range gave Campos no chance.
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Soccer Notes
One Wynalda who hit the right note Sunday was Heather Wynalda, sister of national team striker Eric Wynalda, who sang the national anthem and afterward was embraced by her brother. . . . The Galaxy came into the game as the last unbeaten team in the league after the Tampa Bay Mutiny lost earlier in the day by the Dallas Burn, which got a good free kick goal from Duke’s Jason Kreis and a great free kick goal from Uruguay’s Washington Rodriguez. . . . Among those spotted at the Rose Bowl on Sunday were U.S. national team coach Steve Sampson, “feeling fine” after his emergency appendectomy of two weeks ago, and Milutin “Sole” Soskic, the U.S. national team goalkeeper coach.
