Galaxy Goes Out Without a Flicker
The Galaxy’s second Major League Soccer season came to a sudden and inglorious ending here Wednesday night, amid a flurry of yellow cards, a near-brawl and an extraordinary performance by the league’s top American striker.
Dante Washington, ignored by the goal-starved U.S. national team but the scorer of a dozen goals in the regular season for the Dallas Burn, netted two more in front of a Cotton Bowl crowd of 11,248 as the Burn defeated the Galaxy, 3-0, to sweep Los Angeles out of the playoffs.
Washington, a 1992 U.S. Olympic team striker, could easily have had five goals. He missed an open net from close range, slammed a shot into the crossbar and hammered another one against the right post.
“It’s great to score goals,” Washington said, “and that’s my job. But I don’t go out thinking, ‘How many goals am I going to score?’ I just try to play my game, play the way that I know how to play and do what’s best for the team. Whatever happens after that, happens.”
The absence of injured Los Angeles defender Robin Fraser had a lot to do with Washington’s success.
“Dante’s had a great year,” said Galaxy interim Coach Octavio Zambrano. “In our team, the only guy who can really catch up with him speedwise and can really take him out of the game is Robin. Robin knows him well, their pace is similar, they’re both strong. Without Robin, he had a lot more freedom to operate.”
Also absent for Los Angeles was striker Eduardo Hurtado and goalkeeper Jorge Campos, on World Cup duty for Ecuador and Mexico, respectively. Dallas, without an array of international stars, was at full strength.
Burn Coach Dave Dir also played to his strengths, packing his defense and using the counterattack to good effect.
The Galaxy, meanwhile, was shut out for the second playoff game in a row, having lost to Dallas, 1-0, in a shootout at the Rose Bowl on Sunday.
One hundred and eighty minutes of scoreless soccer does not carry a team far in the postseason.
The first half was an especially poor one for the Galaxy, which managed only three shots, none of them memorable for the right reason.
Greg Vanney lifted a shot high over the crossbar; Chris Armas hoofed an effort into the cheap seats, and defender Dan Calichman, frustrated at his forwards’ inability to break down the Dallas defense, raced through to take a shot of his own. It wound up in the pig exhibit at the adjacent Texas State Fair.
Dallas, meanwhile, took the lead in the 29th minute when Washington threw himself head-first at a ball in the crowded goal area and powered a header into the net.
After a string of astonishing misses, Washington doubled Dallas’ lead in the 69th minute, finally beating Galaxy backup goalkeeper Kevin Hartman after twice being denied by the woodwork.
Daniel Peinado’s goal in the 86th minute completed the scoring.
The Galaxy attacked with more purpose in the second half, but the closest it came to scoring was when Harut Karapetyan’s fierce shot rebounded off the crossbar five minutes into the half.
As the clock ran down on the Galaxy season, tempers flared. Defender Paul Caligiuri and Burn goalkeeper Mark Dodd exchanged words that ended with Dodd essentially clotheslining Caligiuri.
By then, however, the Galaxy already had been hung out to dry and the mini-brawl that followed achieved nothing.
“We really wanted to get back to the championship game,” said a disappointed Calichman. “It’s not going to happen this year.”
Said Caligiuri, nursing a bruised larynx: “We played a team that was prepared well against us. They didn’t really look to play at our pace or match our technical skills but basically packed [the defense] in the back and looked to counterattack. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to create scoring chances.”
Dodd, now owning back-to-back playoff shutouts, said it was Dallas that won, not Los Angeles that lost.
“I don’t think L.A. was easy,” he said. “I think we played hard. I think we fought really hard. Obviously, we were pumped up. We really didn’t like the prospect of going back to L.A. So this was huge for us.”
But not so huge for Danny Villanueva, the Galaxy’s general manager.
“It’s a bitter pill,” he said. “If you’re a competitor, which everybody in this organization is, it’s just difficult to accept that our season is over with and we’ve got time on our hands right now.
“It’s quite sudden and quite final. But all in all, I have to say that with as much adversity as this team faced this year, we have to be pleased with how our guys battled all year long. I think that when we had important games, until the playoffs, we won what had to be won.”
Calichman put it more simply.
“It was a good season,” he said. “We just got knocked out too early.”
OTHER PLAYOFF GAMES
Colorado 3, Kansas City 2--Paul Bravo scored two goals and assisted on one at Denver to lead the Rapids to a victory over the Wizards and a two-game sweep of the Western Conference semifinal. The Rapids will face Dallas in the finals.
The Wizards opened scoring in the ninth minute, when Uche Okafor two-bounced a cross to Digital Takawira, who sent a high shot over the diving Marcus Hahnemann.
Bravo tied the game in the 16th minute, connecting after passes by the Henderson brothers, Chris and Sean.
Bravo gave the Rapids the lead in the 68th minute, when Matt Kmosko sent the ball from the corner to the front of the net. The cross was tipped by Wizard goalkeeper Mike Ammann and was put in by Bravo, who was at the left post.
Columbus 2, Tampa Bay 0--Brian McBride and Robert Warzycha each scored a goal and Columbus beat the Mutiny at Columbus, Ohio, to give the Crew a two-game sweep in an Eastern Conference semifinal. McBride scored the game-winner in the 43rd minute off a header from eight yards out past Tampa Bay goalkeeper Scott Budnick.
McBride scored the game-winner in the 43rd minute off a header from eight yards out past Tampa Bay goalkeeper Scott Budnick. Ansil Elcock set up the goal with a long cross over Budnick’s head to McBride.
McBride has three goals and an assist in five career playoff games against the Mutiny.
Washington 2, New England 1--Carlos Llamosa beat Walter Zenga in the seventh shootout round at Foxboro, Mass., to give D.C. United the victory and help the defending MLS champions advance to the Eastern Conference finals against Columbus.
Richie Williams scored in the 53rd minute off a pass from John Harkes to give the United a 1-0 lead. New England’s chances to come back seemed to evaporate in the 70th minute, when Francis Okaroh was given a red card for a hard tackle on Jaime Moreno in front of the benches.
The automatic ejection forced the Revolution to play a man down for the remainder of the game. But two minutes later, Joe-Max Moore scored on a penalty shot after Eddie Pope was called for a foul--even though it appeared Alexi Lalas simply fell.
