Galaxy Is Historical Favorite
The last time this happened, Jorge Campos was crawling in Acapulco, most likely in fluorescent lime, pink and orange diapers. After all, he was not yet a year old.
Nor was John Harkes, who was born in 1967, the last time Los Angeles and Washington met in a soccer game with a championship on the line.
Today, on what promises to be a storm-wracked afternoon, the Los Angeles Galaxy plays D.C. United at Foxboro Stadium in MLS Cup ‘96, the grand finale to the first Major League Soccer season.
Logic says that Washington should prevail. History says otherwise.
It was at the Los Angeles Coliseum 29 years ago that one of the most dramatic and entertaining soccer games ever to be played in the United States took place.
There were no penalty kicks and shootouts to decide games in those days, and the final score, after several overtimes, in the U.S. Assn. title game was: Los Angeles Wolves 6, Washington Whips 5.
In their first season, the Wolves won a championship for Los Angeles and started a tradition that the Galaxy will try to continue today.
Flash forward six years to 1973. The U.S. Assn. had long since disappeared, replaced by the North American Soccer League, and, in their first year of existence, the Los Angeles Aztecs won the NASL title. Three years later, the Los Angeles Skyhawks, also in their first year, won the American Soccer League championship.
So, Los Angeles teams are three for three in their inaugural season. The Galaxy can make it four for four by winning today’s nationally televised game.
Reminded a few days ago of the Wolves-Whips outcome a generation ago, Bruce Arena, Washington’s coach, dismissed it with a quip, before talking about how far U.S. soccer has come since then.
“First of all, I think we have better names now,” he said, “so that’s progress over 29 years. The American player is considerably better than he was then, and I think that’s evidenced by the fact that we have players who have played all around the world. Players in this game such as John Harkes and Cobi Jones.”
All the same, the Foxboro crowd is just as likely to be focusing on the international stars on display: Campos, the Galaxy’s colorfully garbed goalkeeper from Mexico, playmaker Mauricio Cienfuegos and striker Eduardo Hurtado, from El Salvador and Ecuador, respectively. For the United, there are the two Bolivians, Marco “El Diablo” Etcheverry and Jaime Moreno, as well as striker Raul Diaz Arce from El Salvador.
Weather and the size of the field could play a key role in the outcome. What had been splendid fall weather earlier in the week, with blue skies and warm sunshine, turned nasty Saturday as a storm moved up the Atlantic coastline. According to the forecast, there is a 90% chance of rain today and a 20% chance of snow. As of Friday, 40,000 tickets had been sold in the 58,000-seat stadium, but heavy rain and an icy wind may stop many fans from attending.
Reconfiguration of the stadium for the NFL’s New England Patriots has narrowed the field’s width to about 68 yards, which will squeeze the players into a more confined space, hurting the Galaxy, which likes to attack down the wings.
The two coaches, Arena and Lothar Osiander, are not sure what type of game to expect.
“Typically, cup finals are low-scoring games, played very tightly,” Arena said. “But the type of personality these teams have, I would not be surprised if it’s a pretty offensive-minded game and there are a number of goals scored. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s 1-0 or 3-2 or 4-2.”
Osiander said much will depend on when the first goal is scored.
“I think it’ll be a little bit tight for the first 25, maybe even 30, minutes,” he said. “I think that as soon as a goal is scored the game will loosen up dramatically because everybody will want to go forward and play high pressure then. The second half should be a loose game because both teams have reached a level of exhaustion where back-tracking [to defend] becomes a tedious job, so there’ll be some spaces available to exploit.
“For the spectators and for the viewing audience, I think it’ll be great if one team scores an early goal because then it becomes an exciting game.”
Both teams would have been at full strength had the Galaxy not lost defender and team captain Dan Calichman to suspension because of three yellow cards in the playoffs. Los Angeles’ request to have his one-game suspension served next season instead of today was denied.
“I’ll miss Calichman terribly,” Osiander said. “But you live with it. All we can try to do is find a player who fits into his spot and then the rest of the team stays the same.”
Arena, meanwhile, downplayed the significance of Calichman’s absence.
“Dan’s had a great year and is a very strong part of that team,” he said, “but they have a number of defenders who have played well throughout the season. [Robin] Fraser’s an outstanding player, [Greg] Vanney’s had a great year, [Mark] Semioli. I don’t think that will be a factor at all in the game.”
The teams took different routes to the final. Los Angeles started 12-0, then slumped to 13 defeats in 17 matches before recovering strongly to win the Western Conference title, beating the San Jose Clash and Kansas City Wiz in the playoffs.
Washington started 1-6, recovered to end the regular season 16-16 and finish second in the Eastern Conference, then beat the New York/New Jersey MetroStars and Tampa Bay Mutiny in the playoffs.
“Los Angeles certainly enters the game as the favorite, having been at one point in the season invincible in our league,” Arena said. “You’ve got to give them credit for getting through a tough time in July and August and responding by being a terrific team in September and October.”
The teams practiced Friday at Brandeis University and Saturday at Foxboro. To judge by their comments, the United players are confident of holding their own with the Galaxy, which won two of three from the United in the regular season.
“It’s going to be battle between two teams who are technically very strong,” said Harkes, the Washington and U.S. national team captain. “Midfield, I believe, is the strong part of L.A., how they progress forward and how they build out of the back with speed. On a field like this where it’s narrow, I think it’s important to really win the battle in the midfield.”
The final is on network television, giving MLS an opportunity to showcase its product with an attractive, open game, but Arena said that is not uppermost in his mind.
Nor is Washington worried about the Galaxy’s strengths.
“We’ve talked about Hurtado’s presence, Cienfuegos’ mobility, Jones’ speed,” Arena said. “In all honesty, L.A. doesn’t do anything that we’re not aware of. They’re just an outstanding team on both ends of the field and we’ve got to be prepared to play them in a positive manner.”
* TODAY’S MLS CUP ’96
Galaxy vs. D.C. United at Foxboro, Mass., 12:30 p.m., Ch. 7
* BILL PLASCHKE: C2
* MATCHUPS: C9
