Galaxy at a Loss After Crucial Non-Calls
Kevin Terry is a pale, somewhat portly fellow with balding ginger-colored hair and an understandably florid complexion when he has been running for 90 minutes.
He also is, strange to say, a Major League Soccer referee. Even stranger, he is a FIFA referee--in other words, someone credentialed to officiate at soccer’s highest level.
On Wednesday night, Terry was at the Rose Bowl, where it was his two bizarre non-calls, as much as anything else, that caused the Galaxy to lose, 2-0, to the Columbus Crew before 52,634.
Had Terry seen what everyone else in the stadium must have seen--Galaxy forward Sasha Victorine being blatantly held in the penalty area by Crew defender Mike Lapper six minutes into the game--the outcome might have been different.
Had Terry seen what everyone else in the stadium must have seen--Crew midfielder John Harkes shoving Galaxy playmaker Mauricio Cienfuegos off the ball with a blatant foul in the penalty area 33 minutes into the game--the outcome might have been different.
But Terry saw neither incident. Or at least chose to ignore them.
“We thought we [should have] had two penalties,” Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said. “There was the cross [from Cobi Jones] where Sasha couldn’t even take a look at the ball because the guy [Lapper] had him by the shirt and had spun him completely around.
“Kevin Terry, I’m sure, has been told [by Major League Soccer] not to call any penalties because he’s called so many [already this season].
“The one on Cien, I couldn’t tell, I didn’t see the replay.”
That said, Columbus deserved the victory. The Galaxy had the better of the play and produced the more attractive soccer, but the Crew did what it had to do: when the scoring chances came, it took them.
Brian West scored both goals, the first in the 67th minute and the second 11 minutes later.
The Galaxy, which outshot the Crew, 19-10, including 9-6 in shots on target, had dominated the first 60 minutes or so but failed to find the back of the net.
West had no such difficulty.
His first goal came on a rebound after Galaxy goalkeeper Matt Reis had done well to block Brian McBride’s initial shot at the near post but failed to hang onto the ball. It rolled to West and the winger slotted it into the open net past the fallen keeper.
West’s second goal was even easier. He caught the Galaxy defense on a breakaway and rounded Reis, who had come out to the edge of the penalty area, before firing the ball into the roof of the net.
Columbus, to its credit, did not come to Pasadena simply to defend, as so many MLS teams do. Instead, it relied on a counterattack and used the speed of Jeff Cunningham and West.
“It’s a good win,” McBride said. “For some reason we always play well against the Galaxy. They like to move the ball around and, in all honesty, so do we, so it ends up being a good matchup for us.
“We definitely wanted to play soccer. The guys played with a lot of heart.”
The Galaxy did too, but shots by Jones, Victorine, Cienfuegos, Luis Hernandez, Pete Vagenas, Ezra Hendrickson, Greg Vanney, Simon Elliott and Adam Frye all failed to find the mark.
Columbus goalkeeper Tom Presthus was in excellent form--even if he did pick up a yellow card from Terry late in the game when he and Hernandez got into a mini-brawl that also involved former UCLA teammates Jones and Lapper.
“They obviously put a lot of pressure on us tonight because of the crowd--it was a great atmosphere,” Presthus said. “Our goal was to hold them off as long as we could and then try to sneak a goal in and we did. The last goal was just a little bit of icing on the cake.”
The victory improved Columbus’ record to 5-5-4 and further cemented interim coach Greg Andrulis’ chances of staying in the job at least through this season, if not beyond.
The Galaxy, meanwhile, fell to 7-5-5 and lost the opportunity to move into a tie with San Jose for first place in the Western Division.
In other MLS games:
Colorado 3, Washington 1--John Spencer had the first three-goal game in franchise history to lead the Rapids before 60,500 at Denver. Scott Garlick, playing in his second game for Colorado, made 13 saves to help the Rapids to their first victory since May 12. Carlos Valderrama, acquired along with Garlick last week in a trade with Tampa Bay, assisted on Spencer’s third goal in the 81st minute.
Miami 1, San Jose 1--Ramiro Corrales scored his first goal of the season as the Earthquakes played to a tie with the visiting Fusion before 9,847 at San Jose. The Earthquakes lost captain Jeff Agoos, a starting defender for the U.S. national team, to a bruised lower back late in the first half. Preki scored in the first half for Miami, which hung on for its first point in four trips to San Jose.
New York/New Jersey 2, Tampa Bay 1--Michael Butler scored on a header in the closing seconds of his debut to give the MetroStars the victory before 20,730 at Tampa, Fla. MetroStar captain Billy Walsh had tied it with five minutes left, redirecting a free kick to the far post.
Mamadou Diallo’s scored his team-leading eighth goal in the 27th minute for Tampa Bay.
Chicago 7, Kansas City 0--Jamar Beasley scored in the game’s opening minute and Peter Nowak and Hristo Stoitchkov each scored twice as the Fire came within one goal of the MLS record for most in a game before 19,582 at Kansas City, Mo.
New England 1, Dallas 1--Rookie Edward Johnson scored his first MLS goal in extra time to lift the Burn to a tie with the Revolution before 21,342 at Dallas. New England’s Cate opened the scoring in the 29th minute. Jose Fernandez had nine saves in his MLS debut for New England.
