Galaxy Prevails in Shootout of Another Anemic Effort
Mark Semioli was fuming. The game was long over, but the former Galaxy defender who now captains the New York/New Jersey MetroStars was still angry.
“It was definitely a foul,” Semioli said of a harsh tackle by Clint Mathis that caused the Galaxy forward to be tossed out of Saturday evening’s Major League Soccer game with 16 minutes left to play.
Thanks to yet another display of outstanding shot-stopping by goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, the incident did not keep the Galaxy from prevailing, 1-0, in a shootout in front of 13,778 at Giants Stadium.
The loss only increased Semioli’s anger over the tackle.
“He whacked me pretty good in the leg,” Semioli said. “I wasn’t faking it. He could have broken my leg. It’s a red-card foul. It’s a stupid foul. It’s something that you’re really not supposed to do. If not for the viciousness of it, he should get it [the red card] for just being stupid, I think.”
Perhaps Semioli could sue. After all, the Stanford graduate does have a law degree from Santa Clara University.
As for Mathis, he was quite contrite afterward, realizing that his ejection means he will miss the Galaxy’s next game, against the Wizards at Kansas City on Saturday.
“It wasn’t nothing bad,” said Mathis, his double-negative betraying his Conyers, Ga., roots. “I talked to him afterward and told him I didn’t mean to hit him.
“I tried to slide around him on the sideline. I wasn’t going straight into him or anything. I just slid to try to kick around him from the side. I wasn’t going in from behind. I didn’t want to hit him because I knew it would look bad. But as I went around the side he stepped in and so I kicked the ball and kind of came through [and hit him following through].
“I didn’t feel I kicked him that hard. Maybe it wasn’t smart on my part to go in like that and try to save it [the ball] from going out [of play], but I apologized to him.”
It will cost the Galaxy the only player who has been able to put the ball in the net more than once this season. Los Angeles (4-3) has scored only four goals in seven games and the shootout was its fifth this season.
Paul Caligiuri, Mauricio Cienfuegos and Greg Vanney scored for the Galaxy, with Steve Jolley shooting wide right and Daniel Hernandez’s effort being saved.
Mark Chung and Roy Myers scored for the MetroStars (3-3) but Mike Sorber shot high and Hartman’s saves against Peter Villegas and Ramiro Corrales earned the Galaxy the victory. But that doesn’t make the former UCLA goalkeeper a fan of the one-on-one tiebreaker.
“I hate ‘em. I absolutely hate ‘em,” he said. “I think it’s kind of a farce. I think a lot of the players feel that way. I think if you go on the road and you get a tie, in like every other country you get a point and you’re happy. Here in the United States, you’ve got to compete even more and it’s disappointing.”
Coach Sigi Schmid, who did not leave the field a loser in his MLS debut, will need to find a way to reignite a Galaxy attack that led the league in goals with 85 last season.
“Obviously, our offense is a little anemic right now,” Hartman said. “We have to do what we can in the back and make sure that we shore up. We’ve been able to do that recently and we’ve got two straight shutouts. And it’s good to reward them [the forwards] because last year the offense came through for us a ton of times.
“At the beginning of this year, it’s OK [for the defense to carry the team]. We’ll grow and we’ll become a better team and we’ll be able to score goals. I don’t think anybody doubts the fact. I mean, we have the same players. It’ll come for us.”
