Galaxy Is Dealt Loss by Joker : Soccer: Graziani’s goal helps Dallas to 1-0 victory that tightens race in Western Conference.
His brown hair is worn shoulder-length. His eyes flash and sparkle. He is quick to smile. He was born in Argentina. Scoring goals is what he does for a living.
But, no, his name is not Gabriel Batistuta.
Nor do fans call him “Batigol” or “The Archangel.”
Instead, Ariel Graziani said in the sauna that was the Dallas Burn’s locker room, he is known as “The Joker.”
Not that the Galaxy is laughing.
Graziani scored his third goal in as many games Saturday night as Dallas ended the Galaxy’s four-game Major League Soccer winning streak with a 1-0 victory in front of a Cotton Bowl crowd of 14,033.
Who was laughing was Billy Hicks, the Dallas general manager who engineered a last-minute trade with the New England Revolution that sent popular Colombian midfielder Leonel Alvarez to the Revolution on Aug. 13 and brought Graziani to the Burn.
“Every game, it’s looking better and better,” Hicks said.
All Graziani has done since arriving in Dallas is score a goal with his first shot in a 3-0 win over Colorado, grab a goal and an assist in a 4-3 shootout win over Chicago, and Saturday score the lone goal in a key victory.
“It feels great to be able to do what I get paid to do right away,” the 28-year-old striker said.
Of course, Graziani has been doing that all his career.
Although born and raised in Argentina, he has spent the last few years in Ecuador and Mexico. He was the top scorer with Emelec in the Ecuadoran league in 1996 and ’97 and one of the top 10 scorers in the Mexican league while playing for Morelia in 1998 and ’99.
With Batistuta leading Argentina’s attack, Graziania opted to play for Ecuador and has scored 12 goals in 21 games for its national team.
And now he is making his mark in MLS.
“He’s a great addition to their team,” Galaxy midfielder Danny Pena said. “He definitely adds some offensive spark for them. He’s a very smart, intelligent player. He’s just as good off the ball as he is on the ball, with the runs that he makes.
“He creates space for other players like Jason Kreis and Oscar Pareja. He’s definitely a good addition, and I think it’s shown in the last three games.”
The Burn has won three in a row and, with Chicago’s victory over Colorado Saturday night, the gap between first place and fourth in the Western Conference is only four points.
Colorado has 42 points, followed by Chicago (40), the Galaxy (39) and Dallas (38).
“I think it’s going to go down to the wire,” said Burn and former U.S. national team midfielder Chad Deering. “I really don’t think it’s going to be decided six games out.”
It was Matt Jordan who earned the shutout, getting a tad lucky when one shot by Cobi Jones caromed off the crossbar and another flashed just wide to the right. Carlos Hermosillo, Mauricio Cienfuegos and Pena also came agonizingly close.
By blanking the Galaxy, Jordan tied Tony Meola’s MLS single-season record of nine shutouts set in 1996. The Galaxy’s Kevin Hartman has eight.
“I don’t think Kevin and I really look at it as a competition,” Jordan said. “We’re really more concerned with each of our teams playing better.”
The Galaxy played well Saturday, creating several chances but failing to finish--an old shortcoming.
Graziani’s goal, off a great through pass from Temoc Suarez, came in the 53rd minute. He put the ball in the net on two other occasions but both plays were ruled offside.
Not to worry, he still came off to a huge ovation from the fans, the giant “We Miss You, Leonel” banner in one corner of the Cotton Bowl temporarily forgotten.
“He’s come here and in three games he’s got three goals and an assist,” Deering said. “What more can you ask for?”
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