Loss to Crew Really Hits the Galaxy Hard
It was the sort of collision that must have caused the needles to jump on the Richter scale at the nearby Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Eduardo “El Tanque” Hurtado of the Galaxy, all 6 feet 3, 200 pounds of him, going full bore into Columbus Crew goalkeeper Brad Friedel, no midget himself at 6-4 and 202.
The whole Rose Bowl felt the impact.
Friedel took the punishment and could not prevent Hurtado from scoring.
It did, however, prove to be the Galaxy’s only goal in a surprising 2-1 loss to the Crew in front of 24,344 fans on a warm evening in Pasadena.
The goal originated deep in the Columbus half, where Galaxy midfielder Danny Pena’s pass sprang teammate Mauricio Cienfuegos free. The Salvadoran playmaker glanced up, saw Hurtado sprinting into the Crew penalty area and lofted a long pass that Hurtado controlled with his chest.
Friedel rushed out to challenge him, but Hurtado stuck out a leg and flicked the ball into the net with the outside of his right foot.
For a brief few minutes, the 64th-minute goal seemed to be the key that would unlock the Galaxy offense--an offense that had been stifled by Columbus’ rock-solid defense anchored by Friedel and U.S. national team teammates Thomas Dooley and Mike Lapper.
Then the game turned.
South African national team midfielder Doctor Khumalo suddenly found himself with space on the left wing in the 71st minute and curled a cross into the Galaxy goal area. Brian Maisonneuve, at the near post, leaped to flick it back to Lapper positioned at the far post. Lapper’s sharp header went in off Pena’s head and, just like that, the score was tied.
The Galaxy, riding a five-game winning streak, fought back but its luck had changed.
In the 87th minute, there was another hard collision in the Crew goal area, Friedel this time crashing into his close friend from U.S. Olympic and national team days, Cobi Jones. Jones went down as if he had been hit by a truck and had to be helped off the field.
With the game looking more and more as if it would go to a shootout, Columbus Coach Tom Fitzgerald sent Billy Thompson in with only four minutes left.
This would later look like a move of genius.
There were 47 seconds left when Maisonneuve sent a corner kick curling in toward the Galaxy net. Bryan Taylor, who had come on for the injured Jones, partially cleared it, but the ball fell kindly for Thompson, who rocketed a shot into the upper left corner of Jorge Campos’ net.
And that was it. Columbus (9-13), which had lost three in a row and eight of its last 10, was the winner. The Galaxy (9-12) was the loser though from a technical standpoint it was clearly the better team.
“We’ve had a hard time for the past few weeks,” Thompson said. “I just happened to be at the right place at the right time. I just wanted to get a good shot on goal.”
It was Thompson’s first game of the year after being on the injured reserve list since last August when he tore left knee ligaments in a game against D.C. United.
In a way, it was fitting that a player coming back off injury would score the game-winner in a match that featured many chances but also some hard tackling.
It was also a game of bruising fouls: the Galaxy’s Dan Calichman cutting down the Crew’s Khumalo, Columbus’ Robert Warzycha flattening Cienfuegos, former Crew defender and now Galaxy right back Paul Caligiuri upending Sergio Miguez and earning a yellow card, Dooley reducing Hurtado to a limp, and Maisonneuve doing the same to Martin Machon.
The game also often looked like a UCLA alumni game.
The Galaxy’s Caligiuri, Greg Vanney and Jones are all former Bruins. So are Columbus’ Friedel, Lapper and Jorge Salcedo. Given that, and their impact on the game, it should not have come as a surprise that it was Thompson who scored the winner.
He, too, is from UCLA.
Other MLS Games
Marcelo Balboa’s shootout goal and a save by Marcus Hahnemann were the difference as the Colorado Rapids scored their first victory over D.C. United, 3-2, before 16,769 at Washington. Colorado is 11-12, United 15-8. . . . At Dallas, Preki scored on a penalty kick in the 78th minute to give the Kansas City Wizards a 2-1 victory over the Burn before 25,425. Kansas City is 15-7, Dallas 12-11.
