Galaxy Can’t Get Point Across
The moon was shining on Spartan Stadium Wednesday night and Sigi Schmid was howling at it.
The Galaxy coach, upset at his team’s 0-0 tie with the San Jose Earthquakes in front of a chilled gathering of 12,692, took his frustration out on an unlikely foe.
“The field was an embarrassment,” he said. “I don’t know if they own lawn mowers in San Jose, but I think it’s an embarrassment for soccer to force teams to play on a field with the grass that high.
“If they want to make the game slow down and less entertaining, then maybe that’s the field you play on. But obviously it was left long to slow us down. But [the Earthquakes] have some speed, they have some exciting players, and the grass took away opportunities for both teams.”
San Jose Coach Lothar Osiander, slumped in a chair in the Earthquakes’ locker room, was asked if the long grass had hurt his team.
“No, that helped us, I think,” he replied, straight-faced. “It was raining up here for a few days. It just cleared up yesterday. I don’t like the long grass, but today it seemed to help us, I think. L.A. didn’t get much going.”
The one player who didn’t have time to ponder the length of the turf was Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, who turned in his best performance of the season. Hartman tied his Galaxy record with 10 saves, several of them spectacular.
“He was outstanding,” Osiander said. “He made two or three great saves.”
Galaxy defender Greg Vanney said Hartman, who earned his fourth shutout in five games, was simply doing what he is paid to do.
“That’s his job,” Vanney said. “Not every night is he asked to make those kinds of saves, but when he was tonight, we needed that to play to 0-0. It’s unfortunate we’re not getting any goals, that’s the other side of it.”
The Galaxy (5-0-5) scored 14 goals in its first six games but has netted only two in its last four. The loss of four players, three of them starters because of the Luis Hernandez trade, is having an impact.
“For us right now, with everything we’ve gone through, I think the guys have been amazing with their morale and what they’ve been able to sustain,” Schmid said.
The Earthquakes (2-5-3) had been beaten, 4-1, in Chicago in their last game and had not won in four games, but the Galaxy was never able to test them to the fullest. When Los Angeles did break through, goalkeeper Jon Conway handled the threat.
“They win at home and we tie at home,” Osiander said. “They win some away and we lose most away. There’s the difference.”
The real difference, however, is the way the Galaxy has struggled lately to achieve the smooth style it displayed earlier in the season. The moves are there, but the timing is off. The final touch has deserted them.
“Hartman was superb,” Schmid said. “I thought Hartman and Robin Fraser were excellent. Obviously, defensively we have to play tough right now, because we haven’t had a chance to train. We’re in a series of games where we’re playing Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, and we’re trying to play a new forward combination.”
Pressed to explain why anyone should feel sorry for the Galaxy in light of its acquiring Mexican striker Hernandez, Schmid fired back.
“Did you seen Hernandez out here tonight?” he asked. “Did you see him? You didn’t see any of the other guys here. So, yeah, we get Hernandez and he’s a great player and he’s going to help us, but we also gave up three starters. People forget that. That’s a third of a team.
“What it has messed up right now is our rhythm. So it’s going to take us a while to get our rhythm back.”
The Galaxy doesn’t have the luxury of time. On Saturday, D.C. United, the defending Major Soccer League champion, comes to the Rose Bowl, carrying a grudge from the 4-0 loss inflicted on it by the Galaxy in March.
D.C. United lost to Kansas City Wednesday night, dropping to 2-8-1, worst in the league. The Wizards’ victory, meanwhile, increased its lead over the Galaxy in the Western Division to six points.
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Around the MLS
Junior Agogo’s goal in the 85th-minute capped a three-goal comeback, lifting the Colorado Rapids (5-6) over the New England Revolution, 4-3, at Foxboro, Mass. The Revolution (3-3-4) blew a 3-1 lead before 9,306. . . . Tony Meola extended his MLS-record shutout streak to 525 minutes as the Kansas City Wizards (8-0-2) defeated D.C. United, 2-0, at Kansas City, Mo., before 4,783. D.C. United is 2-8-1.
