Anemic Galaxy Has That Blank Look
The Galaxy is rounding into playoff form, all right, the same form this team has been trying to live down for the last 12 months:
Two games, no goals, see you next year.
That is how the Galaxy went out in the first round of the 1997 MLS playoffs, scoreless in 180 minutes against underdog Dallas. It was an embarrassment that served to inspire the Galaxy to a league-record 84 goals in its first 29 games of 1998--and with it, the Western Conference regular-season title in a rout.
But that was before San Jose--12-19 last-place San Jose--geared up for two games in five days with the Galaxy and did not yield a goal in 180 minutes of regulation soccer.
Sunday, the Clash defeated the Galaxy, 1-0, before an announced crowd of 11,123 at the Rose Bowl. Four days earlier, the Clash played the Galaxy to a scoreless 90-minute draw in San Jose, only to lose the official decision in a shootout.
That’s back-to-back shutouts for the Galaxy (23-8) against the second-worst defensive team in the Western Conference and their former backup goalkeeper, David Kramer, whose current scoreless streak of 251 minutes is a San Jose club record.
Of course, the Galaxy has been playing out the regular-season string for some time, killing time until it opens the 1998 playoffs Oct. 1 as the top-seeded team in the West. These last handful of games are essentially meaningless in the grand picture--that’s a handy party line--but if that’s the whole truth and nothing but, what explains those worry lines creasing the forehead of Galaxy Coach Octavio Zambrano?
“Every match concerns me,” Zambrano said. “I can’t take a loss like this with indifference.
“All I can say is that I am extremely disappointed with our performance. . . . I think that mentally and tactically, we are not disciplined, and that concerns me. I expect more. I expect discipline in those two aspects, which are crucial to winning a championship.”
Mental discipline?
Could that mean rookie midfielder Clint Mathis taking an angry whack at the legs of San Jose’s Martin Vasquez right in front of the linesman, earning Mathis a 66th-minute red card with his team already down a goal?
Tactical discipline?
Could that include the Galaxy’s defense of a 41st-minute free kick by San Jose’s Ronald Cerritos? Galaxy goalkeeper Matt Reis surveyed the positioning of the defenders in front of him and “just turned my head for a split-second. That was enough to cost me the game.”
Cerritos’ goal, curling over the Galaxy wall and into the lower-left corner beyond a lunging Reis, was a sucker punch that staggered the Galaxy, which to that point was dominating play but failing to put away prime scoring chances.
After that, the Clash packed in its defense--a scenario the Galaxy had best acquaint itself with, because more of the same is coming in October.
Down to 10 players after Mathis’ ejection by referee Nancy Lay, the Galaxy mustered only two scoring chances in the second half. The first was a point-blank blast by Mauricio Cienfuegos that Clash midfielder Eddie Lewis knocked off the line. The second was a chip from just outside the penalty area by Carlos Hermosillo, who tried to lob Kramer after the San Jose goalie had left his line to punch away a cross, but Hermosillo under-hit the ball, enabling Kramer to scramble back to make the save.
