Win Over Dallas Keeps Galaxy Atop Its Division

Dave Dir paced. He fumed. He shouted. He pointed fingers. He did everything but run onto the Rose Bowl field and aim a few kicks of his own.

But it was all in vain.

No matter what the Dallas Burn coach said or signaled Saturday night, it wasn’t enough to throw the Galaxy off stride.

Goals by Paul Caligiuri and Clint Mathis gave L.A. a 2-1 victory in front of 16,244 and kept the Galaxy atop Major League Soccer’s Western Division with a 3-0-2 record.

Dallas, the Central Division leader, lost its eighth consecutive game in Pasadena since 1998 and fell to 3-2.

“It wasn’t a pleasant evening,” said Dir, who had calmed down only slightly after watching calls go against his team for 90 minutes. “They [the Galaxy] can do whatever they want, but if we do something . . . what can I tell you?”

The game’s opening goal, in the 17th minute, was superbly crafted by Mauricio Cienfuegos and Caligiuri.

The Galaxy was awarded a free kick to the left of the penalty area and Cienfuegos curled the ball around Dallas’ two-man wall and in front of goalkeeper Matt Jordan.

Caligiuri, sprinting in, redirected the shot into the net with the outside of his right foot, beating the lunging challenge of Chad Deering and leaving Jordan no chance from close range.

It was Caligiuri’s first goal of the season and only the fifth of his four-year Galaxy career.

“I couldn’t believe they left the near post open, without a zonal player there,” he said. “Obviously, I beat my guy [Deering] to the space, Mauricio put a great ball there, so it was my job just to finish it.”

The three points the Galaxy earned were more important than the goal, Caligiuri said.

“It means a lot personally, but more importantly we need to win our games at home, even these tough games like this, where we didn’t necessarily play our best soccer,” he said. “It’s important that we come out victorious, especially against teams like Dallas that we figure we’re going to meet down the road again.”

The goal might just as easily not have been scored had Los Angeles not benefited from a call by referee Richard Heron.

Dir, unhappy all night with the officiating, was incensed by Heron’s decision in awarding the free kick. Dallas midfielder Sergi Daniv and Galaxy winger Cobi Jones were racing for the ball, each with an equal chance of getting to it first.

The pair tangled legs and fell. Heron called a foul on Daniv, causing Dir to leap from his seat and throw his arms in the air in disbelief.

“I thought that Cobi ran Daniv over and that that was a Cobi call,” he said. “Just like when the guy [Galaxy defender Greg Vanney] lifted [Burn striker Ariel] Graziani in the air, we didn’t get a call because obviously Graziani was faking being lifted in the air.

“There’s nothing you can do about the referees. We played, I thought, very well. We dictated the pace of the game, we put them under a lot of pressure and I thought we controlled the game the way we wanted it played. Obviously, the first goal wasn’t great. They’re still the Galaxy, so they’re going to get those calls.”

If the origin of the first goal was dubious, the second was as clear-cut as can be.

Mathis, one of several players rumored to be on the trading block if the deal to bring Mexican striker Luis Hernandez to Los Angeles is ever completed, scored it, doubling the Galaxy’s advantage in the 67th minute.

Zak Ibsen sent the ball wide out to Jones on the left and the winger crossed it back into the box, where Mathis volleyed it into the net with his instep and then set off on a bizarre one-legged dance of celebration. It was his third goal in five games.

Dir was still hopping mad himself, and his displeasure was only partially relieved when the Burn scored in the 83rd minute.

It came off a corner kick by Deering that was headed down into a crowd of players by Jason Kreis. The ball bounced around without anyone clearing it and finally fell favorably for Graziani, who poked it into to the net to spoil Kevin Hartman’s shutout.

Meanwhile, the Hernandez saga continues.

The league is saying nothing about the long-rumored arrival of Mexico’s top forward, but behind the scenes MLS and the Galaxy have been working to find a way to get Hernandez to L.A. and still keep the team at or under the salary cap.

Deals with the San Jose Earthquakes and/or the New England Revolution have been rumored for a week or more. Players whose names have been mentioned as possibly having to be traded include Mathis, midfielder Roy Myers, defender Steve Jolley and midfielder/defender Joe Franchino.

Or perhaps some combination of players. Either way, Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid is in no hurry to break up a team that is unbeaten.