A Big Star and Little Star Help Galaxy Win
Goals by Mauricio Cienfuegos and Seth George earned the Galaxy a 2-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes Wednesday night and a place in the semifinals of the U.S. Open Cup.
In a closely fought match in front of 4,345 fans at Titan Stadium on the Cal State Fullerton campus, the Galaxy finally broke through in the 77th minute when a pass from Peter Vagenas found Cienfuegos in the penalty area.
The Salvadoran midfielder drew goalkeeper Joe Cannon off his line, then got a foot to the ball and sent a high chip shot toward the net from an acute angle. The ball got there before two San Jose defenders, and the Galaxy had the lead.
Four minutes later, Los Angeles secured the victory when George, who had entered 18 minutes earlier as a substitute for Cobi Jones, scored his first goal off a pass from Sasha Victorine.
“It’s been a very tough year,” a relieved George said. “I knew I was going to have to play so hard and it was going to take so much just to get that goal [this season], and I didn’t know if I could do it.
“When it happened, I was so stoked. It was a huge monkey off my back. I’ve been carrying around this huge weight and all of a sudden I just dropped it right there.”
The Galaxy will play the Chicago Fire in the Open Cup semifinals on Aug. 23 at a site to be determined. The Fire, which won the Open Cup in 1998, routed the Dallas Burn, 5-1, at Soldier Field on Wednesday night, with U.S. Olympic team forward Josh Wolff scoring four goals.
Galaxy striker Luis Hernandez missed the game to be with his wife Nancy in Monterrey, Mexico for the birth of their third child. He also will miss Saturday night’s game at the Rose Bowl against the Kansas City Wizards.
“We’ll worry about [the Fire] on Aug. 20 or 21,” Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said. “We want to win the Open Cup, and for that game we’ll have Luis back so that will help us.”
The Earthquakes had been expected to start striker Giovanni Savarese, acquired Monday on loan from his Italian Serie C club, Viterbese, for the rest of the MLS season.
But although Savarese was in Fullerton, he was confined to the sideline. Despite San Jose pleas, the Italian soccer federation failed to send the necessary paperwork to the U.S. federation in time, leaving Savarese ineligible.
In other quarterfinal games Wednesday night, the Miami Fusion defeated D.C. United, 3-2, in Washington and will play the New York/New Jersey MetroStars in the semifinals. The MetroStars ousted the Columbus Crew, 7-6, on penalty kicks, after a 1-1 tie in Columbus.
