Galaxy Motto: Beware of Clash

“It’s the skinny dog that always bites,” warns Los Angeles Galaxy forward Jose Vasquez, and these days there is very little meat on the bones of the San Jose Clash.

Tonight at 7:30, in the narrow confines of Spartan Stadium and live on ESPN2, the Galaxy takes on the Clash in the first Major League Soccer playoff game for both teams.

It’s the opening of a best-of-three series, and San Jose knows all too well that it was 0-4 against the Galaxy during the regular season. A very skinny dog.

The Galaxy, on the other hand, is riding a three-game winning streak and is the league’s Western Conference champion. Confidence, at an ebb at midseason, apparently has been restored.

But the Clash is hungry, according to Coach Laurie Calloway.

“It’s not like they dominated us,” Calloway said. “In fact, we probably should have won two of the games.

“We’re coming off one of our best games of the season [a 1-0 shootout victory over the Wiz at Kansas City], so we have a little bit of momentum. And we get to play first at home. I like our chances.”

The so-called home-field advantage has been much debated in MLS, and Galaxy Coach Lothar Osiander is not even sure it exists in this type of three-game series. If San Jose were to win tonight, for example, it can pack its defense in the second and, if needed, third games at the Rose Bowl and hope to get either a winning goal on the counterattack or force a shootout.

The winner of this series plays the winner of the Dallas-Kansas City series for a place in MLS Cup ‘96, the league’s championship game Oct. 20 at Foxboro Stadium near Boston.

On paper, San Jose falls short of Los Angeles in a number of areas:

--The Galaxy’s 19-13 record was second best in MLS; the Clash finished the regular season 15-17.

--Los Angeles scored 59 goals and gave up 49; San Jose scored 50 and yielded 50.

--Eduardo Hurtado led the Galaxy with 21 goals and seven assists (third-best in MLS); Eric Wynalda was the Clash’s top scorer with 10 goals and 13 assists.

--Galaxy goalkeeper Jorge Campos led the league with a 1.20 goals-against average; the Clash’s Tom Liner was sixth at 1.73.

--Los Angeles is 11-5 at the Rose Bowl, where the second game will be played Sunday at 4:30 p.m. and the third, if necessary, on Tuesday or Wednesday; San Jose is 6-10 on the road.

But statistics will not determine the series, and the Clash has enough talent to cause Los Angeles problems.

Figure in the raucous crowd at Spartan Stadium and the skinny dog will probably prove Vasquez correct and show that it has some teeth after all.