Glinton Gets Quick Results
For 90 minutes Saturday night, Gavin Glinton, nursing sore ribs, sat on the Galaxy bench, watching his team waste numerous scoring opportunities.
Inserted into the lineup to start overtime, it took the rookie forward all of 2 minutes 17 seconds to make a difference.
Glinton’s golden goal in the third minute of overtime gave the Galaxy a 2-1 victory over the Kansas City Wizards at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
Taking a long pass near midfield from Sasha Victorine, Glinton sped up the left sideline before feeding midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos on the run. Without missing a beat, Cienfuegos returned the favor with a perfectly timed pass to Glinton, who, with fresh legs, easily beat midfielder Francisco Gomez.
Glinton’s left-footed shot flew past goalkeeper Bo Oshoniyi to end the match, which was the Galaxy’s 10th consecutive overtime game, dating to last season.
Glinton’s goal was the first of his career and only the second Galaxy score this season not to be scored by first-year forward Carlos Ruiz.
In the 12th minute, forward Brian Mullan gave the Galaxy a 1-0 lead on a goal on which the ball never touched the ground.
With Craig Waibel inbounding, he threw in a long pass to Alexi Lalas near the top left of the penalty box. Lalas redirected the ball with a header to a streaking Mullan, who was coming in from the right, and Mullan sent a left-footed volley past Oshoniyi.
Mullan had nearly scored twice before but his shots in the sixth and 11th minutes were directly at Oshoniyi, who easily deflected them away.
The Galaxy dominated the first 15 minutes, getting off eight shots to the Wizards’ one.
“It was getting a little ridiculous there,” Mullan said of not being able to score early. “I’m just glad somebody else could get it in besides Fish [Ruiz].”
Kansas City tied the score, 1-1, in the 29th minute when Preki blasted a left-footed penalty kick past a diving Matt Reis. Preki’s score was set up when midfielder Tyrone Marshall was called for a penalty in the box.
The goal was the 60th of Preki’s Major League Soccer career, making him the first player in league history to get 60 goals and 60 assists.
Beginning a five-game road trip, the longest in franchise history, the Galaxy improved to 3-1-2 and the Wizards fell to 1-2-2.
