Galaxy’s Goal: to Score a Goal
According to the laws of physics, the propulsion of a spherical object weighing only a matter of ounces across a perpendicular plane with a surface area of 192 square feet should present no unusual degree of difficulty.
So, why isn’t the Galaxy scoring any goals?
There were theories aplenty on that topic Saturday on a damp and drizzly morning at the Rose Bowl, where Major League Soccer’s coldest team went through another training session designed to find a way to put the ball in the net.
“We have to be cursed,” said midfielder Danny Pena, whose volleyed goal against Kansas City two weeks ago is perhaps the best of the Galaxy’s five goals in nine games this season. “There seems to be a shield in front of the goal right now to where things just aren’t going in.”
Clint Mathis, the only Galaxy player to have scored more than once in 1999, is equally perplexed.
“Everybody looks at last year when we broke all these scoring records, but they’re not going in as easy now,” said Mathis, who has two goals. “Last year, we could kick a ball anywhere and it somehow ended up going in the net. We had a lot of luck.
“It becomes psychological, like the last game [a shootout loss to Tampa Bay], when you just pound on the goal and pound on the goal and it doesn’t go in for you. It starts to take a toll on your confidence.
“You look the talent we have up front in Cobi [Jones] and Welton, it’s almost hard for them not to score. We just need a little confidence and I think that will come.”
Jones believes it is only a matter of time before the team gets back to its form of last season when the Galaxy set MLS records with 85 goals and a 2.65 goals-per-game average. Currently, the average is a league-low 0.56 per game.
“I think it’s just a little bit of everything,” said Jones, the league’s second-leading scorer a year ago with 19 goals and 13 assists.
“What to blame it on, who knows? It’s just a matter of finding our game and getting into the rhythm. It’s kind of a team thing right now where everyone just seems to be in a slump. . . . It’s just a matter of us sorting things out. We’ve been playing better. We just haven’t been finishing.
“Once the first one goes in, the others are bound to start coming. Everyone can feel the tension. Once it [the breakthrough] takes place, it’s just going to be like the floodgates opening up.”
Scoring early makes all the difference, Pena said.
“Last year, when we finished our chances early in the games and we found ourselves up 1-0 or 2-0, teams came out to play with us [instead of staying back and defending] and we were able to expose them in the second half and win games 3-0, 4-0 or 5-0,” he said.
“Right now, we’re getting chances early but we’re not capitalizing. Then we find ourselves fighting for our lives. Any time a game is 0-0, a team that plays against us builds more and more confidence, and as it gets later in the game, they feel they can beat us. I think that’s been the difference this year.”
Coach Sigi Schmid agreed.
“When another team has to open up against us, then we become even more dangerous because then our speed comes into effect,” he said. “Getting that one [early goal] gives us the opportunity to get two or three.”
But how can the current goal drought be broken?
“It’s almost like you have to score like a strange one,” Schmid said. “Sometimes something weird needs to go in and then you realize, ‘OK, now it’s broken. Now we can go ahead.’ It’s psychological a little bit, but I’m happy with the way we’ve played over the past two weeks. I think we’re playing better.”
Scoring should not come any easier today against the New England Revolution, which features World Cup ’90 goalkeeper Walter Zenga of Italy in the nets. Zenga doubles as the Revolution’s coach.
“He’s a good goalkeeper,” Schmid said. “He knows how to cut down angles. His positional play is good. But he’s also trying to coach and play, so hopefully he’ll be preoccupied.”
Perhaps. But only if the Galaxy can find the target.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
GALAXY TONIGHT
vs. New England Revolution
4:30 p.m.
* Site--Rose Bowl, Pasadena.
* Radio--KRLA (1110), KTNQ (1020, Spanish).
* Records--Galaxy 4-5, Revolution 3-5.
* Record vs. Revolution (1998)--2-0.
* Referee--Sandra Hunt.
* Update--The Galaxy Saturday signed New Zealand national team midfielder Simon Elliott, 24, a Stanford graduate who had been playing in the A-League with the Boston Bulldogs. “It came pretty much out of the blue,” Elliott said. “That was the last thing I expected, but I’m not going to be unhappy about it.” Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid described Elliott, who has played 36 games for New Zealand, as “very two-footed as a player who can play pretty much anywhere in midfield for us, wide left, wide right, or in the middle.”
* Tickets--877-3-GALAXY.
