Cup Is King for Galaxy’s Zambrano

The time is fast approaching when soccer players, coaches and fans will all have a single goal in mind: to enjoy World Cup ’98 to the fullest.

Octavio Zambrano is no exception.

In order to get the most out of the tournament in France, the Galaxy coach will switch his unbeaten team’s June training sessions to the afternoons so that he and the players can spend the mornings watching matches from Europe.

He might catch a game or two with the team, but he really doesn’t want to be interrupted.

“The World Cup, at least for me, I like to sit down in front of the TV with my cup of coffee,” he said Tuesday. “Don’t bother me, don’t talk to me, don’t say anything. Let me just watch.”

An attacking midfielder in his playing days in Ecuador, Zambrano, 39, has turned Los Angeles into Major League Soccer’s most offense-minded team, one that is solid on defense but is always looking for the attacking option.

Which might be one reason why the Galaxy is 7-0 going into tonight’s game against the Colorado Rapids at the Rose Bowl and 13-0 in regular-season games since last September.

Overall under Zambrano, the team is 20-7 in the regular season but 0-2 in the playoffs. The failure to get out of the first round of postseason play last season might have inspired this year’s fast start.

“I think when you prepare adequately and you have talented players. . . .” Zambrano paused, then started again. “Obviously, a little bit of luck factors in there, I think it factors in everything you do. But certainly without the first two ingredients you couldn’t have a run like this.”

Success has lifted the team chemistry to new levels.

“It’s excellent,” Zambrano said. “It has never been this good. It has reached a point where you can sense it in the locker room. The team is much more together than it’s ever been.”

It will be a little less together after tonight’s game, however. Leading scorer Cobi Jones on Tuesday was named to the U.S. World Cup team and will miss at least the next 10 Galaxy matches.

“It’s going to impact our team because he has become an inspiration to the other players by sheer performance,” Zambrano said. “But I think the bench is strong enough this year, so that guys like Clint Mathis, Daniel Hernandez, even Harut [Karapetyan], can come in [and contribute].”

Karapetyan, in fact, is likely to inherit Jones’ starting role, but play on the left, with Welton switching to the right wing.

“He’s tailor-made for Jones’ position,” Zambrano said of Karapetyan, adding that the team is likely to be “more possession-oriented and less explosive” without Jones.

But it’s not as if Zambrano can’t keep an eye on his World Cup winger, even if it is only via television from France. Watching the World Cup, he said, might well benefit the Galaxy.

“I hope we can use it as a tool to inspire our players,” he said. “When you see that much soccer and know the whole world is tuned in to it, you want to get out and play.

“We were like that as kids. We would watch it and then immediately we would run outside and kick the ball.”

Inspiration or not, Zambrano is going to enjoy the World Cup.

“No matter what you do, everything comes second to that,” he said.