Quijano Ignites Galaxy
Astonishing as it might seem, Marvin Quijano has scored as many goals for the Galaxy this season as Luis Hernandez.
The 21-year-old from El Salvador notched his second of the season Wednesday night, sparking Los Angeles to a 4-0 victory over the defending Major League Soccer-champion Kansas City Wizards in front of 4,827 at the Rose Bowl.
It wasn’t an ordinary goal either.
After a desultory first 15 minutes during which neither team could take command, the Galaxy, almost out of nowhere, produced perhaps its most imaginative strike of the season.
The move started on the left sideline, where Quijano took off on a lateral run, crossing paths with fellow Salvadoran Mauricio Cienfuegos and sending the ball to him before changing directions and heading for the Kansas City net.
Cienfuegos flicked the ball into his path with the outside of his right foot and Quijano finished the move with a left-foot volley that gave Wizard goalkeeper Bo Oshoniyi no chance.
It was Quijano’s second goal in as many starts this season. He also scored in a 1-1 tie June 2 at Columbus.
“It was a great one-two with Cien and an excellent goal,” Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said. “He [Quijano] has been training with a lot more confidence. He’s improved his defending, he’s improved his passing. In the last practice on Tuesday, he was on fire.”
Having taken the lead, the Galaxy (6-4-3) looked increasingly comfortable and confident and it was no surprise when Cobi Jones cracked a 25-yard shot past Oshoniyi in the 26th minute to make it 2-0.
The luckless Oshoniyi was starting in place of the injured Tony Meola and had allowed three goals in 28 minutes in his only other game. Things appeared to be getting better for Oshoniyi when Jones was replaced in the 33rd minute after an injury he had been nursing flared up.
“We had to take Cobi out,” Schmid said. “He has a groin pull and he aggravated that when he broke through and scored that goal.”
Rookie Brian Ching came on in Jones’ place and the Galaxy continued to attack, but without quite the same cohesion. The half ended with the Galaxy still ahead by two goals.
The lead increased to 3-0 in the 73rd minute when Ching scored his first MLS goal, rising to meet a cross from Paul Caligiuri--looking totally at home in the defensive midfield role vacated by Simon Elliott--and powering a downward header that bounced past Oshoniyi, who was getting no help at all from his defense.
Ching paid a price, however, taking a forearm in the throat from defender Nick Garcia, who went unpunished by referee Roger Sill.
“I didn’t really appreciate it very much,” Ching said. “It was a cheap shot. The ref didn’t see it, obviously, but hopefully the league will do something about it.”
The Wizards, coming off a 5-1 loss to the Miami Fusion, were reduced to 10 men in the 57th minute when Sill red-carded midfielder Francisco Gomez for a foul on Alexi Lalas.
A few good saves by Oshoniyi managed to keep the score down, but in the 87th minute, Adam Frye hit a long ball into the box, Ching chested it down and Sasha Victorine blasted a half-volley into the back of the Kansas City net for the night’s fourth and final goal.
“We’re just out of sync on both sides of the ball,” Kansas City Coach Bob Gansler said. “If it were just one thing, you’d concentrate on [fixing] that and you’d get it right in time. We’ve just got to work our way through it.”
In Wednesday’s other MLS game:
D.C. United 2, New York/New Jersey 1--Trailing, 1-0, with 20 minutes to play, D.C. United (4-7-0) fought back to win in front of 11,581 at Washington and end a five-game losing streak. The MetroStars (6-4-2) took the lead on an 11th-minute goal by Rodrigo Faria, but Jaime Moreno tied it in the 69th for D.C. United and Abdul Thompson Conteh scored the game winner in the 78th.
