Scoreless Tie Frustrating to All
Even when he’s not scoring goals, Ariel Graziani knows how to grab the spotlight.
Taken out of Saturday night’s game against the Galaxy after 77 scoreless minutes, the Dallas Burn striker didn’t return to the Dallas bench but instead walked to a Rose Bowl tunnel, found a folding chair and sat down to watch from a corner of the field.
He didn’t stay there long, but enough to make the point to rookie Coach Mike Jeffries that he doesn’t like being yanked from a game with the outcome still on the line.
His departure didn’t make much difference in the end as the teams battled to a 0-0 tie after 10 minutes of overtime.
The crowd of 15,881 might have liked a few goals, but even without them it was a tactically interesting game between two evenly matched teams.
The Galaxy’s defense, porous in the previous two games, got its act together and was able to shut out Graziani and company.
“The midfielders helped a lot,” defender Danny Califf said.
At the other end, the Galaxy forwards were mobile and inventive enough to create several scoring opportunities, only to be thwarted by a packed Dallas defense and some fine goalkeeping by Matt Jordan.
“He made some big saves, clearly big saves, and that kept us in the game,” Jeffries said, “but a lot of guys played well in front of him too.”
Jordan’s biggest save came three minutes into overtime when Cobi Jones and Luis Hernandez, making his MLS season debut, broke through, with only Jordan and two defenders to beat.
The defenders closed on Hernandez, leaving Jones unmarked, but instead of passing the ball to Jones, the Mexican striker elected to try to beat Jordan with a low shot that was blocked.
“I missed that one, I won’t give excuses,” Hernandez said. “I’m sure another opportunity will come and I will score, but this time I failed.”
The Galaxy came close to scoring on three occasions in the first hour’s play.
In the 10th minute, a cross from the right by overlapping defender Ezra Hendrickson found Sasha Victorine, but the forward’s volley from close range buried itself in Jordan’s midriff.
In the 41st minute, defender Greg Vanney’s dipping free kick, after Hernandez had been double-teamed and fouled about 30 yards out, was tipped over the crossbar by Jordan.
It was Hernandez himself who had the best scoring chance four minutes into the second half when he found himself one on one with Jordan, but the Dallas keeper dived low to his right to palm away Hernandez’s shot.
The rest of the time the Galaxy found itself frustrated by Dallas’ tactic of dropping six, seven or eight players back on defense.
“It’s frustrating when teams pack [the defense] like they do,” midfielder Peter Vagenas said. “We’ve got to find a way to deal with that. We played well side to side, but side to side doesn’t get you anywhere.”
Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid was equally unhappy with the Burn’s approach to the match.
“They were playing for a tie,” he said.
And so, on a night when goals were not forthcoming, Graziani’s dramatics with the folding-chair move provided some comic relief.
“We’ve been through this before,” Jeffries said. “We’ll deal with it Sunday and we’ll move on from there. I think he’s frustrated. It’s been a hard year for him, as far as getting goals and getting chances, and it shows. He and I will sort through it again.”
Meanwhile, Denver billionaire Phil Anschutz, who owns the Galaxy and three other Major League Soccer teams, added to his soccer stable by agreeing to acquire 49% of the Swedish first-division team Hammarby of Stockholm.
In other MLS games Saturday:
San Jose 2, New York/New Jersey 0--Redlands teenager Landon Donovan scored his first MLS goal as the Earthquakes (4-2-1) ended the MetroStars’ five-game winning streak with the shutout in front of 6,879 at San Jose. Wade Barrett put the Earthquakes ahead with a 26th-minute goal that ended Tim Howard’s 243-minute shutout streak for the MetroStars (6-2-1).
Miami 3, Tampa Bay 1--Steve Ralston was red-carded in the 33rd minute and the Mutiny (2-5-1) had to play short-handed for almost an hour in the loss in front of 12,412 at Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The Fusion got goals from Preki, Pablo Mastroeni and Diego Serna, canceling out Carlos Valderrama’s earlier penalty-kick goal for Tampa Bay.
Columbus 2, D.C. United 1 (OT)--Jeff Cunningham scored a dramatic game-winner in the 99th minute as the Crew, playing two men down after red cards given to Ansil Elcock and Tenywa Bonseu, stunned United in front of 18,491 at Columbus, Ohio, to give interim coach Greg Andrulis a victory in his first game in charge. The Crew (2-3-2) also got a goal from Brian McBride, and 16-year-old midfielder Santino Quaranta became the youngest MLS player to score a goal, tying the match for United (3-4).
Chicago 2, Kansas City 0--In a rematch of last season’s MLS Cup finalists, the Fire (4-2-1) shut out the Wizards (3-4-1) on goals by Dema Kovalenko and Peter Nowak in front of 20,302 at Chicago.
New England 1, Colorado 0--After losing its first six games, the Revolution has won three in a row. An 86th-minute penalty-kick goal by Matt Okoh earned New England (3-6) the victory over the Rapids (2-5-1) in front of 20,005 at Denver.
In Saturday’s only Women’s United Soccer Assn. game:
Carolina 2, Washington 2--Brazilian forward Pretinha ) scored her league-leading fourth goal of the season and Amanda Cromwell added another to give the Freedom (2-1-2) a 2-0 lead by the half at Chapel Hill, N.C.
The Courage (0-4-1) tied it on goals by Mikka Hansen and Hege Riise, the latter off a penalty kick, to earn Carolina its first WUSA point, in front of 5,864.
