Galaxy Might Feel the Squeeze Against A-League’s Flash
It doesn’t take much to get Sigi Schmid riled. Something as seemingly inconsequential as the incorrect width of a field, for example, is more than enough to light the Galaxy coach’s fuse.
Schmid is intensely competitive. He doesn’t like losing, and when rules are bent or ignored, he likes it even less.
Which is why Schmid is angry about tonight’s U.S. Open Cup game against the San Diego Flash at Douglas Stadium on the San Diego Mesa College campus. Apparently, the field is too narrow.
“U.S. Open Cup rules say that the field has to be a minimum width of 68 yards, and we’re going down to play on a field that doesn’t meet that minimum,” Schmid said.
“U.S. Soccer is basically saying that its rules don’t matter. So, theoretically, if I play a U.S. Open Cup game at home I can make my field 53 yards wide.
“That’s why I didn’t want to play in that matchbox [at Mesa College], but we got no help from MLS.”
The round-of-16 game against the Flash, which leads the A-League’s Pacific Division, is a rematch of last season’s Open Cup encounter. Then, the Galaxy had to come from behind to defeat San Diego at the same stadium, 3-2.
A Flash spokesman said Monday that the field had been widened by 2 1/2 yards since last year’s game--the surrounding track was removed--and is now 64 yards wide.
U.S. Soccer did not immediately returns phone calls Monday regarding its competition rules.
The Open Cup, which began in 1914, is the nation’s oldest soccer competition and, as its name suggests, is open to all U.S. teams, amateur or professional. The Rochester Raging Rhinos of the A-League--a notch down from the MLS--are the defending champions.
Schmid has more than field width to worry about tonight, however. First, he has to find a lineup.
“We’ll see who’s healthy,” Schmid said. “I think we’re going to have a mix. It’s tough for guys to come back after 48 hours.”
The Galaxy lost to the Mutiny at Tampa Bay on Saturday night, 2-0, then flew home Sunday, practiced Monday morning and traveled to San Diego in the afternoon.
Simon Elliott lasted only 37 minutes in the Mutiny game, playing despite severe flu symptoms, and Zak Ibsen tore a right hamstring in the game and is out for several weeks.
Meanwhile, the status of the six Galaxy players who were involved in World Cup qualifying games Sunday remained uncertain.
Cobi Jones and Greg Vanney played all 90 minutes of the U.S. national team’s 2-1 loss to Costa Rica before flying back and rejoining the Galaxy.
Robin Fraser, who did not play in the game, has a broken hand. Mauricio Cienfuegos and Ezra Hendrickson are coming off opposite sides of El Salvador’s 7-1 victory over St. Vincent and the Grenadines in San Salvador on Sunday.
“We’ve got to see,” Schmid said. “We might have to play two of those [four] guys [excluding Fraser] and bring two off the bench.
“Then there’s a big question whether [Luis] Hernandez will even get back. We don’t even know if we’re going to have Hernandez.”
Hernandez played for Mexico Sunday when it was beaten by Trinidad and Tobago, 1-0, at Port of Spain, Trinidad.
