Midfield Becomes the Issue
Unbeaten but not unbowed. That best describes the Galaxy three games into the Major League Soccer season.
The reason: Doubts about the team’s midfield, which flap around the Home Depot Center like so many bats in the night.
It’s early yet, as Coach Sigi Schmid is quick to point out, but his team’s 1-0-2 record going into tonight’s game against the Columbus Crew can be read two ways.
That zero in the middle means no losses. But it just as easily could represent the gaping hole in the center of midfield. The Galaxy has no dominant central midfielder, no player who by his physical presence can intimidate an opponent and at the same time inspire his teammates.
Doug Hamilton, the team’s president and general manager, put it another way. “We need a ball-winner,” he said.
Such players are thin on the ground, and they are especially scarce in Carson.
All of which means Peter Vagenas has drawn unwarranted criticism lately from Los Angeles fans.
The former UCLA player is in his fifth season with the Galaxy. He has played 94 games, starting 84. He was a starter on the teams that won the MLS Cup, the U.S. Open Cup and the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
No one criticized him then, but suddenly he is viewed by some fans as a liability. Internet message boards list his perceived shortcomings.
Schmid dismisses it all as lack of understanding of Vagenas’ role.
“Peter is an important part of this team,” he said. “Emotionally, he plays a big role on a day-to-day basis in training, and he’s also an emotional leader for us on the field in games.
“He’s one of the guys who will sacrifice his own game in immense ways to help us win. That’s an important factor that sometimes goes unnoticed. People don’t really see how he adjusts and changes his game in order to fit in best and allow the others to play in the best way they can play.
“I think Peter has done all right for us. Do I think he’s played his best soccer? No. But I think there are some other guys who haven’t played their best soccer either.”
One reason for the apparent hole in the midfield -- which in games translates into a lack of fluidity in the transition from offense to defense and vice versa -- is the Galaxy’s formation. Schmid switched from a 3-5-2 last season to a 4-4-2 this season, taking one player out of midfield and adding one to the back line.
The players have yet to adjust completely to the new system.
Then, too, Vagenas last year played alongside Simon Elliott, together serving as twin defensive midfielders. But Elliott joined Columbus -- tonight’s opponent -- in the off-season, and it is fair to say the Galaxy misses the extra bite that Elliott provided when he was at his best.
So the job once done by two now has to be done by one.
Schmid has options, of course, and the Galaxy tonight probably will start Brazilian newcomer Marcelo Saragosa in Vagenas’ defensive midfield spot, especially since Vagenas, 26, has a right groin strain.
Schmid said Saragosa was ready.
“We’ve given him some time to settle and adjust and get himself acclimated to the U.S.,” he said of the 22-year-old from Sao Paulo. “And now every day in training Marcelo is showing a bit more.”
Another possibility is rookie Ned Grabavoy, who has impressed Schmid by his work and attitude in training. Then there is Sasha Victorine, another former UCLA player who joined the Galaxy at the same time as Vagenas but who has been used more as a counterweight on the left to Cobi Jones, who has played only 33 minutes this season, on the right.
Victorine, who is nursing a sore ankle and might also be sidelined tonight, is 6 feet 2 and 170 pounds, giving him a height and weight advantage that could be useful in defensive midfield.
“Sasha does a good job of winning headers,” Schmid said. “Marcelo’s good at headers. Peter’s much better in the air than people think.”
Beyond that, Schmid dismissed other suggested possibilities, players who also are more physically imposing than the 5-8, 160-pound Vagenas.
Hong Myung-Bo?
“We tried him there at the beginning of last year,” Schmid said. “It’s just too much running” for the 35-year-old Korean World Cup veteran.
Chris Albright?
“I like Chris where he’s at right now,” Schmid said of the right back. “I’m happy with him out there.”
All of which means it’s up to Vagenas to keep the position and up to Saragosa to take it from him. The competition will benefit both.
Either way, the Galaxy midfield remains a work in progress.
