Galaxy Prevails in Do or Dye Game
Blonds don’t have more fun.
In fact, if they are Colorado Rapids, fun is the last thing they are thinking about today after losing their Major League Soccer home opener, 1-0, to the Galaxy in front of 19,252 at Mile High Stadium on Saturday night.
In a bizarre show of unity, every Colorado player dyed his hair blond for the game. It made for a weird sight.
“It was just something fun we wanted to do,” Colorado forward Paul Bravo said.
“They looked like a college team,” Galaxy winger Cobi Jones said.
“No, definitely no,” Los Angeles Coach Octavio Zambrano said.
“It started with a couple of guys and then they all decided to pick it up,” said Glenn Myernick, the Rapids’ coach. “I had absolutely nothing to do with it. I didn’t even know about it until I saw them.”
Chances are, all is back to normal today. Certainly, the blond hair, blond mustache and blond goatee did nothing for the looks of U.S. national team defender Marcelo Balboa.
“I looked like Father Time and played like Colonel Sanders,” said Balboa, who blew an excellent chance to tie the score when he was left one-on-one against Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman but could only manage a weak shot that was stopped.
Hartman, in fact, played a fine game, making up for two unimpressive performances at the Rose Bowl.
“It’s a tough role to fill for a 23-year-old and it [lack of confidence] is something you have to overcome,” the former UCLA goalkeeper said. “My first two games were difficult for me, especially in front of the home crowd, with the expectations the fans have there.
“I was able to make a couple of saves early, which always makes it a little bit easier. I just kind of fought through a lot of the stuff that I put in my own mind. I think that if I play my game, I can play well. And I think that I can play in the league, no problem.”
Especially if the opposition keeps misfiring as often as Colorado did Saturday. The Rapids outshot the Galaxy, 19-12, but only five of their attempts were on target.
It was a case of the blond leading the blond.
Two Colorado shots rattled the crossbar, with Hartman beaten, but they rebounded safely away.
“They totally outplayed us,” said Galaxy defender Dan Calichman, “but it’s an away game and we got the win. We got lucky tonight.”
The Galaxy is 3-0. The Rapids fell to 1-2.
“It was a good battle,” Zambrano said. “It wasn’t a great game, per se, but it was a well-fought battle.”
Chris Henderson, a natural blond, missed the match while serving a one-game suspension after being tossed out of the Rapids’ previous game. Colorado now has a 1-6 record without the former U.S. Olympic team winger, but it didn’t seem to miss him in the early going.
The Rapids applied all the early pressure, forcing Hartman to make at least two spectacular saves.
In the second minute, Hartman dived to stop a 25-yard shot from Ross Paule that looked like a certain goal.
In the 18th minute, Hartman threw himself full length to his left to tip a blazing shot by Sean Henderson, Chris’ equally blond brother, around the right post.
Several other Colorado efforts flew high or wide, as the Rapid forwards and midfielders attacked in waves (blow-dried, no doubt).
After absorbing Colorado’s pressure for almost half an hour, the Galaxy struck back. A Jones pass reached Ezra “E-Z” Hendrickson on the right edge of the Rapids’ penalty area. Hendrickson crossed the ball to the far post, where Welton was on hand to head powerfully past Marcus Hahnemann, the Colorado goalkeeper.
It was Welton’s third goal in as many games, and the Brazilian forward took it literally in stride. Hendrickson was more excited. It was only the second career assist for the 6-foot-3 defender from St. Vincent and the Grenadines by way of Drake University.
“Welton and I are roommates, we’re best friends, so we connect like that,” Hendrickson said, beaming.
Los Angeles took the 1-0 lead into the locker room at halftime, although Bravo came within inches of tying it up with 1:32 left when he sent a shot just clear of the left post.
Given the theme for the evening, it was only a hair wide.
