Galaxy Can’t Get It Right in a 1-0 Loss
If Galaxy team members have trouble sleeping during Friday’s 12-hour flight to South Korea, all they need to do is pull out a tape of Wednesday night’s match against Colorado.
It was that dreadful and -- some would say -- boring.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. July 11, 2003 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday July 11, 2003 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 28 words Type of Material: Correction
Soccer -- A photo caption in Thursday’s Sports section accompanying the article on the Galaxy’s loss to the Colorado Rapids incorrectly identified Colorado’s Nat Borchers as Robin Fraser.
The Galaxy’s 1-0 defeat to the uninspiring Rapids was the latest in the defending Major League Soccer champion’s ho-hum title defense.
Consider: the Galaxy (3-6-7), which had been unbeaten at the Home Depot Center and had scored seven goals in its previous three games, was shut out by the previously winless-on-the-road Rapids, who had given up an MLS-high 26 goals.
Maybe the Galaxy’s midseason trek to Asia for the World Peace King Cup, which begins Tuesday, is what it needs. As in one big do-over for a season that began with a league-record eight-game trip.
“Right now we’re like Linus, or Schroeder, the one with the cloud over his head,” said Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid, mixing his Peanuts characters the way his club mixed passes and defensive assignments. “Maybe now going to the Orient that cloud will get stuck somewhere over Hawaii.”
Wednesday night’s loss, however, will stick in the craw of the 17,763 in attendance, especially with how listless the Galaxy played in the second half and how expressive Colorado forward John Spencer was in celebrating his game-winning goal.
The Rapids (4-8-3) scored the game-winning goal in the 77th minute when Spencer took a pass from Chris Carrieri in the box and nimbly touched a pass to himself, past Galaxy rookie defender Ricky Lewis, before burying his shot into the right corner of the net.
“I take full responsibility for that,” Lewis said. “He beat me to the ball and I lost sight of it. Next thing I knew it was in the back of the net. Totally my fault.”
Obviously pleased with himself, and because his goal seven minutes earlier was disallowed because he was called offside, Spencer rushed to the west sideline and made what appeared to be a questionable gesture in the direction of the crowd.
“It’s great when the crowd chants you [stink] and then you put the ball in the back of the net,” said Spencer, who later claimed that his gesture was aimed toward the referee’s assistant, Chris Strickland.
“It was an absolutely disgusting decision,” Spencer said of his being called offside earlier. “I don’t know what he was watching.”
Neither did the Galaxy.
The Galaxy controlled the tempo in the first half but came up with nothing to show for it.
L.A.’s best chance for a goal came in the 13th minute when Chris Albright, leading a break from the left flank, hit Carlos Ruiz with a cross pass on the right, Ruiz one-timing the shot before the ball hit the ground.
Colorado goalkeeper Scott Garlick recovered in time to get in front of the blistering shot to redirect it with his knees.
“That goes in and it’s 1-0,” said Albright, “and we probably win the game running away. It’s just little breaks.”
And now the Galaxy will have a plane ride and Korean tournament to figure it out. The Galaxy’s next MLS game is not until July 30.
“We played 20 minutes very well and then 70 minutes poorly,” said Ruiz, who miss the Korea trip because he will be playing with his native Guatemala in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. “Something is definitely missing.”
