Hard-Charging Galaxy Takes Show on the Road

The Galaxy’s quest to win Major League Soccer’s Western Conference title continues to gain momentum, thanks in no small part to its opponent tonight, the Dallas Burn.

Within the last 10 days, the Burn has upset the first-place Colorado Rapids and beaten the defending conference and league champion Chicago Fire, both results greatly aiding the Galaxy, which defeated the Burn two weeks ago at the Rose Bowl.

With nine regular-season games remaining, the Galaxy (15-8) trails the Rapids (16-7) by only three points and is four points ahead of the third-place Burn (13-12) and seven ahead of the Fire (12-11).

A victory tonight would be the team’s fifth in a row in MLS play, but to accomplish that the Galaxy will have to keep a tight rein on newly acquired Dallas forward Ariel Graziani.

The Ecuador national team striker scored two goals and assisted on another in his first two games as the Burn shut out the Rapids, 3-0, and edged the Fire, 4-3, in a shootout. Dallas had to give up top-flight midfielder Leonel Alvarez of Colombia to acquire Graziani from the New England Revolution, but the move appears to be working.

“You can tell that he and Jason [Kreis] have a nice feel together,” Burn Coach Dave Dir told the Dallas Morning News. “You can already see that it’s something special.”

Kreis is another forward the Galaxy will need to corral. He has a goal or an assist in 11 of Dallas’ 13 victories, and the Burn is 42-8 in games in which he registers a point.

Kreis is tied with Washington D.C. United’s Roy Lassiter for the MLS scoring lead with 14 goals and 12 assists for 40 points. He is on course to become the first 15-15 MLS player--getting 15 goals and 15 assists in the same season.