Galaxy Puts End to Fire’s Streak
Kevin Terry is not Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid’s favorite referee, not by a long shot.
But even Terry and his sometimes bizarre calls could not stop the Galaxy Wednesday night as it rallied from a two-goal deficit and defeated the Chicago Fire, 4-3, on a chilly evening at Soldier Field.
The victory ended the Fire’s Major League Soccer-record unbeaten streak at home in league play at 15 games and marked the first time it has ever given up four goals in a home game.
And, for the first time this season, the Galaxy could point to Luis Hernandez as the player who made the difference.
The Mexican striker scored his first and second goals, the initial strike breaking his personal scoreless streak of 209 minutes and bringing the Galaxy back into game.
The Galaxy started out colder than the well-bundled crowd of 9,498, allowing the Central Division-leading Fire (4-3-2) to score twice in the first 15 minutes.
The scoring opened on a controversial call by Terry, who ruled that Fire forward Hristo Stoitchkov had been brought down by Galaxy goalkeeper Matt Reis in the 12th minute as both went for the ball in the penalty area.
After Terry shrugged off furious Los Angeles protests, Stoitchkov calmly slotted home the kick for his first goal of 2001 and the first penalty converted by the Fire this season.
Three minutes later, Chicago doubled its lead.
This time Fire winger DaMarcus Beasley raced down the right flank and crossed the ball to Dema Kovalenko, who sidestepped a defender and passed to midfielder Jesse Marsch, whose shot from close range gave Reis no chance.
The Galaxy (5-3-2) appeared on its way to a sure defeat, but Hernandez soon changed that thinking.
In the 19th minute, Galaxy midfielder Simon Elliott intercepted the ball and found Brian Mullan wide on the left. The Chicago defense inexplicably left Hernandez open in the center, and when Mullan’s pass reached him, “El Matador” beat goalkeeper Zach Thornton to his left to make it 2-1.
At that point, Cobi Jones figured that anything Stoitchkov could get away with, he could too.
Taking the ball into the penalty area, Jones dribbled past Fire defender Diego Gutierrez then fell to the ground, apparently tripped by Gutierrez, although the contact seemed minimal.
Terry again pointed to the penalty spot and Greg Vanney scored to make it 2-2 after 22 end-to-end minutes.
“We knew there were going to be a lot of chances because both teams are very aggressive and were going to push forward and that would open up things in the back,” Jones said.
The fire went out of the Fire early in the second half, the players perhaps unhappy about a blatant offside call against them that replays clearly showed was incorrect.
Los Angeles took the lead in the 53rd minute on a long-range shot by Peter Vagenas that went in off Thornton’s fingertips. It was Vagenas’ first goal and the first by a Galaxy midfielder.
Hernandez made it 4-2 in the Galaxy’s favor on a breakaway in the 70th minute.
The latter goal awoke the Fire, who cut the Galaxy lead to 4-3 when Eric Wynalda, who had come on as a substitute, scored with a shot in the 75th minute.
Los Angeles’ defense, with Danny Califf playing particularly well, managed to survive the final 15 minutes to keep goalkeeper Reis unbeaten in seven starts.
“Any time you can score four goals against Chicago you have to be happy,” said Elliott, who will miss the next month of MLS play while representing New Zealand in World Cup qualifying play.
Schmid was pleased with the team’s effort.
“I thought all three of our forwards had an impact on the game,” he said.
Chicago Coach Bob Bradley was said his team didn’t make the proper adjustments.
“It was very wide open,” he said. “Their mobility caused us trouble and we didn’t do a good job in terms of being organized and dealing with it.”
Said midfielder Chris Armas: “To give up four goals at home is very frustrating. We had a 2-0 lead and we gave that up pretty quick and we let in two more.”
In other MLS games Wednesday night:
Miami 2, D.C. United 1--Jim Rooney’s third-consecutive game-winning goal earned the Eastern Division-leading Fusion (8-1-1) its fourth victory in a row in front of 6,524 at Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Preki gave Miami the lead in the 11th minute on a penalty kick after Alex Pineda Chacon had been tripped. Jaime Moreno missed a penalty kick for United after Bobby Convey had been brought down, but D.C. (3-5-0) tied it on forward Chris Albright’s goal, his first in 298 minutes. Rooney’s game-winner came in the 71st minute off a pass from Diego Serna.
San Jose 1, Colorado 1--John Spencer’s sixth goal in the 77th minute earned the Rapids (2-6-3) a share of the points in San Jose, where the Earthquakes (5-2-3) had taken the lead in the first half on a goal by Ronald Cerritos.
