Califf Moves Past His Kansas City Nightmare
Welcome to Arrowhead Stadium, Danny Califf’s personal house of horrors.
It was here at the end of the Galaxy defender’s rookie season that he hit bottom with a depressing chain of events on the same cool Missouri evening that not only cost his team a game, but a series that prevented it from playing for Major League Soccer’s championship.
And whenever Califf returns to the Wizards’ home field, he must deal with the memory of that game, especially tonight when the Galaxy plays Kansas City in Game 2 of the first-round playoff series. The Galaxy leads three points to none in the first-team-to-five-points format (three points for a win, one for a draw).
“It’s always in the back of your head every time you go,” Califf said of the play two years ago. “You have highs and you have lows....
“Those are moments where it defines your character. It’s kind of a cliche, but it’s not how many times you get knocked down but how many times you get right back up. That’s really what it’s all about. ... It was a pretty bad mistake, but I can’t do anything about it now. I’ve just had to learn from it and I think I’ve done pretty well with it.”
It was Oct. 6, 2000, and the surprising Galaxy, seeded fifth, entered Game 3 of its semifinal series against top-seeded Kansas City needing only a tie to advance to the MLS Cup for the second consecutive season.
The host Wizards, meanwhile, needed the improbable--win the game and then beat the Galaxy in a 20-minute series tiebreaker.
A 22nd-minute foul by Califf in the penalty area enabled the Wizards to win the game, 1-0, on a penalty kick.
Then, in the sixth minute of the sudden-death series tiebreaker, Califf failed to clear a ball near the top of the 18-yard box. He tried to trap the ball with his chest before kicking it out, but Mo Johnston pressured him and stole the ball. Johnston’s pass to a wide-open and on-rushing Miklos Molnar on the right wing allowed Molnar to easily score the series winner.
While a tearful Califf apologized to his teammates, the Wizards went on to defeat the Chicago Fire for their first MLS Cup title, 1-0, in their first championship game. The Galaxy is still chasing its first title after three MLS Cup appearances.
“People have to remember that in that year, Danny was a 20-year-old defender playing in his rookie year in MLS and coming off the Olympics and everything else,” Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said.
“I mean, the thing that affected our team more than anything going into that last game was bringing back those Olympic team players, and that was a hard decision, which way to go.”
Indeed, Califf, Sasha Victorine and Peter Vagenas had just returned that week from Australia, where they were standouts for the United States. What also made the experience all the more bitter was that Califf had been the Galaxy hero in its 2-1 Game 2 victory over the Wizards at the Rose Bowl, scoring the game-winner with a golden-goal header in the third minute of overtime.
“Danny ... has matured because that very easily could have been something that could have stuck in his mind and taken him the wrong way,” Schmid said. “But I think it shows his strength of character and his resiliency.”
Said Califf: “I just had to pick myself up and move on.”
The path has led him back to Kansas City.
