Galaxy Might Get Hermosillo by Next Game
Someone forgot to tell Carlos Hermosillo that, in Los Angeles, the stars prefer to be fashionably late.
The all-time leading scorer for the Mexico national team has informed his new club, the Galaxy, that he will hurry into town in time for practice on Saturday.
That means he should be in uniform Sunday against the New England Revolution at the Rose Bowl.
“I don’t know whether he is fit to play 90 minutes, but obviously if he comes it’s because he wants to play,” Coach Octavio Zambrano said. “We don’t want to have him just for show.”
As one of the biggest international names to sign with Major League Soccer, the former Cruz Azul striker promises to bolster an offense that sputtered in two recent losses to the Chicago Fire.
In the meantime, Los Angeles plays tonight at the Cotton Bowl against a Dallas Burn team that has been studying films of those Chicago games.
The defensive-minded Fire stuck close to its goal, packing the box, waiting for a chance to counterattack. The strategy clearly frustrated Los Angeles.
Ten days ago, Dallas came into the Rose Bowl with similar intentions but lost, 4-1, after giving up two quick goals.
This time could be different, and the potential for another Chicago-like game irks Zambrano. He preaches aggressive soccer, the kind he believes can win games and fans.
Nevertheless, the Galaxy is considering a new tactic against teams that play a heavily defensive style.
“When we hold the lead, maybe a better strategy would be to sit back and let them come at us a little bit,” Zambrano said. “That’s not what we want to do, but if the other team packs it in, that’s what they force us to do.”
MLS Notes
Musa Shannon scored 21 minutes into the second half and the Tampa Bay Mutiny (3-11) defeated New York-New Jersey (6-6), 2-1, at East Rutherford, N.J., despite giving up an MLS record 38 shots to the MetroStars. . . . Jaime Moreno and Ben Olsen each scored a goal and added an assist to lead D.C. United (12-3) to a 4-0 victory over the Clash (5-8) at San Jose.
