Hurtado Back in Service
When Fernando Clavijo was named coach of the New England Revolution, one of the first things he did was acquire Eduardo Hurtado from the New York/New Jersey MetroStars.
The way Clavijo figured it, “El Tanque” still had some tread left on his tracks. Anyone who had scored 30 goals in 50 games for the Galaxy from 1996 to 1998 surely couldn’t be ready for the scrap heap by 2000.
Tonight, Hurtado returns to the scene of his earlier adventures when the Revolution plays the Galaxy at 7:30 at the Rose Bowl.
“He’s looking unbelievable,” Clavijo said during the team’s preseason training camp in Florida. “If you can get him to play and he likes the situation he’s in, I don’t see any other forward in the league with the physical ability that he has.”
Motivation, however, is the key. Hurtado needs to be, well, kick-started.
“It is a challenge,” Clavijo admitted. “But it’s a challenge I’m willing to take. He’s responding well. Maybe he’s a little bit overweight because in the off-season he was playing in Ecuador and then he took about a month off.”
In his native Ecuador, Hurtado shrugged off an abysmal 7-25 season with the MetroStars and won a league championship, scoring two goals in the final series.
“I went to the games and he did tremendously,” Clavijo said.
“I know that he can play. He knows that he can play. I think we have a combination [with Hurtado and Wolde Harris, acquired from the Colorado Rapids] that will show that the decisions [to sign both forwards] were correct.”
The Revolution is one of the best-supported teams in Major League Soccer. It averaged 16,735 fans a game in 1999 despite a 6-10 record at Foxboro Stadium in a 12-20 season.
Its less-than-inspiring on-field record was one reason former coach Walter Zenga of Italy was dismissed and Clavijo, a former U.S. national team defender, was brought in after being an assistant for Bora Milutinovic at New York/New Jersey last season.
In addition to Hurtado and Harris, New England features midfielder/defender John Harkes, who played alongside Clavijo in the 1994 World Cup, vastly experienced defensive midfielder Leonel Alvarez of Colombia and speedy winger Jamar Beasley, whose brother, DaMarcus, was briefly with the Galaxy.
But the onus is on forwards Hurtado and Harris to produce goals. In its first two games this season, both in Florida, the Revolution tied the Miami Fusion, 1-1, and lost, 1-0, to the Tampa Bay Mutiny.
“We are always waiting for somebody else who is in better position to score a goal,” Clavijo told the Boston Globe after the second game. “We have to pull the trigger, become more selfish in the [penalty area] instead of looking for a beautiful goal. You have to hit it when nobody expects it.”
Added Harris: “[Hurtado] is mobile and he can hold possession, which gives me time to find open spaces. And I can do the same for him.”
Unfortunately for New England, it is going up against the league’s No. 1 defense.
