Hendrickson Sparks Galaxy
Ezra Hendrickson scored his second game-winning goal in as many matches and his fifth of the Major League Soccer season Wednesday night as the Galaxy defeated the Kansas City Wizards, 2-1, in overtime in Kansas City, Mo.
The victory moved the Galaxy to within a point of the first-place but idle San Jose Earthquakes in the Western Division.
That said, there was little else positive to mention about a poor and scrappy game that drew a paltry 7,893 fans to Arrowhead Stadium.
Referee Peter Kokolski called 37 fouls (23 of them against the Galaxy), issued yellow cards to Los Angeles’ Hendrickson, Mauricio Cienfuegos and Luis Hernandez and to Kansas City’s Roy Lassiter and Nick Garcia, but never stamped any kind of authority on the game.
In short, it was an ugly affair between two teams with short fuses and a good measure of dislike for each other.
Kokolski’s calls and non-calls had Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid and Wizard Coach Bob Gansler livid on the sidelines and players from both teams frequently arguing with him.
The game started at a furious pace, one that later took its toll.
The Galaxy (11-6-5) grabbed the lead in the 12th minute when Kansas City defender Brandon Prideaux handled the ball just outside the penalty area and to the right of the net.
Simon Elliott floated the resulting free kick toward the goalmouth and onrushing Galaxy defender Danny Califf brushed aside the Wizards’ Matt McKeon and steered the ball into the net from close range, leaving goalkeeper Tony Meola no chance.
“As a defender, you don’t get many of those chances,” Califf said, “so it’s pretty awesome when you can take advantage of it.”
Having taken the lead, the Galaxy failed to secure it and it was no surprise when the defending MLS champion Wizards (9-11-3) tied the score 12 minutes into the second half.
Cienfuegos was whistled for a seemingly innocuous foul on Kerry Zavagnin and Jamaican national team striker Onandi Lowe, a second-half substitute, rocketed a left-foot shot from 30 yards that smacked into the roof of the Galaxy net with goalkeeper Kevin Hartman still looking for the ball.
After that the match degenerated into a series of fouls and arguments.
It ended 5:19 into sudden-death overtime when Sasha Victorine lifted the ball into Hendrickson’s path as he ran at the Kansas City defense.
Hendrickson struck a low shot first-time and watched it fly into the net at the far post, beyond Meola’s reach.
“We didn’t want to come here and just get one point [for a tie], we wanted three,” said Hendrickson, once again resplendent in his Bob Marley T-shirt, just as he had been when scoring the winning goal against D.C. United at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.
Gansler managed to bite his tongue about the referee but voiced displeasure at his own players.
Schmid, who earlier in the day had acquired former UCLA forward McKinley Tennyson from the Columbus Crew in exchange for a third-round draft pick in 2002, was overjoyed by the result.
“You could tell from inside the locker room that this win was important tonight,” he said.
“It was one of those defining moments in a season where you say, ‘This is a place where we came together, remember when we won this one.’ ”
