Galaxy Continues MetroStars’ Misery
When it was all over, when the Galaxy had crushed his New York/New Jersey MetroStars, 4-1, Saturday night at the Rose Bowl, Bora Milutinovic walked over to the Los Angeles bench.
There, he shook hands with Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid and assistant Ralph Perez. Then Paul Caligiuri and Carlos Hermosillo came over and hugged the man who had coached them on the U.S. and Mexico national teams, respectively.
Bora needs all the hugs he can get these days.
The only man to have coached four countries into the second round of the World Cup is 5-19 in his first full season as a coach in Major League Soccer.
Saturday’s loss was his team’s MLS record-tying ninth in a row.
The MetroStars’ season has been one long nightmare for the Serbian coach known worldwide simply as Bora.
Which is why, when he walked down the tunnel Saturday night, fans showered him with cheers. They know this cannot all be Milutinovic’s fault.
The simple truth is, he has no players.
Or at least not enough to combine into a competitive team.
The Galaxy, on the other hand, is looking more and more promising.
Hermosillo and Zak Ibsen each scored two goals Saturday to send the crowd of 12,045 home satisfied, perhaps even thinking of what the future might hold.
The Galaxy (15-8) is enjoying a rich vein of form, playing the type of flowing soccer that should bring larger crowds and producing performances that suggest the team might make a serious run at the MLS championship.
On a warm Saturday night, it ran rings around the hapless MetroStars, whose Rotmasters nickname might seem a cruel anagram but appears fully deserved. The victory was the Galaxy’s fourth in a row in MLS play and the ninth in its last 11 MLS games.
It is only in cup play, in fact, that fortune has not being going the Galaxy’s way. But being knocked out of the U.S. Open Cup and the CONCACAF Champions Cup in successive weeks does leave it free it pursue its first MLS title.
“I’m very proud of what our team had accomplished over the last nine games,” Schmid said. “Even though we lost in the Open Cup and the CONCACAF Cup, I think we’ve put ourselves in a position we want to be in the league. I think it’s tremendous.”
The game was barely seven minutes old when the Galaxy took the lead.
The scoring move began with a series of passes from Cobi Jones to Mauricio Cienfuegos to Caligiuri, whose cross from the right was headed away. The ball fell to Greg Vanney, and his shot was deflected away for a corner kick.
Vanney took the corner, curled the ball into the goalmouth and Hermosillo outjumped the static MetroStar defenders to head it down sharply into the net for his team-high fifth goal of the season.
Nine minutes later, Jones was again the initial provider of a pass that led to a goal.
This time he sent his cross from the left behind the MetroStars’ defense and Ibsen caught the ball in full flight, slamming a fierce volley into the back of goalkeeper Mike Ammann’s net.
There was more to come.
Milutinovic sent former Galaxy star Eduardo Hurtado into the game in the second half, but “El Tanque” had little impact. Mark Chung, another substitute, had a bit more luck.
The Galaxy made it 3-0 in the 59th minute when Jones danced around defender Mike Duhaney before hitting the ball across the face of the goal. Ammann got a hand to it, but only deflected it into Hermosillo’s path for the Mexican striker to net an easy second goal.
Schmid began substituting freely and Jorge Salcedo was only one of four players to come off the bench. It marked Salcedo’s 100th MLS game and his first for the Galaxy since being reacquired in the trade that sent Daniel Hernandez to Tampa Bay.
The MetroStars got on the board in the 72nd minute when Chung scored on a penalty kick after Steve Jolley had tripped Henry Zambrano.
But Ibsen completed the rout with his second goal, this one off a pass from Joe Franchino in the 88th minute.
As for Bora, all he could say was that the Galaxy had taken advantage of its scoring opportunities whereas his team had squandered what few it created.
Milutinovic reportedly was offered a position as coach of Paraguay’s national team not long ago but turned it down, saying he would see out his contract with the MetroStars.
Next season, he will have Germany’s Lothar Matthaeus in his lineup. That’s one player.
Now, all he needs is 10 more.
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In other MLS action, D.C. United goalkeeper Mark Simpson stopped four shots and a penalty shot in the shootout period in a 3-2 victory over the Miami Fusion before 6,401 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The game featured a league-record four red cards.
In San Jose, a crowd of 10,112 saw the Clash defeat New England, 2-1.
