Dodd Is Not Enough for Burn
When the final whistle sounded at the Rose Bowl on Wednesday night, the Dallas Burn goalkeeper did something unusual.
Having fished the ball out of the back of his net three times in a 3-0 loss to the Galaxy, he might have been forgiven for simply heading straight to the locker room, the shower and the team bus.
But Mark Dodd isn’t like that.
Instead, Major League Soccer’s goalkeeper of the year in 1996 and an NCAA champion with Duke in 1988, made it a point to congratulate as many of the Galaxy players as he could.
He slapped Carlos Hermosillo on the shoulder, even though Hermosillo had powered a goal past him in the 54th minute.
He shook hands with Mauricio Cienfuegos, even though Cienfuegos--in one of the rarer sights seen this MLS season--had headed the ball past him in the 29th minute.
And he congratulated Cobi Jones, even though Jones had beaten him in the 70th minute.
Of course, that last handshake might have been the other way round. It might have been Jones congratulating Dodd because, had its goalkeeper not been in rare form, Dallas might easily have lost by six or seven goals. The Burn limped into the stadium trailing a string of injuries and suspensions and limped out the same way.
But for Dodd’s heroics in the nets, the Galaxy might have equaled its 8-0 victory over the Burn in Dallas earlier in the season.
Dallas is desperately trying to cling to fourth place in the Western Conference and the playoff spot that comes with it. Wednesday’s loss didn’t help. It dropped the Burn to 13-15, still only two points ahead of the Kansas City Wizards, who also lost Wednesday night.
Things might have been different had Coach Dave Dir been able to field his full team, but he was missing defender Chad Deering, a U.S. national team midfielder whom the coach--in dire straits--has converted into a sweeper. Deering was red-carded in the last game and was serving a one-game suspension. So, too, was Jason Kreis, the team’s top scorer, because of accumulated yellow cards.
Compounding Dallas’ woes, Burn midfielder Mark Santel broke his right leg during practice on Monday when he tried to block a shot and was kicked by a teammate.
Under-strength and overextended, Dallas sat back and waited for the Galaxy to attack, hoping to ride Dodd’s goal-keeping and some luck to an improbable upset. It was not to be.
The Galaxy, 21-7, took almost half an hour to unlock the Dallas defense, but finally doing so when a throw-in from Jones to Greg Vanney resulted in Vanney crossing the ball into the goal area for Cienfuegos--all 5-foot-5 of him--to power a diving header off Dodd’s hands and into the roof of the net.
It was Cienfuegos’ 13th goal of the season, but it wasn’t until the second 45 minutes that the Galaxy tripled its lead.
A Cienfuegos cross from the right in the 54th minute found Martin Machon, whose fierce shot was parried by Dodd. The ball rolled clear, however, and Hermosillo was on hand to score his fifth goal from close range.
Jones’ goal, his 17th, was the result of an almost laughable bit of non-defending by Brian Haynes, who dithered about with the ball deep in his own territory and finally lost control of it.
Jones, who had twice been denied by brilliant saves by Dodd, gladly accepted the gift and made no mistake with his shot.
The 3-0 result was no surprise. What was amusing Wednesday night was the announced attendance of 9,113. Counting no-shows and tickets sold rather than bodies in seats can only lead to questions being asked about how real the team’s league-leading average attendance of 23,708 really is.
MLS Notes
First-half goals by Joe-Max Moore and Edwin Gorter carried the New England Revolution to a 2-0 victory over the New York-New Jersey MetroStars before 10,826 in heavy rain at East Rutherford, N.J., earning Coach Walter Zenga his first professional win. . . . Rookie Josh Wolff broke a 2-2 tie with his fourth MLS goal in the 84th minute, a rebound that followed successive saves by Fusion goalie Matt Napolean, and the Fire defeated Miami, 3-2, at Chicago. . . . Second-half substitute Wolde Harris scored two goals and added an assist to lead the Colorado Rapids to a 3-2 victory over Kansas City at Denver.
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Galaxy at a Glance
Remaining schedule for the Galaxy (21-7), who defeated Dallas on Wednesday night.
* Saturday: at Miami Fusion.
* Sept. 16: at San Jose Clash.
* Sept. 20: San Jose Clash.
* Sept. 27: Chicago Fire.
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MLS PLAYOFFS
These are the five teams that have qualified for the eight-team playoffs, which begin Sept. 30 or Oct. 1 with conference semifinals, and finish Oct. 25 with the MLS Cup at the Rose Bowl.
* Galaxy
* Chicago Fire
* Washington
* D.C. United
* Columbus Crew
* N.Y/N.J. MetroStars
