Galaxy Can’t Escape Those Who Are Questioning Goals

Everywhere the Galaxy goes these days, Sigi Schmid is asked the same question:

When will Luis Hernandez score?

Going into tonight’s Major League Soccer game against the Dallas Burn at the Cotton Bowl, the Mexican striker has been blanked for 726 minutes of MLS play. Throw in another 90 minutes of scoreless play in the U.S. Open Cup and it adds up to more than 13 1/2 hours of on-field frustration for the 31-year-old Hernandez.

“Overall, even though he didn’t score today, I thought he really stepped it up, especially in the second half,” Schmid said after the Galaxy’s 2-1 victory over Washington D.C. United on Wednesday.

“I thought he was very aggressive. I thought he did a real good job. He showed a lot of character and he battled for a lot of balls. That was a big plus for us in the second half.”

Still, the Mexican national team’s all-time leading goal scorer has yet to find the back of the net in MLS.

“A forward always gets measured by goals,” Schmid said. “So if he had scored one [Wednesday], everybody would have said he played very well. Unfortunately, it takes a while sometimes to break that [scoring drought].

“Look at some of the other forwards who have come into this league--Carlos Hermosillo, it took him 10 or 11 games before he scored his first goal. Look at [Burn striker Ariel] Graziani. New England gave up on him before he scored his first goal and shipped him out to Dallas.”

Since then, Graziani has turned into an all-star, giving Dallas a potent 1-2 combination with Jason Kreis.

“What happens in this league is, you have defenders who are athletic and aggressive,” Schmid said. “[San Jose Earthquake forward Abdul Thompson] Conteh said it best earlier this season: ‘In Mexico, when I beat a defender I don’t expect the defender to come back and save the ball off the goal line.’

“That happens [in MLS] and that’s a learning curve [for newcomers like Hernandez], because players chase back and players recover and they double-team. I think with each game, Luis is becoming more aware of that. I feel it’s just a matter of time. Hopefully, the goal will come [today].”

The Galaxy has had three high-profile players from Mexico: Jorge Campos, Hermosillo and Hernandez.

Campos, a goalkeeper, was a fun-loving and sometimes mischievous extrovert who immediately became a popular figure with MLS fans. Hermosillo was more mature and low key. It took him a while to get into the rhythm of MLS, but he was not under the sort of pressure the more volatile Hernandez is facing.

On Wednesday night, when Schmid took Hernandez out of the game with only one minute remaining, fans at RFK Stadium booed the Mexican star. That comes, in part, from the strong rivalry between the teams, but also because Hernandez has not made a good impression in his first eight MLS games.

The alleged spitting incident at Kansas City last weekend--for which MLS fined Hernandez $2,500 on Friday, citing his “confrontational behavior”--has not helped his cause.

Before the Galaxy left on its nine-day, three-game trip that ends tonight, Schmid tried to explain the difficulties facing a player coming into MLS from Mexico.

“I think for the foreign player coming from Europe, it’s a little easier, just because the tempo of the game and the pace and the athleticism of the league is maybe more in tune to what they’re used to,” he said.

“For the players from Latin America, and especially from Mexico, I think it’s hardest of all because they felt, and they’ve been told, that the U.S. league is far inferior to their league.

“I think it is inferior in some ways. Maybe tactically we’re not as sharp sometimes. Maybe that little bit of flair that players have [in Mexico] is not there at times.

“But certainly from an athletic standpoint, from the standpoint of physical abilities, from the standpoint of work rate, from the standpoint of defensive organization, we’re every bit as tough as the Mexican league. But that’s something that isn’t given the respect that it’s due and so as a result, players take a little while to adjust to that and learn that.”

Tonight, Hernandez sets out to climb the learning curve once again.