The Switch Is On: Last Season’s Doormat Keeps Galaxy in Cellar

The balance of power in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference took a radical tilt to the north Saturday night.

The San Jose Clash, a doormat last season to the conference champion Galaxy, showed that things will be a lot different this year by routing Los Angeles, 4-1, in front of 17,628.

The only consolation for Galaxy Coach Lothar Osiander, whose team lost its third in a row and is now the only one in the league without a victory, was that it could have been even worse.

The Galaxy had defeated the Clash in six out of seven games last season and had knocked San Jose out of the playoffs in the first round. For the Clash, it was payback time.

The first half was played at a furious pace, with both teams committed to attacking play. It was speed against speed, fastbreak against fastbreak, the pinball effect exaggerated by the narrow confines of Spartan Stadium.

And it was the Galaxy that blinked first.

A long pass out of defense found Eric Wynalda on the left wing. The U.S. national team’s all-time leading scorer cut inside, then sent a cross to the far post, dropping the ball precisely into Dominic Kinnear’s path.

The midfielder’s looping header caught Galaxy goalkeeper David Kramer off his line and the ball fell into the net.

“I saw his [Kramer’s] positioning, he was sliding with the ball,” Kinnear said. “Eric bent in a beautiful ball. I did intend to do it [loop the ball over Kramer], and I was lucky that I did, but don’t ask me to do it again.”

Half an hour later, Kinnear accidentally set up the Galaxy’s only goal of the evening. Involved in a race for the ball with Los Angeles’ Brazilian forward, Welton, Kinnear appeared to take him down from behind and referee Joshua Patlak pointed immediately to the penalty spot.

Mauricio Cienfuegos sent Clash goalkeeper Dave Salzwedel the wrong way and, with the crowd booing loudly, tied the game, 1-1.

“I saw he was open and was going to goal,” Kinnear said. “I was trying to go around him to get to the ball just as he was swinging his leg back to shoot and our legs got tangled. Maybe it was a foul.”

In the end, it didn’t matter, because the second half belonged almost entirely to San Jose, which created two excellent goals and then scored a fourth to rub in its superiority.

The first came in the 61st minute, and Wynalda was again involved. He sent a textbook free kick into the penalty area and Clash captain John Doyle escaped the marking of Eduardo Hurtado to power home a header from close range for a 2-1 lead.

Nine minutes later, it was 3-1 after former UCLA standout Eddie Lewis again exploited the Galaxy’s defense by sending a cross in from the left wing that 22-year-old Ronald Cerritos headed past Kramer with the nonchalance of a veteran.

It was his first goal after joining the team Thursday from El Salvador.

After Los Angeles defenseman Dan Calichman had collided with San Jose’s Jeff Baicher and Baicher had left the field with his face covered in blood, the Clash sent on Hungarian midfielder Istvan Urbanyi, who had flown in from Budapest on Friday morning and practiced once with the team.

In the 89th minute, another Lewis pass came in from the left and Urbanyi slotted the ball past Kramer, who again was hung out to dry by his defense.

By now, San Jose Coach Laurie Calloway was dancing on the sideline.

For Osiander, meanwhile, the dance is becoming decidedly macabre.

“They were the best team in our conference last year, possibly the best team in the league,” Kinnear said of the Galaxy. “And you always want to beat the best teams. That creates a little more adrenaline before you step out on the field.

“It feels great. The pressure was on us a bit because of the last two losses. It’s good for our morale and it’s good because now we’re over the hump of L.A. [being] in our way. Now they’re 0-3 [compared to the Clash’s 2-2] and they have to come from behind.”

And that, considering the way the Galaxy is playing, will take some time.