Galaxy Keeps Fire at Bay, 1-0
A “fluky” goal by Simon Elliott, some first-class saves by Kevin Hartman and an unyielding defense combined to earn the Galaxy a 1-0 victory over the Major League Soccer champion Chicago Fire in front of a crowd of 21,331 at Soldier Field Saturday.
The win, on a sticky, 91-degree afternoon, vaulted the Galaxy past the Fire and into second place in the Western Conference.
The only goal came in the 41st minute when a pass from Mauricio Cienfuegos set Clint Mathis free to run at the Fire defense. Mathis then slotted a pass through to Elliott, making a strong run out of midfield, and the New Zealander fired a shot just as he was being closed down by Diego Gutierrez.
The ball struck Gutierrez’s outstretched foot and looped over goalkeeper Zach Thornton and into the net.
“The goal was a little bit of a [defensive] breakdown and yet at the same time it was a little bit fluky the way it ended up getting deflected and going in over Zach’s head,” Chicago Coach Bob Bradley said.
“It was pure skill, mate,” Elliott joked.
“No, I was just trying to score, you know. It was a good through ball [from Mathis]. I just went to hit it, just to shoot it, and it took a deflection off the guy’s foot.
“It was a pretty big deflection, to be honest. But if you don’t shoot you don’t score, I guess, so we’ll certainly take the goal. We’ll take the win as well.”
The Fire (10-9) battled back in the second 45 minutes and kept the Galaxy (12-8) pinned in its half for much of the time, but the defensive back line of Ezra Hendrickson, Paul Caligiuri, Daniel Hernandez and Greg Vanney, aided by defensive midfielder Danny Pena, was unyielding.
When the Chicago forwards did break through, Hartman was more than a match for them. He made at least three excellent saves, denying Ante Razov, Gutierrez and Josh Wolff from close range.
“The biggest save was the one when he came out to his left and made that diving save on Wolff,” Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said. “That was a big-time save. He had made that mistake in the other game [Wednesday’s 1-0 loss to the Colorado Rapids in Denver], so he certainly redeemed himself today.”
Hartman had a different view.
“My object is to be a consistent goalkeeper,” he said. “It was just a matter of me coming back and not letting that affect me psychologically or mentally and taking hold of my game.
“I think I’ve had a pretty solid year and I’m not going to let one slip affect my entire year.”
The former UCLA keeper has a league-best seven shutouts and is a big reason why the Galaxy is in position to challenge for the conference title.
“We really needed three points so that we could get up in the standings,” Hartman said. “We’ve put ourselves in a position where we’re within striking distance [of first-place Colorado]. It’s disappointing that we lost on Wednesday. I think definitely if we had that opportunity again we could take some points from them.
“Everybody was frustrated by it, but we came here and we proved that we’re a team that needs to be respected. As the time goes on, we’re going to develop into a championship team.”
Schmid was equally upbeat.
“Obviously, we’re very pleased with the result today,” he said. “It was a difficult game for us because it was our third game in six days. Chicago hadn’t played for eight days.
“If we could have gotten nine points out of the week, it would have been great, but getting six was very good. I’m happy with that.
“I’m also happy that we’re establishing in our minds, and also hopefully in the minds of the opponent, that it’s a different story this year between us and Chicago.”
Last season, the Fire swept the Galaxy out of the playoffs in two games. After Saturday’s victory, Los Angeles holds a 2-1 edge this season.
Next up for the Galaxy is Wednesday night’s friendly against Chivas of Guadelajara at the Rose Bowl, followed by a trip to San Jose for a game against the Clash on Saturday.
