Even Penalty Can’t Stop Galaxy
On Friday night, after the Galaxy had shut out the Burn, 3-0, in Dallas for its fourth consecutive Major League Soccer victory, defender Paul Caligiuri explained why a once-dismal season has suddenly taken such an upturn.
“We feel really sound right now, and that’s a nice feeling to have,” he said. “Our defense has been solid and our offense seems to be gaining confidence with each and every game.”
Caligiuri had reason to thank that offense Sunday after it had saved him from being the goat at Mile High Stadium in Denver, where the Colorado Rapids became the latest team to lose to the fired-up Galaxy.
But the 2-1 victory in front of a sparse crowd of 7,809 came only after a dreadful Caligiuri mistake had almost cost the Galaxy the game.
The victory improved the Galaxy’s record to 9-11 and leaves it only three points behind the Rapids (10-12) for third place in the Western Conference with 12 games remaining.
Leading, 1-0, with less than 25 minutes to play, the Galaxy appeared in control. But when Peter Vermes unexpectedly lofted a ball to teammate Paul Bravo deep in the Galaxy penalty area, Caligiuri stuck out a leg, tripped Bravo and saw referee Alberto Giordano award the Rapids a penalty kick.
Chris Henderson, easily Colorado’s most dangerous player, fired the shot beneath the body of diving goalkeeper Jorge Campos to tie the score at 1-1. Suddenly, the momentum was with the home team.
Interim Coach Octavio Zambrano had sent Harut Karapetyan on in place of Eduardo Hurtado 12 minutes before the Colorado goal and, in response to the goal, he sent midfielder Guillermo Jara on to replace Caligiuri and later put forward Jose “Two Rings” Botello into the game in place of defender Danny Pena.
The three moves, all intended to keep the offensive pressure on the Rapids, paid off with less than five minutes to play.
The Galaxy was attacking down the right wing when the ball fell to Colorado defender Matt Kmosko who, without looking up, tried to hook the ball to safety but instead sent it straight to Karapetyan.
The forward, his confidence bolstered by a pair of goals against the New York/New Jersey MetroStars the Sunday before, calmly chipped a shot over onrushing Rapid keeper Marcus Hahneman to restore the Galaxy’s lead.
On the bench, Caligiuri’s sigh of relief was almost visible.
The Galaxy’s first goal, in the 18th minute, was equally well taken. It came after some excellent play on the right flank by Cobi Jones and Mauricio Cienfuegos that led to Cienfuegos passing the ball to Martin Machon.
The Guatemalan midfielder sent a perfect through pass to Welton on the right and the Brazilian striker made no mistake with a shot that flashed into the upper left corner of the net.
It was Welton’s team-leading seventh goal of the season.
“We didn’t have our best game, but after playing two matches in less than 48 hours, this victory means even more to us,” said Zambrano, whose record improved to 6-2 as interim coach.
MLS Notes
Steve Ralston, Frank Yallop and Roy Lassiter scored shootout goals to give the Tampa Bay Mutiny (12-10) a 1-0 victory over the Columbus Crew (8-12) before 12,130 at Columbus, Ohio. . . . Antony De Avila set up the tying goal and scored the game-winner in the 82nd minute as the New York-New Jersey MetroStars (7-12) notched a 2-1 victory over D.C. United (14-7) before 20,104 at East Rutherford, N.J.
