Lineup Changes Work for Galaxy
Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid figured it was time for a change.
Make that a lot of changes.
With his team coming off a shutout loss--not only struggling to score but struggling to stop the other side from scoring--Schmid shook up his lineup Saturday, benching two key regulars and sending out five players who didn’t start the previous game.
There was no arguing with the result--a 3-0 victory over the Dallas Burn in front of 14,588 Saturday at the Rose Bowl.
The Galaxy went from the wrong side of a shutout to the right side after its 5-0 loss last week to the New York/New Jersey MetroStars.
There will be more changes soon, when Cobi Jones returns to the lineup after his stint with the U.S. World Cup team.
Jones made it to the Rose Bowl on Saturday after landing in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. Unlike U.S. teammate Landon Donovan--who entered the San Jose Earthquake game as a substitute Saturday--he didn’t attempt to play.
“He’s young. He’s 20. He can do that,” laughed Jones, still conferring with team officials about whether to return for the next game or wait until July 4. “The last thing I want is burnout.”
For the Galaxy, Saturday was a welcome change after playing six of the last seven on the road and winning only one of the last five.
On a team that had gotten precious little goal-scoring from anyone but Carlos Ruiz, Sasha Victorine broke through for the first goal of the match when he headed in Alejandro Moreno’s cross in the 58th minute.
Victorine’s goal was the first by a starting Galaxy midfielder this season, and the assist was the first of the season for Moreno, one of the new players in the lineup.
The Galaxy made it 2-0 when defender Alexi Lalas scored in the 69th minute after Gavin Glinton’s cross for Ruiz came to him instead. Lalas knocked the ball down and put it in the far corner of the net.
Brian Mullan, who entered the game in the 72nd minute, scored the final goal nine minutes later after Glinton drew goalkeeper Matt Jordan out of position to make a save and Mullan scored into an open net.
It was the first three-goal game of the season by the Galaxy.
“You know I think everybody’s been frustrated with the last game and the last results in some of the road games,” Victorine said. “It was good to put a little pressure on the players.”
Schmid shifted from a 4-4-2 formation to a 4-3-3, and in the process took two regulars out of the lineup.
Defender Danny Califf was benched for the first time this season a week after he had the primary responsibility for marking the MetroStars’ Mamadou Diallo, who scored four goals.
Schmid also benched midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos, a player who has been with the team since its inception but has only two assists.
Goalkeeper Kevin Hartman had to make only four saves for the shutout.
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In other MLS games, Donovan entered in the 85th minute despite a 12-hour journey from South Korea to Los Angeles, then an hour-long flight to San Jose. He didn’t score, but San Jose still beat Colorado, 4-0, before 10,431.... Igor Simutenkov scored twice and Kansas City beat New England, 3-2, before 8,288 at Kansas City, Mo.... Rodrigo Faria scored in the 81st minute before 12,721 at Naperville, Ill., to lift New York/New Jersey to a 1-0 victory over Chicago.
In WUSA games, Venus James, who hadn’t scored in 20 WUSA games in her career, had two goals in her first start of the season before 5,761 fans at Washington, and Carolina beat Washington, 3-1.... Charmaine Hooper and Cindy Parlow scored first-half goals before 6,670, and host Atlanta beat San Jose, 2-1.... Dagny Mellgren and Maren Meinert scored two goals to lead Boston to a 5-2 victory over New York before 6,548.
