Hernandez Scores but the Galaxy Is Burned

Maybe fans at the Cotton Bowl should rethink those signs they strung up Saturday night, the ones calling for the ouster of Dallas Burn Coach Dave Dir.

“Time is over for Dir,” read one. “Mark Dodd for coach,” read another. “Dave Dir fuera [out],” was the Spanish contribution from the La Raza Latina portion of the crowd of 19,644.

But the scoreboard, lit by postgame fireworks, said something different: Burn 4, Galaxy 2.

A coach whose Major League Soccer team is 0-8-2 on the road should expect to be the target of unhappy fans. But the Burn is 7-2-1 at home after Saturday’s impressive victory, so Dir is baffled about the calls for his dismissal.

“You’d have to ask whoever made the signs,” he said. “They weren’t my signs.”

All signs pointed to Dallas victory, and even two late Galaxy goals, including Luis Hernandez’s first MLS tally, could not detract from the Burn’s superiority.

Dallas (7-10-3) led, 3-0, at the half and 4-0 with seven minutes remaining before Los Angeles (8-5-7) salvaged some pride, if nothing else.

Hernandez’s goal broke a scoreless streak of 899 minutes (including U.S. Open Cup play) for the Mexican striker since he joined the league in mid-May. His breakthrough goal came when he took a pass from Zak Ibsen in the 83rd minute, cut around a defender and fired a low shot past Dallas goalkeeper Matt Jordan, who had played spectacularly to that point.

Hernandez did not celebrate the goal. He simply fetched the ball from the back of the net and returned it to the center circle so that the game could restart.

“This was no time for that [celebration],” Hernandez said. “There is a time and place for that and this wasn’t it. I’d take back the goal and not score it, as long as the team wins.”

Jordan did not comment on the goal afterward. He was getting a half-dozen stitches in the left side his face where it had connected with Hernandez’s boot early in the game.

Dir talked for him instead.

“We did a great job on Luis until it didn’t really matter anymore,” he said. “It’s good to see him get a goal in the league, but I’m glad we still won the game.”

Los Angeles’ second goal, three minutes into injury time, came on a penalty kick by Greg Vanney after referee Marcel Yonan ruled that Hernandez had been fouled.

As usual when the Burn and Galaxy meet, it was Ariel Graziani who did the damage. The Argentine-born Ecuador national team striker scored goals in the 26th and 38th minutes, bringing his total against the Galaxy to nine in two seasons.

Dallas’ other goals came from Ted Eck in injury time at the end of the first half and from Jason Kreis in the 81st minute.

“I thought we came out attacking very well, especially in the first half,” said Dir, the only one of the league’s original 10 coaches still with his original team. “The team was going to goal with a lot of urgency. We played a good game.

“In the second half we were a little more conservative. We relaxed after the fourth goal.”

But the statistics told a different story.

Los Angeles took twice as many shots as Dallas, 20 to 10. It also dominated on corner kicks, earning eight to only one for the Burn. But the Galaxy could not capitalize on their opportunities.

“I thought we created far more chances than they created,” Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said. “The difference was that every chance that they got they scored a goal in the first half.”

The game was a defensive nightmare for Los Angeles, and especially for captain Robin Fraser, normally the team’s steadiest player.

“Tonight our defense went out to lunch,” Schmid said.

Graziani’s first goal came when Fraser stripped the Burn’s Paul Broome of the ball only to send it straight to an unmarked Graziani, who fired it past backup goalkeeper Matt Reis, filling in for Kevin Hartman.

Graziani’s second came off a free kick from Kreis that found Graziani again unmarked. Eck’s goal was deflected past Reis by Fraser’s outstretched boot. Kreis’ tally came on a fierce shot after Dallas had strung together seven or eight passes.

“Things didn’t go our way,” Fraser said. “Sometimes that happens. We made a few mental mistakes, I think, and got burned for them. It was just a combination of some not-so-great play and some pretty bad luck. What do you do? You live to fight another day.”