Galaxy Defeat Is a Comedown
Just because Luis Hernandez scores two goals doesn’t mean all is well with the Galaxy.
Just because Cobi Jones is playing his best soccer of the season doesn’t mean Los Angeles is a favorite to win Major League Soccer’s championship.
Far from it.
Three-quarters of the way through its sixth season, the Galaxy still shows a disturbing tendency of playing down to the level of its opponents.
It did so again Tuesday night, when the hapless New England Revolution was on the other side of the ball.
Before the game, the Revolution had won only once since losing, 2-0, to the Galaxy at the Rose Bowl on May 26 and had won only four games all season.
Coach Fernando Clavijo’s squad was mired in last place in the Eastern Division.
But instead of taking advantage of a weak and demoralized team, the Galaxy made one defensive mistake after another and was beaten, 3-2, in front of 12,391 at Foxboro, Mass.
“We made some awful mistakes,” Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said. “We knew they would battle, but right now, we’re mentally drained.”
Los Angeles never led.
The Revolution (5-9-4) took less than seven minutes to find a way through Los Angeles’ defense.
A harmless-looking cross from the left wing drifted into the Galaxy penalty area and goalkeeper Matt Reis and defender Alexi Lalas both had plenty of time to get to the ball.
Instead, each player left it to the other and when New England forward Wolde Harris suddenly intervened, Lalas poked the ball toward Reis only to see it bounce off the goalkeeper and allow Harris to score an easy goal.
It took the Galaxy 20 minutes before it could tie the score, the goal finally coming when Sasha Victorine headed a goal kick by Reis to Hernandez, who found Mauricio Cienfuegos out on the left.
Cienfuegos’ return pass slipped in behind the Revolution back line and Hernandez ran onto it to side-foot the ball past goalkeeper Jeff Causey.
The second Galaxy defensive miscue came when Paul Caligiuri allowed himself to be stripped of the ball by William Sunsing and the Costa Rican player beat Reis from a sharp angle to make it 2-1 after 32 minutes.
Again, Los Angeles replied, Hernandez heading in a 40th-minute goal off a headed pass by Lalas after a Simon Elliot corner kick.
Eleven minutes into the second half, the Revolution’s Andy Williams skipped through half-hearted tackles by midfielder Pete Vagenas and defender Danny Califf before scoring the winning goal on a hard shot from 14 yards.
This time, the Galaxy (9-6-5) had no reply.
