A Rapid-Fire Loss for Galaxy
Five games into the Major League Soccer season, Carlos Ruiz is still the only member of the Galaxy to score a goal.
Unfortunately for the Galaxy, the rookie forward’s four-game scoring streak came to an end Saturday afternoon.
Colorado forward John Spencer did score, however, his goal giving the Rapids a 1-0 overtime victory in front of 13,087, handing the Galaxy its first loss of the season and ending L.A.’s 10-game winning streak against the Rapids at the Rose Bowl.
Spencer’s goal, a slow-rolling shot from 22 yards at the top of the box, found the back left corner of the net 3:21 into the extra period. It barely eluded a diving Kevin Hartman, who was making his first start in goal this season.
It was the Galaxy’s ninth consecutive overtime game, five of them this season.
“Most of my thoughts are unprintable,” Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said. “I thought for sure this was our worst game of the season. I didn’t think we played well at all. There’s guys missing, obviously, but we play with the guys that are healthy.”
The Galaxy (2-1-2) played without injured starters Mauricio Cienfuegos (left ankle sprain), Ezra Hendrickson (right hamstring strain), Peter Vagenas (lower back strain) and Chris Albright (broken right foot).
Still, the Galaxy outshot the Rapids, 21-8. Colorado (3-2-1) and the Galaxy were even in shots on goal, 6-6.
“The first 20 minutes were all L.A.,” said Colorado Coach Tim Hankinson. “They should have taken advantage of us at that moment because we seemed to be struggling in finding our game. We weren’t getting players around the ball ... and that’s when they really had us pinned down.”
The Galaxy and Ruiz, the league’s leading scorer with 12 points on six goals, nearly took a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute.
Rookie midfielder Gavin Glinton was beating Rapid defender Ritchie Kotschau down the right side when he launched a cross-field pass to an open Ruiz creeping in from the left.
Ruiz’s header, though, went over the crossbar.
The Galaxy also missed a chance in the 34th minute when Glinton, who had gotten behind the Rapid defense and was on mark for a goal, was called offside by referee Kevin Terry.
It wasn’t the sendoff Galaxy midfielder Cobi Jones expected.
“Both teams were going at it pretty hard physically,” said Jones, who will leave the Galaxy for at least seven MLS games to join the U.S. national team in preparation for the World Cup.
“I think they had a bit better of the play than we did. It was a situation where we got unlucky. We always seem to give up a sloppy goal and we did it once again.”
Jones assumed the role of playmaking midfielder with Cienfuegos sitting out against the Rapids.
“I’m comfortable in the middle,” Jones said. “I just think we need a little bit more offensively. If Cien’s out and I have to come into the middle, then I think we need some other people to come up. When you look up and all you see is Ruiz and [Brian] Mullan with four guys in the back, it makes it very difficult. You need other options.”
Without Jones, the Galaxy needs to find another scoring threat. And it will have to do it away from home; the team’s next five MLS games are on the road.
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In other MLS games:
San Jose 1, New York-New Jersey 1--Clint Mathis scored a goal in the 55th minute of his final game before heading off to play for the U.S. in the World Cup as the MetroStars (3-2-1) tied the Earthquakes (3-2-1) before 13,339 at East Rutherford, N.J.
Ariel Graziani tied it in the 72nd minute for San Jose.
Columbus 1, D.C. United 0-- Jon Busch had a shutout in his first career start, and the Crew (2-3) used an early goal by Brian Maissonneuve to beat United (2-4) at Columbus, Ohio.
Kansas City 1, Dallas 1--Tony Meola made eight saves, including one in the 86th minute, as the Wizards (1-1-2) tied the Burn (1-1-3) before 14,065 at Dallas.
Chris Klein scored for Kansas City, Jason Kreis for Dallas.
New England 2, Chicago 2-- Joe Franchino’s goal in the 83rd minute gave the Revolution the tie with the Fire before 9,444 at Naperville, Ill. Rookie forward Taylor Twellman also scored for New England (1-2-1).
Chicago (2-2-1) got goals from Peter Nowak and Ante Razov.
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In WUSA games:
Hege Riise scored on a free kick in the 85th minute to give the Carolina Courage (2-0) a 2-1 victory over the San Jose CyberRays (1-2) at San Jose.... Kelly Smith’s goal on a penalty kick in the 89th minute lifted the Philadelphia Charge (2-0) to a 2-1 win over the New York Power (1-2) before 4,203 at Uniondale, N.Y. ... Bettina Weigmann’s goal on a penalty kick in the 46th minute gave the Boston Breakers (1-1-1) a 2-2 tie with the San Diego Spirit (1-1-1) before 6,747 at Boston.... Charmaine Hooper scored during injury time, giving the Atlanta Beat (1-2) a 1-0 win over the Washington Freedom (1-2) before 7,233 at Atlanta.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
