Campos Flying Off in Search of a Miracle

Goalkeeper Jorge Campos has come up with a typically bizarre way to end the Los Angeles Galaxy’s slump.

If Major League Soccer today gives him its blessing, he will fly to France on Thursday in search of a cure for the Galaxy’s woes.

No, he’s not going to Lourdes--some miracles are out of MLS hands--but rather to Paris. There, he will play for Mexico on Saturday against France, then hop on the first available Concorde and jet back to play for the Galaxy against the Clash at San Jose on Sunday.

“Whenever I play two games [back to back], the Galaxy wins,” Campos said with a grin Sunday evening after the team had absorbed yet another tough loss, this one, 3-2, to the Dallas Burn in front of 19,279 at the Rose Bowl.

Needless to say, Galaxy officials are less than thrilled with the plan, insisting that Campos be available for Wednesday night’s MLS game against the Crew at Columbus and for the San Jose game.

Coach Lothar Osiander already is assured of losing the team’s main weapon, striker Eduardo Hurtado, for both games. Hurtado, who scored his 17th and 18th Galaxy goals Sunday on headers from close range, will fly to Quito today to rejoin Ecuador’s national team for its World Cup ’98 qualifying game against Venezuela.

In his postgame synopsis, Osiander made casual reference to “outside interference” affecting the performance of his team, which has lost four in a row and 10 of its last 13 after a 12-0 start. When asked to elaborate, he said, tersely:

“Like who plays in goal and when does he play in goal.”

Campos’ contract gives him more latitude than most. This season, he already has left the Galaxy to play for Mexico against Japan in Tokyo, to play for Mexico in the Olympic Games and, in a wasted trip, to supposedly play for Atlante in the Mexican League season opener. He failed to appear in the latter game because FIFA had not cleared him to play for two clubs simultaneously.

Now, he wants to go to France.

His half-joking reference to the Galaxy winning when he plays back-to-back games harked back to June 16, when he played 90 minutes for Mexico against the United States, followed immediately by another 90 minutes for the Galaxy against the Tampa Bay Mutiny.

In those days, though, the Galaxy was unbeaten.

Compounding Osiander’s unhappiness is the fact that Cobi Jones and Mauricio Cienfuegos, both of whom have worked tirelessly throughout the slump and cannot be blamed for it, are supposed to play for the U.S. and El Salvador national teams, respectively, in a game Friday night at the Coliseum.

“You can’t play four games in one week and be healthy,” Osiander said. “That’s an impossibility.”

The Galaxy played well Sunday, rediscovering much of the magic it had shown early in the season. The difference now, however, is that other teams also are playing better.

The victory moved Dallas (16-11) into first place in the Western Conference, ahead of the Kansas City Wiz (16-13). The Galaxy (15-10) slipped to third.

The Burn scored first, Diego Sonora blasting in a shot in the 23rd minute. That was the first indication the Galaxy would lose. It has not won a game when it trailed at the half.

Jason Kreis, called up to the U.S. national team for Friday’s game, made it 2-0 with a stupendous free kick nine minutes later. That was the second indication. Dallas is now 10-0 in games in which Kreis scored.

Campos, who was left dizzy and suffered a cut above his left eyebrow in an earlier collision, said half-jokingly that he had seen two balls on Kreis kick--”the one I stopped and the one that went in the net.”

Trailing, 2-0, the Galaxy pulled one back on Hurtado’s header in the 53rd minute, but a 3-on-1 break by Dallas ended with striker Dante Washington scoring the Burn’s third goal.

Hurtado’s second goal showed the Galaxy’s fighting spirit, but the talk afterward was of more bad breaks and the hope that the luck would change soon.

Even if it takes Campos going to extremes to make that happen.