Hernandez, Galaxy Let It Fly in 2-0 Loss to Wizards

Spitting mad.

That’s what Luis Hernandez allegedly was Saturday night, when the Mexican striker was involved in a near-brawl at Arrowhead Stadium after the Galaxy’s 2-0 loss to the Kansas City Wizards.

The final whistle had barely sounded before Hernandez and Wizard players Chris Klein and Matt McKeon squared off in front of the departing crowd of 15,088. Other players intervened and even Kansas City Coach Bob Gansler got into the fray.

“He spit on me three times, and then when Chris came over he spit on me again,” McKeon charged. “You can’t do that in this league. He has no respect for the American players. There’s no need for that. That’s a joke.”

Speaking through a team spokesman, Hernandez said he could not remember spitting at or on anyone.

The Wizards’ collective memory was somewhat sharper.

“I saw Klein get spit on too,” said Peter Vermes, the Wizard defender assigned to mark Hernandez. “I pulled him away and as we walked inside just told him, ‘Look, you can wipe it off because next week we have another game and we got the three points and that was important to us.’ ”

Goalkeeper Tony Meola, who denied dangerous shots by Cobi Jones and Hernandez in the game’s final minutes to earn his league-record 12th shutout of the season, was sure of what happened.

“The words are one thing, but the spitting . . . “ Meola began, then paused. “I didn’t think it was a dirty game, though. I thought it was a good soccer game and guys went hard, but the spitting thing . . . I hope we’re in for more soccer from him [Hernandez] and less of that stuff.

“I’m sure a little bit was provoked too. I don’t think it was totally on him, but that’s uncalled-for. Hopefully he’s above that from here on out.”

Gansler made a point of seeking out Hernandez during the brief melee.

“I didn’t see it, but my guy [McKeon] said, ‘Hey, he spit on me,’ ” Gansler said. “That’s uncalled-for. Maybe I jumped to the conclusion, but I believe my guy.”

Gansler made sure to get Hernandez’s attention.

“I said ‘Don’t spit at people,’ ” Gansler said. “That’s all I said. End of story.”

Hernandez’s increasing anger is apparent. He has not scored a goal in eight games since joining the Galaxy in mid-May.

“I think he’s just really frustrated,” Kansas City forward Francisco Gomez said. “I was talking to him to see what he thought about the league and he said it’s a little different compared to the Mexican league. He has to adapt to the league and the players around him. It’s a lot different style and I think that’s [the cause of] most of his frustration.”

Jones had his own take on the incident.

“Obviously, Luis and McKeon and a few other players had been going at it on the field for quite some time,” he said. “It just came to a head after the game.”

Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said he would ask Hernandez what had occurred.

“I haven’t talked to Luis, but that’s something obviously we’ll talk to him about,” he said. “That’s not appropriate, but McKeon’s not exactly a choirboy, either.”

The Wizards (11-2-4) got goals from Klein in the 44th minute and Gary Glasgow in the 55th. The victory enabled them to increase their lead over the second-place Galaxy (7-4-7) to nine points in the Western Division.

Klein’s goal came after McKeon sent the ball to Chris Henderson on the left wing, Henderson crossed it into the goal area, where Glasgow dived at it but missed. Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman was distracted by Glasgow’s move, and Klein put the ball in at the far post.

Glasgow’s goal was equally controversial. Preki created it as a 37th-birthday present to himself, beating Galaxy defender Greg Vanney with an inside-outside move, then dishing the ball back to Mo Johnston.

Hartman stopped Johnston’s shot, but couldn’t hold onto the ball as Glasgow rushed in to poke it into the net.

“There’s no excuse for losing your head at the end of the game like some of our players did,” Schmid said. “That’s something we have to address internally. Kansas City played a good game, they were very disciplined, they were very organized. They got their opportunities, they used their opportunities. At the end of the day, that’s the name of the game.”