Stale Galaxy Suffers Disappointing Tie
That was the Galaxy out there at the Home Depot Center on Monday night, not Chivas USA wearing gold and green.
For 85 tedious minutes, it was difficult to tell.
Then, almost out of nowhere and with the game seemingly headed for a scoreless stalemate -- with the emphasis on the stale -- the most improbable of endings occurred.
Galaxy rookie Michael Enfield, a first-round draft pick from UCLA who had come on for Cobi Jones only six minutes earlier, sent a diving header off a Herculez Gomez cross past New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis at 86:05 to give the Galaxy a lead.
The crowd of 27,000, which had had nothing to look forward to but some post-match pyrotechnics, believed that would be it -- another Home Depot Center victory.
New England thought otherwise.
On the final play of the match, Andy Dorman tied it up on a defensive miscue by the Galaxy to earn the Revolution (9-1-5) a 1-1 tie.
The play began on the left flank, where New England and former Galaxy defender Joe Franchino floated a free kick into the Galaxy penalty area after a foul on the Revolution’s Ryan Latham.
New England striker Taylor Twellman headed the ball down, teammate Shalrie Joseph touched it to one side and Dorman slammed it into the roof of the net just ahead of Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman’s despairing head-first dive at his feet.
Hartman had kept the Galaxy in the game with at least two top-class saves, but he was powerless on this one. Tyrone Marshall was the only defender nearby, and he was outnumbered, three to one.
The goal came 4:04 into injury time, with the final whistle sounding seconds later.
The result, the Galaxy’s fifth game in a row without a win, left Coach Steve Sampson livid.
“It could have been very special tonight,” he said. “It could have been very special for Mike Enfield. It could have been very special for the Galaxy to have beaten the New England Revolution.
“One lapse of concentration, one mistake, and we tie the match.
“It seems a bit unfair, but that’s the reality of this game. We can’t continue to make silly mistakes in the back, I don’t care if it’s in the 40th minute or the 90th minute.
“It’s a very disappointing evening for us. We basically threw away two points. So, to say that I’m disappointed is an understatement, and the way it was done, even more so.”
Neutral observers might point out that a tie was all the game deserved. The Galaxy (7-5-4) did not play well. Only the late insertion of Gomez and Enfield provided a small spark.
Meanwhile, midfielder Ned Grabavoy, the playmaker in the absence of Landon Donovan and Jovan Kirovski, showed that he deserves more playing time.
“For not having played with the first team, he gave us a sense of rhythm and a sense of pause [controlling the pace] ... I was very pleased with him,” Sampson said of Grabavoy. “He wasn’t 90-minutes fit, yet he gave a great effort.”
The Galaxy will have to do the same if it is to break out of its current slump. The team has scored only three goals in its last six matches and has earned only two points out of a possible 15 in its last five games.
“We just have to continue to plug away and put this behind us and continue to work,” Sampson said.
“None of us are going to stop believing. You can see we can play with any team in this league, especially here. We know they were without a lot of players, but certainly we were without a lot of players as well.
“The key for us is getting healthy. Getting Chris Albright healthy. Getting Joseph Ngwenya and Alan Gordon 100% healthy. Pete Vagenas and Jovan Kirovski.
“I’m confident that as we get healthy that this team will be a contender and a strong contender.”
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In other MLS games:
Real Salt Lake 2, MetroStars 2 -- Jason Kreis scored on a penalty kick in the 90th minute to rally Salt Lake (3-9-4) to a tie with the MetroStars (5-4-6) at Salt Lake City.
In the 44th minute, MetroStar forward Sergio Galvan scored his fourth goal of the season.
The MetroStars also scored in the 48th minute when Mike Magee took a pass from Ante Razov seven yards out and curled one in.
Real (3-9-4) cut the lead in the 78th minute when substitute Seth Trembly curled a long cross-field shot just inside the far post.
Colorado 2, Kansas City 1 -- Alain Nkong and Terry Cooke scored in a four-minute span in the second half to lead Rapids (5-10-2) over the Wizards (5-4-7) at Denver.
Nkong scored on a pass from Eric Denton in the 57th minute. Cooke scored in the 61st minute.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
