Any Goal Will Be Golden in This Series
In its quarterfinal series against Tampa Bay, the Galaxy’s main focus was on containing the Mutiny’s high-powered offensive attack. Mission accomplished.
Next the Galaxy will face the yin to Tampa Bay’s yang in Major League Soccer’s semifinals against the top-seeded Kansas City Wizards, beginning Friday at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Wizards were the stingiest team in MLS this season, giving up a league-low 29 goals in the regular season and two to the Colorado Rapids in their three-game quarterfinal series, which ended with Kansas City’s 3-2 win Sunday night.
The Galaxy gave up 37 goals in the regular season, second to the Wizards.
“Obviously, Kansas City is a very defensive-minded team and they play good defense,” Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said Monday after practice at USC’s MacAllister Field. “So the hard part for us in this series is just simply going to be how to break down a team when they get eight, nine guys behind the ball, because they’re not going to give us as many counter opportunities as Tampa did.”
Whereas the pressure in the Galaxy’s last series was primarily on defenders Paul Caligiuri, Robin Fraser and Greg Vanney, the onus this time around seemingly falls on forwards Luis Hernandez and Cobi Jones to get the Galaxy going.
Kansas City’s Tony Meola was the only MLS goalkeeper to yield less than one goal per game, finishing the regular season with a 0.92 average. He is a prime candidate to be named league most valuable player.
The Wizards have had 19 shutouts in 35 games, including the playoffs.
It has been an epic turnaround for Kansas City, which finished 8-24 last season, last in the Western Conference, and went 16-7-9 (57 points) this year to earn the No. 1 seeding in the playoffs.
With the Galaxy and Wizards having split the season series, 1-1-2, with both ties coming at the Rose Bowl, Kansas City Coach Bob Gansler expects a war.
“They remain one of the favorites,” he said of the fifth-seeded Galaxy. “They are well-coached by Sigi and [assistant] Ralph Perez. It is definitely going to be a three-game series.”
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MLS Semifinals: Galaxy-Wizards
Playoff schedule
Friday--At Kansas City, 5 p.m.
Oct. 3--At Galaxy, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 6--At Kansas City, 5:30 p.m.-x
All times Pacific; x-if necessary
Season series
* At Rose Bowl, May 6: Kansas City 0, Galaxy 0
* At Kansas City, June 24: Kansas City 2, Galaxy 0
* At Kansas City, Aug. 5: Galaxy 5, Kansas City 1
* At Rose Bowl, Aug. 12: Kansas City 1, Galaxy 1
