Galaxy Not Shooting for Stars
The Galaxy, somewhat surprisingly, has more or less abandoned its goal of finishing in first place in Major League Soccer’s Western Division.
Coach Sigi Schmid’s players will accept the divisional title if it comes their way, but their aim going into tonight’s match against the Colorado Rapids at the Rose Bowl is more realistic.
“Our goal right now has to be to grab the No. 4 spot in the [eight-team] playoffs,” Schmid said Tuesday. “I don’t think our goal is to win the division, it’s to make sure we finish ahead of Chicago and Tampa [and be seeded fourth, with home-field advantage].
“If we do what we need to do, that’ll put us into position so that if Kansas City falters we have a chance to win the division. But our immediate goal is to secure the fourth spot.”
The Galaxy’s 1-1 tie with the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday left it four points out of first place with six games remaining. The Wizards have one game in hand.
Colorado, which defeated the Galaxy, 1-0, in Denver on June 11, will not be an easy opponent. The Rapids are fighting to clinch a playoff berth too.
“They’re a very big team, they’re a team that we have to worry about on set pieces because they’ve got guys like Matt Okoh, [Junior] Agogo, [Chris] Martinez and [Marcelo] Balboa,” Schmid said. “They’ve got a number of people who are very good in the air, so we’ve got to worry about them on corners and set pieces.
“They’ve got good speed up front. It’s a team that’s not really missing much, apart from [forward Jorge] Dely Valdez and [midfielder] Jason Bent [playing for Panama and Canada, respectively, in World Cup 2002 qualifying games].”
Also missing are Swedish playmaker Andres Limpar, out for the regular season because of a left calf strain, and U.S. Olympic team goalkeeper Adin Brown, who has been sidelined since June 24 because of knee and thigh injuries.
The Galaxy will be without at least five starters tonight: midfielder Danny Pena and goalkeeper Kevin Hartman because of injury and forward Cobi Jones, midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos and defender Ezra Hendrickson because they have qualifying games for, respectively, the United States, El Salvador and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Schmid said the team has learned to deal with the absence of key players.
“Obviously, we’ve had to do that a number of times this season,” he said. “I’m happy that we still have Robin Fraser and Greg Vanney [who were not called up for tonight’s U.S. game against Barbados at Foxboro, Mass.] That allows us to keep our defense pretty much intact.
“We’re hoping as well that Luis [Hernandez, who played for Mexico in its 2-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Canada on Tuesday] might be available to us for about 30 minutes or so. It’s not as bad as it could be.”
Meanwhile, the MLS trade deadline came and went Tuesday afternoon without the Galaxy making any moves, but it was not for want of trying.
“We talked to some teams about various possibilities,” Schmid said. “I don’t think it was a secret we were trying to find a forward. Some of the offers were on the ludicrous side. People had forwards sitting on the bench and they’d want a No. 1 draft pick and two starters--for a guy who was on their bench.
“I wasn’t going to sell our future for something on the short term. I think we were looking for a short-term fix for this year. I’m confident we’ll be able to solve our problems long-term.”
