Galaxy Ties Revolution
The Galaxy, scratching and fighting for every Major League Soccer point these days, managed to pick up one Wednesday night when it tied the New England Revolution, 1-1, in the rain at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass.
The Galaxy, which has not won on the road in more than a year, managed to shoot only three of 10 shots on target. The Revolution had five of six.
Coach Steve Sampson, with only one victory in his team’s previous nine matches, including the Real Madrid friendly, again shook up the Galaxy starting lineup.
Sampson dropped Guillermo “Pando” Ramirez, moved Cobi Jones into Ramirez’s spot in left midfield and pushed defender Chris Albright forward into Jones’ spot in right midfield.
Sampson was forced to make another change when defender Tyrone Marshall strained his right hamstring in a challenge on midfielder Shalrie Joseph and had to leave.
Marshall, who earlier had been selected as a replacement for injured New England forward Pat Noonan for Saturday’s MLS All-Star game at Columbus, Ohio, is doubtful for that match.
Michael Umana replaced Marshall, giving the Galaxy three MLS rookies in the four-man back line: Umana, Ugo Ihemelu and Troy Roberts, along with first-year Galaxy player Todd Dunivant.
Despite the setback, the Galaxy (8-7-5) took the lead in the 16th minute when Landon Donovan fed Herculez Gomez and the forward beat goalkeeper Matt Reis for his fourth goal.
In the 26th minute, referee Marcel Yonan ruled that Ihemelu had handled the ball in the penalty area and awarded the Revolution (10-3-6) a penalty kick, a call hotly disputed by the Galaxy.
Joseph scored from the spot to tie the score, 1-1.
Both teams had scoring chances in the second half, but Reis saved well from Gomez and later tipped the ball away at the last second under pressure from Donovan. At the other end, Kevin Hartman’s flying save on a blistering shot by Andy Dorman was one of several fine efforts.
The Galaxy goalkeeper also punched away a swerving free kick by Jose Cancela after Paulo Nagamura had been called for a hand ball outside the area, and moments later denied forward Taylor Twellman.
Ramirez went in for Albright midway through the second half, with Jones switching to his customary place on the right side, and Joseph Ngwenya also was sent on to spark the Galaxy, to no avail.
Grahame L. Jones
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Sergio Galvan Rey scored in the 74th minute off a pass from Ante Razov, and the MetroStars (7-6-7) rallied for a 3-2 victory over FC Dallas (10-5-4) at East Rutherford, N.J.
The MetroStars extended their unbeaten streak at home to seven games (4-0-3).
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Domenic Mediate scored in the 86th minute, and the Columbus Crew of MLS defeated Fulham of the English Premier League, 2-1, at Columbus, Ohio.
Marcus Storey had given Columbus a 17th-minute lead, but an own goal pulled Fulham even just before halftime.
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Christian Vieri, Alberto Gilardino and Serginho scored to give Italy’s AC Milan a 3-1 victory over the host Chicago Fire of the MLS, which had tied the score on a first-half goal by Chris Rolfe.
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AEG will announce in a news conference today the sale of the operating rights to D.C. United to a group led by Washington-area real estate developers Willi Lauterbach and Timothy Kissler, and United President and Chief Executive Kevin Payne.
Jones reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press contributed to this report.
