Galaxy Seeks Different Approach Against Wizards
The last team the Galaxy needs to face after its 3-2 season-opening loss to the San Jose Earthquakes is the defending Major League Soccer champion Kansas City Wizards.
Kansas City knocked Los Angeles out of the playoffs in last year’s semifinals, and since has added striker Roy Lassiter, the league’s all-time leading goal scorer.
Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid, however, isn’t worrying about the Wizards.
“I think our major concern right now has to be with ourselves,” he said after a 4-1 victory in Wednesday’s scrimmage with the U.S. under-20 national team at the Rose Bowl, “our adrenaline, our intensity.
“It was good that we had the scrimmage. It gave us a chance to work some of the kinks out. I thought we played much better.”
The Wizards, who lost their opener, 3-2, to Washington D.C. United, will be without defenders Peter Vermes (abdominal strain) and Nick Garcia (red card suspension).
“We have to look to take advantage of that,” said Schmid, who probably will start Adam Frye at forward in place of Brian Ching.
At the same time, the Galaxy has to be wary of Lassiter’s speed. Galaxy players looked sluggish in the San Jose loss.
“We watched some of the tape,” Schmid said. “It’s always better when you see it. I told them it wasn’t on slow motion. This was the real speed in the first half. The players accepted it. They know that they didn’t play well. They’re a professional group.
“As I told them, you can write it off as a bad game but that means the next game has to be better.
“We have to play better positional defense. We have to be aware of where Roy is. The reason we got into the most trouble against San Jose in the first half was because we didn’t close things down in midfield. We didn’t put pressure on them in midfield.
“It makes it hard, no matter who is playing in the back, when you don’t put pressure on the ball. It makes it easy for other teams to play. So we have to do a good job of not allowing [Kansas City’s Matt] McKeon and Francisco Gomez and [Mark] Santel and [Chris] Klein to slip balls in to Roy. That’s the best way for us to shut Roy down.”
Said midfielder Pete Vagenas: “Hopefully, we’ll look back on the first game as a blessing, a sort of a wake-up call. San Jose came to play and we didn’t. Because of what we’ve accomplished in the last couple of months, we thought going through the motions was going to be enough. Obviously, in this league it’s not. We’ve just got to go back to basics and I think we’ll be all right.”
TONIGHT
at Kansas City, 5:30 PDT, Channel 9
* Site--Arrowhead Stadium.
* Radio--KXMX 1190; KTNQ 1020 (Spanish).
* Records--Galaxy 0-1, Wizards 0-1.
* Record vs. Wizards--(2000, including playoffs) 2-3-2.
* Update--The Galaxy lost a three-game playoff semifinal series to Kansas City last fall, 2-1, after tying the regular-season series 1-1-2. . . . Before the game, MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Wizard founder Lamar Hunt will present the Wizards their 2000 championship rings. . . . Galaxy defensive midfielder Danny Pena will not play because of oral surgery. . . . Rolando Gonzalez and Hipolito Gamboa will handle the Spanish broadcasts on KTNQ again this season.
