Galaxy Fires Blanks in Shootout and Loses
Too many shots had sailed wide of the goal. Too many chances had been squandered.
By the time the Galaxy headed into a shootout with the Miami Fusion, the score tied 2-2 in a game the home team had thoroughly dominated, there wasn’t much optimism on the bench.
“Any time you lose a lot of opportunities, you get that sense that no matter what you do, you’re not going to score,” Galaxy Coach Octavio Zambrano said.
Sure enough, after outshooting the Miami Fusion by a remarkable 27-3 over 90 minutes, Los Angeles failed to convert on a single shootout attempt and lost before a Saturday night crowd of 16,882 at the Rose Bowl.
“We blew it,” midfielder Martin Machon said. “This is a big loss for us.”
The game carried added significance because the Chicago Fire, a Western Conference rival, had lost to D.C. United earlier in the day. Still, this was a painful ending.
The misfires and near-misses began in the second minute when Machon sent a shot wide of the net.
Then forward Carlos Hermosillo took center stage. In short order, he sailed a header over a wide-open goal, whiffed on a point-blank shot and had a pair of shots deflected by defenders. It was enough to make the striker pull at his hair.
“I just maintained calm, hoping that some of the shots would fall,” Hermosillo said. “But they didn’t.”
He was not alone in his frustration. Welton--who was surpassed as the league’s top scorer by D.C. United’s Roy Lassiter earlier in the day--missed on a handful of opportunities.
Of course, Miami goalkeeper Jeff Cassar played a hand in all of this, making 10 saves and, on a couple of occasions, smothering balls before an attacker could shoot.
The thing is, he plays for the last-place team in the Eastern Conference, a team that has scored a paltry 19 goals in 19 games this season. In the first 45 minutes, his teammates provided no help. As in: no goals, no shots and no possessions in the box.
So Miami (8-11) felt lucky going into halftime with a 0-0 tie.
“We withstood so much,” forward Dan Stebbins said. “Our confidence was a little high and they were getting a little frustrated.”
Mauricio Cienfuegos did his best to spark the Galaxy, making a brilliant run in the 50th minute. He lost Miami defender Leo Cullen with a feint to the left, beat midfielder Marcelo Herrera to the right, then tucked the ball inside the near post.
Yet, with the way things were going, was it any surprise that Miami responded by scoring on its first shot of the night?
Stebbins sent a cross into the box that defender Paul Caligiuri could not reach. Herrera got his revenge, beating goalkeeper Kevin Hartman from close range.
The Galaxy retook the lead in the 76th minute when Hermosillo was tripped going for a rebound in the box. Cienfuegos converted the penalty kick.
Miami came back in the 80th minute, Carlos Valderrama sending a diagonal pass to Stebbins who tied the score.
In the shootout, the Fusion scored on three consecutive tries. The Galaxy started with forward Harut Karapetyan mishitting his shot, tapping it harmlessly to Cassar. Two subsequent attempts were blocked.
Zambrano could only stand by and watch.
“It’s so simple . . . if you don’t finish, you can’t win,” he said. “Short of me putting on a jersey and going out there and finishing for them, I personally couldn’t help them out.”
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Roy Lassiter scored three second-half goals, including his league-leading 15th, and D.C. United won its fourth straight game with a 4-1 victory over the Chicago Fire before 16,779 at Washington. United (17-5) improved to 11-1 at RFK Stadium. Chicago (13-7) has lost two straight after an 11-game winning streak.. . . The New England Revolution (6-14) won for only the second time in 13 games, beating the Burn, 3-1, before 10,073 at Dallas behind Joe-Max Moore’s two second-half goals. The Burn fell to 9-11. . . . Mauricio Ramos scored the only goal of the game with less than five minutes to play as the Tampa Bay Mutiny beat the Clash, 1-0, before 10,136 at San Jose. Goalkeeper Doug Petras, who started in place of the suspended Thomas Ravelli, had six saves for his first career shutout for Tampa Bay (6-15). San Jose, last in the Western Conference, is 6-13.
