Galaxy Saves Best for Last in a Tuneup
The Galaxy and the Chicago Fire made it easy for the editors of Major League Soccer’s highlight films Sunday night at the Rose Bowl. They confined all the action to the final seven minutes.
Up to that point, the game had little to recommend it as both playoff-bound teams went through the motions without committing too much to the cause.
But the last few minutes of the Galaxy’s 1-0 victory in the regular-season finale finally brought the crowd of 20,105 to life.
First, there was the goal that wasn’t.
An excellent pass by the Galaxy’s Joey Franchino put Cobi Jones free for a darting run into the penalty area in the 83rd minute. Jones’ cross took Chicago goalkeeper Zach Thornton out of the play and left Carlos Hermosillo with the simple task of tapping the ball into the empty net.
But assistant referee Orlando Aristzabal ruled that Jones had been offside. Referee Ali Saheli agreed. They might have been the only people at the Rose Bowl who thought so.
Even Fire Coach Bob Bradley had his doubts.
“From where I sat, I thought that was a bad call,” he said. “It was close, but on the first pass to Cobi it looked like he was onside.”
Galaxy Coach Octavio Zambrano was more concerned about the future than the past.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “I could only think what would happen if this had been the final [Oct. 25 championship] game, everything goes down to the wire and then something like that were to happen.
“I’m not going to criticize every single referee in this league, but there has got to be a way of rating them to make sure we get the very best for the games that matter.”
In other words, for the playoffs, which begin Thursday for Los Angeles when the Dallas Burn comes to the Rose Bowl at 7 p.m.
But, bad calls or not, the Galaxy goes into the playoffs off a victory and with the best offensive and defensive records in MLS. It’s 24-8 record is the best in the league, its 85 goals (2.65 goals a game) are a league record and its 44 goals allowed represent a league-best 1.37 average.
It took an 87th-minute goal by Jones to assure that Los Angeles finished with a 75% winning mark.
With the crowd (which left the Galaxy’s average attendance for the season at 21,784) still buzzing over the bad call earlier, Ezra Hendrickson fought his way into the Fire penalty area before passing the ball back to Jones.
The Galaxy striker chested the ball down and hammered a 14-yard shot past Thornton for his team-high 19th goal of the season.
There still was time for some last-minute attempted heroics by Jorge Campos, the former Galaxy goalkeeper who came into the game as a forward for the final 45 minutes.
Chicago’s Josh Keller floated a cross into the area, Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartmann moved to his left to reach it and Campos threw himself at the ball, sending a diving header just wide of the left post.
It was an effort that deserved a goal.
“It’s always important to win at home,” Zambrano said. “For us this match means a lot because we tried and we got rewarded.
Chicago (20-12) has its own reward. It plays the Colorado Rapids in the playoffs starting Thursday.
And if both the Galaxy and the Fire get past the first round, they will meet again in the Western Conference finals. Then, the entire game, not only the final seven minutes, will matter.
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Other MLS Games
Washington D.C. United beat the visiting Columbus Crew (15-17), 3-2, in a shootout, but the two-time defending MLS champions may have lost two starters for Wednesday’s playoff opener. Eastern Conference champion United (24-8) lost forward Jaime Moreno to a severely bruised left shoulder and midfielder Tony Sanneh to a strained right groin. Their status was was uncertain for United’s opener against the Miami Fusion in the best-of-three series. . . . David Kramer recorded his third consecutive shutout as the San Jose Clash (13-19) ended its season with a 2-0 win over the visiting Kansas City Wizards (12-20). . . . Frank Yallop’s first MLS goal was the game-winner as the Tampa Bay Mutiny (12-20) beat the Miami Fusion (15-17), 3-1, at Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
