Galaxy Finds Another Star
Perhaps Major League Soccer got it all wrong. Perhaps it is the Los Angeles Galaxy that should be wearing the scorpion logo, not the San Jose Clash.
After all, with substitutes coming off the bench to score the game-winning goal in two of its past four games, the Galaxy is the team with the sting in its tail.
It happened again Sunday as a disbelieving crowd of 31,728 watched Los Angeles improve to 5-0 with a 2-1 victory over the Clash.
This time it was Gregg Vanney who provided the winner, just as his former UCLA teammate, Jorge Salcedo, had done three weeks ago.
But Vanney, who plays for the Sacramento Scorpions of the third-division USISL when not needed by the Galaxy, doesn’t really care what logo is on his uniform. On Sunday, his jersey didn’t even have the correct name on it.
That’s because Vanney was brought in as a late replacement for injured midfielder Chris Armas. He didn’t even find out he was playing until 3 1/2 hours before the game, and the team hadn’t thought to bring his jersey on the trip.
So he wore Curt Onalfo’s No. 20 instead of his own No. 18. It didn’t matter. Less than 24 hours after scoring the game-winner for Sacramento at Reno on Saturday night, Vanney made his first MLS goal a winner too.
“It’s amazing, a dream,” Vanney said. “I still have the chills from it.”
His goal, in the 82nd minute, came only seven minutes after San Jose had tied the score on striker Paul Bravo’s fourth goal in the last four games and at a time when the Clash, urged on by the record crowd, had all the momentum and was pushing for its third victory in a row.
San Jose turned the ball over at midfield and Vanney played a give-and-go series of passes with another substitute, Andrew Shue, then found himself with only defender Troy Dayak and goalkeeper Tom Liner to beat.
“The ball bounced around and ended up on my foot,” Vanney said, “so I cut it inside to get a little bit of a better angle and just slipped it in at the far post.”
It sounds simple, but the victory was anything but that for the Galaxy, which was tormented all afternoon by former Mexican national team forward Missael Espinoza, signed last week by San Jose in response to the demands of its fans for a Mexican player.
Espinoza came close with a number of shots, but solid defensive play--with Robin Fraser outstanding--and Jorge Campos’ usual unflappable effort in the nets kept Los Angeles unbeaten.
“We had a little bit of luck,” Galaxy Coach Lothar Osiander said. “We also did some things right. We’re working hard to get better. We’re on top of the league. They have a good team, they just don’t have the luck we have at the moment.”
Laurie Calloway, the San Jose coach, provided a somewhat different summation. “You don’t deserve to win games if you make defensive mistakes like we made,” he said. “We gave them two goals. We were totally in control in the second half, but by leaving three [defenders] at the back we were caught, they got the second goal and it was all over.”
The Galaxy, meanwhile, is beginning to look more and more like a team. Its play is not as disjointed as in the first game or two and the players are developing good relationships on the field.
Hurtado, too, is beginning to find his scoring touch after being shut out in the first four games.
He put Los Angeles ahead in the ninth minute, finishing a move started by Harut Karapetyan on the left and also involving Mark Semioli, whose one-touch pass with the outside of his right foot set Hurtado up perfectly.
“Eduardo made a great run by staying onside,” Semioli said. “That really made the goal develop. His first-time shot was pretty amazing.”
Right now, the same could be said of the Galaxy’s good fortune.
