Hendrickson Comes Through for the Galaxy

It was quite a remarkable scene, no doubt about that.

There was referee Michael Kennedy, backed into a corner of the Rose Bowl Saturday night, trapped between the side netting of one goal, the advertising billboards and three furious D.C. United players.

And not just any players, but three national team stars: Bolivia’s Marco Etcheverry, New Zealand’s Ryan Nelson and the United States’ Eddie Pope.

The trio was incensed that Kennedy had awarded the Galaxy a penalty kick after Ezra Hendrickson had been held by D.C. midfielder Bryan Namoff while bearing down on goal.

D.C goalkeeper Mike Ammann physically restrained Etcheverry--not known as “El Diablo” for nothing--from doing serious damage to Kennedy.

When tempers had finally cooled, Ammann dived to his right and stopped Gregg Vanney’s penalty kick. It was only the second penalty miss in six attempts for Vanney all season.

Not to worry though. Seven minutes later, Hendrickson did a little give-and-go with Luis Hernandez and, when he received the ball back, fired a low shot that slipped underneath a diving Ammann with 18 minutes to play.

Hendrickson--EZ to teammates--flashed a big grin and a Bob Marley T-shirt. It was his fourth goal of the season.

It was also enough to give the Galaxy a 1-0 victory in front of 13,805 fans and close the gap in the Western Conference from six points to four on first-place San Jose, which was held to a 2-2 tie by the Columbus Crew.

“Whenever he wears that Marley shirt he seems to score a game-winner,” said Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid.

“Every time I score, I seem to have that shirt on,” echoed Hendrickson, whose goals have all been game-winners. “It’s funny. I didn’t have it on in the first half.”

Apparently, no Los Angeles player wore anything that might have brought luck in the first 45 minutes.

The Galaxy (10-6-5) started out tentatively, allowing D.C. United (6-13-2) to dictate the pace and rhythm of the game, and it almost paid the price.

In the 11th minute, a through ball from Jaime Moreno to Abdul Thompson Conteh, the league’s second-leading goal scorer, caught Danny Califf flat-footed, allowing Conteh to get in alone against goalkeeper Kevin Hartman.

Conteh was too casual with his scoring attempt, however, and Hartman was able to make the foot save.

Moreno came closer in the 21st minute, taking a snap shot from close range on the left that Hartman palmed around the left post for a corner kick.

Hartman saved the Galaxy again three minutes before the half ended when Etcheverry curled a cross on from the right and Conteh twisted in the air to get his head to the ball.

Hartman, who last week was named the team’s starter for the rest of the season, threw himself to his right to grab the ball.

“We struggled a little bit in the first half,” Schmid admitted. “They were much sharper than we were. We didn’t get close to anyone defensively, especially in midfield. It wasn’t the best of halves.

“At halftime basically what I tried to do was challenge the team. I tried to challenge the three midfielders. I said their three midfielders killed you three guys. I also challenged Cobi [Jones] a little bit because I thought he was very ineffective in the first half.

“In the second half the guys responded. We switched Pete [Vagenas] onto Marco [Etcheverry] and told him to get a little tighter. I thought he did a good job with that.

“I thought Cobi was much more active and busy. He was starting to cause problems for them. Then it only became a matter of time until we scored, but by the same token they had a couple of good chances as well.”

The Galaxy almost snatched the lead seven minutes into the second half when Califf powered a header just over the bar off a corner kick.

Four minutes later, Conteh missed another opportunity when he took a thoughtful pass from Moreno and, with only Hartman to beat, skied the ball into the cheap seats.

Moments thereafter, the Galaxy twice came within inches of scoring.

First Hendrickson sent a diagonal pass into the D.C. United penalty area, Hernandez appeared to dummy it and Simon Elliott’s shot deflected narrowly wide of the net off Ammann’s foot.

Next, Sasha Victorine’s fierce shot was blocked by Ammann.

Jones later headed a superb ball from Hernandez just over the crossbar and Ammann made two excellent saves on shots by Marvin Quijano and Hernandez.

It was, in short, a night of near misses.

At least until Hendrickson scored.