Positive Energy Flow for Galaxy
If the Galaxy this season plays with anything near the confidence shown by its coach, Major League Soccer’s championship trophy might as well be shipped to Los Angeles right now. On the eve of tonight’s opener against the San Jose Clash at the Rose Bowl, Octavio Zambrano is nothing if not positive.
“I’m optimistic,” he said. “I think we have the players to accomplish the task. We have a nice blend of youth and experience. I think a lot of the players that we have have been in battles before, and that gives us an edge of knowing what’s ahead of us.
“The pressure that comes from playing what everybody thinks should be a championship-winning season is something that I certainly welcome, and I made sure that my players understood that everybody expects us to be in the final in October.
“And I want them to think that way. I think that our players have enough character to understand what that means and to act accordingly.”
The Galaxy reached the championship final in its first season, but lost to Washington D.C. United. Last season, it fell in the first round of the playoffs to the Dallas Burn.
The league has expanded to 12 teams this season, but the number of playoff teams remains at eight, the top four from each six-team conference.
“Last year was kind of an odd year in that at some point we were kind of in danger of being left out [of the playoffs],” the Ecuador-born coach said. “But I look at this team and I could never think of it being the kind of team that should worry about stuff like that.”
Until Friday, a couple of rookies were the only new faces from a year ago, but the Galaxy then announced the signing of 26-year-old David Quesada, a forward from La Canada who has played in Costa Rica’s first division for the past six years.
Quesada, who has one appearance for the U.S. national team--as a substitute against Costa Rica in 1995--last season scored 23 goals and had 12 assists for Saprissa in Costa Rica.
Zambrano believes the team’s depth is acceptable.
“I feel that we have between 13 and 14 players who can go into the first 11 and I don’t think the team would suffer,” he said. “We have some options that give us a way to think about different lineups.”
That the Galaxy has not added any top-name players and might not do so until midseason, does not concern him.
“I think it’s important for a team to really see what its biggest weakness is and then bring in a player who can fix whatever that weakness might be,” he said. “So I feel we have consciously waited to get a player we feel is going to be an impact player, a player who is going to make a difference.”
The Galaxy is known to be seeking a top-flight Mexican player and is waiting until Mexico’s World Cup team is named late next month before making a move in that direction.
Similarly, it is interested in acquiring German World Cup striker Juergen Klinsmann, whose wife is from California, but that would not come about, if at all, until after the France ’98 tournament.
In the meantime, there is the Clash to think about. San Jose comes into the 7 p.m. game also with a first-year coach, Brian Quinn, and also with a lineup not much changed from a year ago. Its top offensive threats are Eric Wynalda and El Salvador’s Ronald Cerritos.
The Galaxy holds a 6-2 all-time advantage over the Clash and, given the confidence level surrounding the team going into the new season, sees this as merely the first step on the way to the MLS championship.
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New Beginnings
WHAT: Galaxy opener.
WHO: Galaxy vs. San Jose Clash.
WHEN: 7 tonight.
WHERE: Rose Bowl.
1997 RECORDS: Galaxy 16-16, Clash 12-20.
1997 SEASON SERIES: 2-2.
