Galaxy Has Its Eyes on Prizes
With only five games left in the regular season, the Major League Soccer playoffs just around the corner and a spate of season-ending honors still up for grabs, this is no time for the Galaxy to slow down.
A 3-0 loss to the Columbus Crew on Saturday night ended a four-game winning streak, but the Galaxy can get back on track tonight by defeating the Dallas Burn at the Rose Bowl.
And for at least three team members, there is more at stake in these final games than simply a few more victories or losses in what already is a 20-7 season.
Coach Octavio Zambrano is very much in the running for MLS coach-of-the-year honors, winger Cobi Jones has his eye on the league’s most-valuable-player award, and midfielder Clint Mathis cannot be overlooked in rookie-of-the-year consideration.
Until recently, Brazilian forward Welton was a candidate for the goal-scoring title, but he has dropped from second to a tie for third.
His 15 goals--and 11 assists--are far better output than his team-leading 11 goals and four assists of last season, but the New England Revolution’s Raul Diaz Arce has 18 goals and Columbus’ Stern John has 19.
Jones, an overwhelming favorite to be named the league’s top player--”For me, he is already the MVP,” Crew defender Thomas Dooley said Saturday night--can also win the scoring title.
With 16 goals and 11 assists, he is tied with Diaz Arce at 43 points for the MLS lead, Diaz Arce having seven assists to go with his 18 goals. Jones’ 43 points surpasses his point total of the last two seasons combined, even though he missed two months while on World Cup duty.
Zambrano appears to be just as much a favorite for the coaching title. His winning percentage of .702 is best in MLS, and under him the Galaxy has scored a league-record 76 goals, an average of 2.81 a game, also a record.
The only coaches who might offer a challenge are Bruce Arena, who has guided defending champion Washington D.C. United to a 22-6 mark, despite losing several players to the World Cup, and Alfonso Mondelo, who has achieved with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars what his far more illustrious predecessors--Brazil’s Carlos Alberto Parreira and Portugal’s Carlos Queiroz--failed to do, that is, make them competitive.
An outside choice would be Bob Bradley, who in his first year has a good chance of taking the Chicago Fire (16-10) all the way to the title game. If, that is, he can get Chicago past the Galaxy in the playoffs.
The rookie award is generally considered to be headed Ben Olsen’s way. The D.C. United midfielder has had significant impact as a starter and is on the fringe of the U.S. national team. Should Arena get the U.S. national coaching job, Olsen will definitely be called up.
Mathis’ chances have been hurt by lack of playing time. He has five goals and 10 assists in 27 games, but has started only 13 of them. Playing in essentially the same position as Mauricio Cienfuegos hurts him because the veteran playmaker is not about to be benched, nor should he be, having collected 12 goals and 14 assists, sixth-best in MLS.
Whatever happens in the rest of 1998, one of Zambrano’s main goals for 1999 will be to find a place for Mathis in the starting lineup.
