Galaxy Learns From Past

There’s a familiar sense of accomplishment enveloping the Galaxy’s Pasadena compound these days, an air of confidence the team has not exuded since its record-setting season of 1998.

But whereas that Galaxy team strutted into the postseason as the winningest team in Major League Soccer, then limped out in the second round of the playoffs, this year’s club, which also finished with the league’s best record, has learned about wearing its bravado on its sleeve.

“That team swaggered a bit more, it was a little more cocky,” said Galaxy captain Cobi Jones, one of five members of the ’98 Galaxy squad still with the team, along with goalkeepers Kevin Hartman and Matt Reis, midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos and defender Ezra Hendrickson.

“This team is very confident but it’s a quiet confidence. We’re just doing our thing. We still know we’re a decent team but we still have a lot to prove and, as far as I’m concerned--and I think a lot of the players are concerned--the team to beat right now is still San Jose.”

But that doesn’t mean the top-seeded and Western Conference champion Galaxy is looking past the Kansas City Wizards, tonight’s opponent in a first-to-five-points first-round playoff series. That lesson was learned four years ago.

“Even though we had some quality players then, it was an overconfidence going into the playoffs,” said Jones, who finished second in the league scoring race in 1998 with 51 points on 19 goals and 13 assists. “We didn’t do the right things. We didn’t prepare for the games. And it wasn’t a team that won the close ones because we always blew out teams and when it came to close games, it was very difficult for us.

“We have a lot more veterans on this team, a lot more maturity than the team in ’98.”

The 1998 Galaxy, under then-coach Octavio Zambrano, was an offensive machine that steamrollered its opposition during the 32-game schedule, going 24-8 with 68 points.

Besides setting still-standing league records in the expansion year for goals scored, 85, and goals per game, 2.66, the Galaxy also allowed the fewest goals, 44.

But after destroying the Dallas Burn by a cumulative 9-3 in a two-game sweep in the first round of the playoffs, the swaggering Galaxy was left a staggering mess in the Western Conference finals by the first-year Chicago Fire.

Chicago swept the Galaxy in two games, 1-0 and 2-1 in a shootout.

“We played a different style of soccer then,” said Hartman, whose 1.38 goals-against average that season was second in the league. “Octavio wanted to play a bit of wide-open soccer, try to score as many goals as we possibly could, and I think in the playoffs that kind of hurt us because people bunker in and just try to get the result.

“If you counter on a team that’s just flying forward, it’s going to be difficult [on the team that’s flying forward]. I think our philosophy’s kind of changed and I think we [now] believe that defense is going to win us games.”

That philosophy, many Galaxy players believe, showed up with the dismissal of Zambrano and the arrival of former UCLA coach Sigi Schmid six games into the 1999 season.

But although Schmid has guided the Galaxy to the 2000 Champions Cup and the 2001 U.S. Open Cup championships, the MLS Cup title has remained elusive.

Schmid was not around in 1998 but acknowledged that his team has taken on a different demeanor this season.

“We’re quieter than we’ve been in the past,” he said. “In the past, we’ve talked more about [winning the title]. The guys haven’t spent a great deal of time talking about it but you also know that it’s there and at the forefront of their minds. They’re confident and they know they’re going to do well.

“I think it’s more a situation of where we’ve talked about it before and I think everybody’s got the attitude now where we’re not going to talk about it, we’re just going to do it.”

So, is that a sign of maturity from a team that fell flat on its face four years ago?

“Maybe,” Schmid said, “or a different approach.”

Hendrickson said this season’s team is keeping itself grounded by considering itself the underdog, even though it has won its fifth divisional title at 16-9-3, led MLS in fewest goals allowed, 33, and was third in goals scored, 44, in the 28-game season.

“You can’t compare this team to the ’98 team because the ’98 team didn’t really accomplish anything,” he said. “I mean, we broke some records in the regular season but in this league, unless you do well in the playoffs and make it to the finals, it’s not really a successful year. Especially for the Galaxy because every year we’re in competition for the MLS Cup.

“We’re coming in with something to prove, still, and we want to get our fans a trophy and we’ve got to start with Kansas City.”