Galaxy Happy to Give Rapids a Run

By GRAHAME L. JONES

Oct. 11, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

It took until the last day of the Major League Soccer regular season to find out, but the Galaxy finally knows who its first-round playoff opponent will be.

The news isn’t bad: It’s the Colorado Rapids, a team that has gone five games and an MLS-record 499 minutes without scoring a goal.

Colorado has not found the back of the net since Jorge Dely Valdes’ 41st-minute strike in a 1-0 victory Sept. 18 at Mile High Stadium. The opponent that night was the Galaxy.

The defending MLS champion Chicago Fire’s 3-2 shootout victory over the Crew in Columbus on Sunday meant that the Rapids (20-12) finished fourth in the Western Conference and will play the Galaxy (20-12) in Game 1 of the best-of-three series at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at the Rose Bowl.

Game 2 will be played at Mile High Stadium in Denver on Oct. 22, with the series decider, if needed, at the Rose Bowl on Oct. 27.

The second-place Dallas Burn (19-13) will play the third-place Fire (18-14) in the other first-round series in the West.

In the East, two-time champion Washington D.C. United won the conference and will play the fourth-place Miami Fusion in the first round. The other series pits the second-place Columbus Crew against the third-place Mutiny.

The Fire came from two goals down to tie the Crew, 2-2, in front of 18,979 at Columbus, Ohio, before winning in a shootout. Stern John and Jeff Cunningham scored in the fifth and 65th minutes for the Crew, but former UCLA striker Ante Razov cut the Crew lead to one goal with a 66th-minute penalty and Tom Soehn tied it in the 75th.

The crowd was large enough to make Columbus the MLS attendance leader with an average of 17,696 a game at 22,485-seat Columbus Crew Stadium. In MLS regular-season finale, the Burn defeated the Mutiny, 2-1, in front of 13,189 at Raymond Jones Stadium in Tampa, with MLS scoring champion Jason Kreis netting the winning goal in the 82nd minute. It was Kreis’ 18th goal of the season, tying him with D.C. United’s Roy Lassiter.

Dallas came into the game having to win to secure second place in the conference and home-field advantage in the first round. Forward Dante Washington gave the Burn the lead in the 15th minute on a goal that some claimed was not only scored from an offside position but also came after Washington had illegally controlled the ball with his hand. Manny Lagos tied it for the Mutiny in the 72nd minute, but 10 minutes later Kreis took a pass from Oscar Pareja inside the penalty area and beat goalkeeper Scott Garlick with a near-post shot for the final goal of the regular season.

MLS Playoffs

First round (best-of-three series):

GALAXY vs. COLORADO

* Game 1: Sunday at Rose Bowl, 4:30 p.m.

* Game 2: Oct. 22 at Denver

* Game 3: Oct. 27 at Rose Bowl*

OTHER MATCHUPS

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Dallas Burn vs. Chicago Fire

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Washington D.C. United vs.

Miami Fusion