Galaxy Hoping to Exploit Trend
Home-field advantage is taking a beating in the Major League Soccer playoffs.
There were four games played over the weekend, and the home teams lost three of them. The Galaxy, one game shy of elimination, can only hope that pattern continues, at least for one more game.
The Dallas Burn, which defeated Los Angeles, 1-0, in a shootout on Sunday at the Rose Bowl, can clinch the best-of-three series with a victory tonight at the Cotton Bowl.
But Burn Coach Dave Dir said Sunday night that playing at home “means nothing, like it meant nothing here tonight.”
He might have a point. Dallas was only 8-8 at the Cotton Bowl this season. On the other hand, the Galaxy was only 6-10 on the road.
The Burn lost three of four to the Galaxy in the regular season, but Dir made some adjustments that paid off in Game 1.
“Basically, we went with five [defenders] at the back,” he said. “We were having a lot of trouble with L.A.’s front-runners. Cobi [Jones] and [Harut] Karapetyan had been playing very well and we just felt we needed to limit some of that space on the flanks, especially the way they interchange positions.
“It seemed to work well. Obviously, we denied a lot of shots. I don’t think they [Galaxy forwards] had too many shots on goal.”
The Galaxy, also scoreless in the shootout, was frustrated all evening by the packed Dallas defense.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have the offensive punch that we needed,” said interim Coach Octavio Zambrano. “Perhaps we didn’t pressure them enough in the first half; we didn’t go after them as much as we should have. Maybe that was our mistake.”
It should be a different type of game tonight. Although Eduardo Hurtado will be missing because of World Cup commitments with Ecuador and Robin Fraser remains sidelined because of a foot injury, playmaker Mauricio Cienfuegos returns to run the offense.
That, said Zambrano, will make a huge difference.
“I think we lost the game in midfield,” he said. “We just weren’t able to make up for the absence of Mauricio and Cobi. Those two guys make our offense click.”
Los Angeles has history on its side. It lost the first game of the playoffs last season and still went on to win the Western Conference title and reach the league championship game.
“The guys know what’s at stake,” Zambrano said. “I’m fully confident that when we go to Dallas, they’ll have a different attitude, They know it’s do or die. This team seems to play very, very well when that happens.”
Meanwhile, the other three playoff series are equally interestingly:
KANSAS CITY VS. COLORADO
The most surprising of the first-round results was the Wizards’ defeat at Arrowhead Stadium. Kansas City was 21-11 in the regular season, 12-4 at home, and had beaten the Rapids in all four games this season.
But Colorado shut the Wizards down, 3-0, on goals by Chris Henderson, Paul Bravo and Ross Paule.
This led to one of the more memorable and honest quotes of the season from the Wizards’ Ryan Tinsley, who said: “We were horrible. That’s all there is to it. From the first kickoff, they wanted it worse than us. We were a bunch of clowns out there.”
That feeling was shared.
“They [the Rapids] came here to disgrace us and did that,” said defender Uche Okafor. “We need to go out to Denver and do the same thing to them.”
Always one to look on the bright side, Kansas City Coach Ron Newman said the loss “might be what we need to get back on the right track. We have to play on the road now, and we’ve been a good team on the road. If we can win there, I think we’ve got a great chance to move on.”
Game 2 is tonight at Mile High Stadium.
WASHINGTON D.C. VS. NEW ENGLAND
Defending MLS champion D.C. United was the only team to win its home playoff opener, easily disposing of the Revolution, 4-1, on two goals apiece by Roy Wegerle and Jaime Moreno.
Unless New England can find a way to shut down playmaker Marco Etcheverry tonight at Foxboro Stadium, Washington will be going to the Eastern Conference finals.
“If you allow Etcheverry to collect the ball and have two or three seconds without pressure, it’s very hard for your back four to defend,” said Revolution Coach Thomas Rongen, whose team lost a league-record nine games in a row in July and August and had to win three of its final four games to reach the playoffs.
“They do some things that we don’t do well. They possess the ball, which we don’t do well. They stretch you, and they play out of pressure, which we can’t. They have speed. They can pick you apart with their quality of play.”
It won’t be any easier at home for the Revolution despite playing in front of the most supportive fans in the league (regular-season average attendance: 21,423). Raul Diaz Arce, second in MLS during the regular season with 15 goals to Moreno’s 16, returns after playing for El Salvador in its 5-0 World Cup ’98 qualifying loss to Mexico on Sunday.
TAMPA BAY VS. COLUMBUS
The Mutiny had a 7-4 record against the Crew coming in, but that meant nothing in the opener at Houlihan’s Stadium, where the Crew’s 2-1 victory on goals by Jason Farrell and A.J. Wood gives it the edge going into Game 2 tonight at Ohio Stadium.
“They do have a decent defense, plus they’re a blue-collar team that works really hard for each other, and so do we,” said Mutiny forward Alan Prampin. “I thought it was a good game, but we just didn’t capitalize on our chances. . . . If you don’t put the ball on target, it makes any defense look good.”
Tampa Bay created enough opportunities to win, but even with Carlos Valderrama setting up plays and Roy Lassiter on hand to finish them, the Mutiny could not find the net. Gilmar scored Tampa Bay’s only goal.
“They didn’t seem to have the same enthusiasm they normally play with,” said Crew Coach Tom Fitzgerald.
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Tonight’s MLS Playoff Game
* What--MLS playoff Game 2.
* Who--Galaxy vs. Dallas Burn.
* Where--Cotton Bowl, Dallas.
* When--7:30 p.m.
* TV--Fox Sports West.
* Radio--KTNQ (1020, Spanish).
* Situation--Dallas leads the best-of-three series, 1-0.
