Galaxy Drought Ends in 2-0 Win
The best offense is a good defense, or so the cliche goes.
In the case of the Galaxy, however, it seems the only offense is the defense.
Defender Ezra Hendrickson scored his second game-winning goal of the season Saturday night as Los Angeles defeated the New England Revolution, 2-0, in front of an announced crowd of 12,249 at the Rose Bowl.
Hendrickson’s goal, in the 77th minute of a forgettable game, was just about the only highlight of a match that never came to life.
It also ended a 257-minute scoreless streak by the Galaxy, which had been shut out by the New York/New Jersey MetroStars and the Dallas Burn in its previous two games.
Cobi Jones managed to add a second goal in the 88th minute, banging in the rebound of a shot by Simon Elliott that had been blocked by Revolution goalkeeper Juergen Sommer.
Afterward, Jones made no excuses for himself or the forwards, who have seen defenders score seven of the Galaxy’s 15 goals this season.
“I don’t care if it’s [defender] Danny Califf scoring every game, as long as we win,” Jones said.
Surprisingly, Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid thought his team played reasonably well.
“The theme was the same as last week--continue to play good defense and try to create some offense, the goals will eventually come,” Schmid said.
The Galaxy came within inches of taking the lead 42 seconds into the game when Elliott--a defensive midfielder, incidentally--slammed a shot off the foot of the left post.
It was as close as Los Angeles would come until Hendrickson collected a pass from Mauricio Cienfuegos, shouldered his way past New England defender Alan Woods to the right of the goal and fired an angled shot that bounced into the net off the inside of the left post.
“It was a great ball played through [by Cienfuegos] and a good finish by Ezra and then things opened up after that,” Schmid said.
“What I am pleased with is that defensively we’re playing very well right now. Also, in comparison of this week to last week, more of our offense was on target, we forced saves from Sommer.”
One player who didn’t do so was Mexican striker Luis Hernandez.
Because Hernandez had only trained once in the preceding week, having been in Mexico City on personal business, he did not start, but did play the second half.
During his 45 minutes, he managed to get into a squabble with former Galaxy defender Joey Franchino that forced referee Gerry Corrie to step between the two.
He also missed a glorious scoring chance when he hoofed a pass by Brian Mullan high over the crossbar from point-blank range.
Hernandez was in a scoring drought with Club America in Mexico City and it shows little sign of ending soon.
“How much it’s eating at him inside, I really don’t know,” Schmid said. “Obviously now that he’ll be here day in and day out, I’ll probably get a better feel for that.”
Hernandez was brought on in place of Sasha Victorine, and appeared to link fairly well with Mullan--despite the glaring miss.
“I think you could see in the last 15 minutes of the game Luis and Mullan starting to combine with each other,” Schmid said. “I know Luis likes Mullan as a player, so I think that’s going to help that interaction.
“Eventually, I think offensively we’ll become better and better.”
For the moment, however, the Galaxy doesn’t look anything like a team that is in second place in the Western Division with a 4-3-2 record.
In fact, for most of the game, it could be argued that the Galaxy looked much like New England, and the Revolution is 3-7-0 and in fourth place in the Eastern Division.
The Galaxy on Saturday announced one change to its season schedule necessitated by the cancellation of this summer’s FIFA World Club Championship in Spain. The home game against Washington D.C. United that had been scheduled for Wednesday, June 6 will now be played on Saturday, Aug. 11.
In other MLS games Saturday:
Miami 4, Tampa Bay 0--Diego Serna had two goals and the Fusion (7-1-1) moved into sole possession of first place in the Eastern Division by shutting out the Mutiny (2-6-1) in front of 12,998 at Tampa. Jim Rooney and Chris Henderson also scored for Miami, while Carlos Valderrama missed a penalty kick for Tampa Bay.
Chicago 1, San Jose 1--The Fire tied an MLS record by remaining unbeaten at home for the 15th consecutive game by tying the Earthquakes in front of 8,322 in the rain at Chicago. Chicago (4-2-2), in first place in the Central Division, led on a second-half goal by Andrew Lewis until Zak Ibsen scored in the 90th minute for Western Division leader San Jose (5-2-2).
Columbus 3, Colorado 3--The Crew (2-3-3) fought back from two goals down to tie the Rapids (2-6-2) in front of 12,630 at Columbus, Ohio. Brian Maisonneuve, John Wilmar Perez and Brian West scored for Columbus, while Marcelo Balboa, John Spencer and Ross Paule scored for Colorado.
In a Women’s United Soccer Assn. game Saturday:
Carolina 4, San Diego 3--Danielle Fotopoulos scored two second-half goals as the Courage (1-4-1) came from behind to record its first WUSA victory, defeating the Spirit (1-3-2) in front of 5,014 in Chapel Hill, N.C. Shannon MacMillan scored twice for San Diego.
In an exhibition game:
New York/New Jersey 2, Bayern Munich (Germany) 0--Goals by Clint Mathis and Alex Comas gave the MetroStars a victory over the German Bundeslia champion and European Champions Cup winner in front of 30,253 at East Rutherford, N.J.
