MLS Rivals Hope to Make Mark in World
Here we go again.
The Galaxy and Washington D.C. United, which have played each other twice with the championship of Major League Soccer on the line, now meet with something even more significant at stake.
How about a million dollars and a place in the third FIFA World Club Championship this summer?
Both MLS teams managed to salvage victories Wednesday night in front of 5,153 fans on a bitterly cold night at Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Stadium. They’ll meet Friday night at the Coliseum.
The Galaxy’s was the more nail-biting encounter, and it was not until Sasha Victorine’s penalty kick had flashed into the Real Espana net that Los Angeles was guaranteed a place in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
The Galaxy advanced, 5-3 on penalty kicks, after a scoreless tie.
Goalkeeper Kevin Hartman saved the first Real Espana kick, by Hector Gutierrez, and Greg Vanney, Simon Elliott, Peter Vagenas, Mauricio Cienfuegos and Victorine were flawless in the shootout, giving Coach Sigi Schmid’s team a victory it deserved but fought to achieve.
Joining the Galaxy in the final four will be D.C. United, which defeated Alajuelense of Costa Rica, 2-1, on a dramatic injury time goal by U.S. national team winger Ben Olsen.
“Obviously, it’s them again, but we’re looking forward to it,” Schmid said of facing a Washington team that beat the Galaxy in the 1996 and 1999 MLS title games.
“We’ve worked very hard to get to this place and so has D.C., so it’ll be an interesting game.”
The Galaxy dominated its game, but the absence of striker Luis Hernandez, whose Mexican club claims he is injured, and a stubborn Real Espana defense combined to thwart Los Angeles.
“It [not scoring] is always a concern as the game wears on because it became very evident in the second half that they were really playing for penalties,” Schmid said. “They were really trying to kill time and you could hear it from their bench, they were telling guys to take their time, take their time, ‘tranquilo, tranquilo.’
“But as I told the team before we took penalties, we played well enough to deserve this win.”
The Galaxy struggled to take command of the game, with Elliott the only player looking immediately comfortable on the ball and willing to take chances.
The New Zealander’s fierce 25-yard shot in the ninth minute forced Real Espana goalkeeper Junior Morales to react quickly to tip the ball over the bar, but the Galaxy squandered the resulting corner kick.
The Honduran team, which barely avoided relegation in its most recent league season, dropped as many as six and seven players back on defense and denied Los Angeles time and space to create scoring opportunities.
Forwards Jones and Adam Frye found themselves constantly outnumbered and the frustration mounted as the scoreless half ticked away.
At the other end, the Galaxy three-man defense of Alexi Lalas--making his competitive debut for Los Angeles--Vanney and Paul Caligiuri was able to deal effectively with the counterattacks of Real Espana. Hartman was seldom troubled.
The breakthrough goal never came and it took penalty kicks to separate the two teams.
D.C. United, on the other hand, started out explosively, taking the lead in the 15th minute on a stupendous 12-yard shot by defender Carey Talley.
The three-time MLS champions earned a corner kick on the left and Bolivian veteran Marco Etcheverry delivered the ball perfectly into Talley’s path for him to blast a half-volley past startled Alajuelense goalkeeper Alvara Mesen.
In the 72nd minute, however, the game turned when Talley upended Castro with a rough tackle on the edge of the penalty area and Canadian referee Mauricio Navarro awarded Alajuelense a penalty kick.
Luis Diego Arnaez hammered the ball into the upper right corner, with goalkeeper Mark Simpson diving the wrong way. That tied it at 1-1 and set the stage for drama to come.
One minute into extra time, 18-year old Bobby Convey sent a deep cross into the goal area from the left flank. Mesen, Alajuelense’s goalkeeper, was distracted by the challenge of Albright and the ball went through to an unmarked Olsen, who scored from close range.
“I was just waiting for PKs [penalty kicks],” said Olsen, “but you just keep running at them one more time and hope.”
In the semifinals on Friday at the Coliseum, Pachuca of Mexico will play Olimpia of Honduras at 7 p.m., followed by the Galaxy against D.C. United at 9 p.m.
The winners will advance to Sunday’s 1 p.m. championship game, also at the Coliseum. More important, each finalist will be guaranteed a place in the July 29-Aug. 12 world championship and the minimum $1-million bonus that comes with it.
Not bad for a few nights’ work.
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CONCACAF Champions Cup
Tournament schedule:
TUESDAY’S RESULTS (CAL STATE FULLERTON)
* Olimpia (Honduras) 1, Toluca (Mexico) 0
* Pachuca (Mexico) 1, Joe Public FC (Trinidad & Tobago) 0
WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS (CAL STATE FULLERTON)
* D.C. United (MLS) 2, Alajuelense (Costa Rica) 1
* Galaxy 0, Real Espana (Honduras) 0
FRIDAY (COLISEUM)
* Semifinals--Olimpia (Honduras) vs. Pachuca (Mexico), 7 p.m.; D.C. United vs. Galaxy, 9 p.m.
SUNDAY (COLISEUM)
* Third-place game--10:30 a.m.
* Final--1 p.m.
