Galaxy’s Message Clear to FC Dallas
Landon Donovan and Peter Vagenas were enjoying the moment to the fullest.
Both players scored Saturday night as the Galaxy ended FC Dallas’ run of good fortune with a 2-0 Major League Soccer victory at the Home Depot Center, and both were unable to resist rubbing it in a little.
Dallas came in as the Western Conference leader, unbeaten at 3-0-1 and leading the Galaxy by four points.
That lead is now one point.
“This whole week we’ve been hearing about how good this team [Dallas] is and how they’re the team [to beat] in the West, and this and that,” Vagenas said.
“We wanted to come out in the first half and make a statement.”
And from Donovan: “We heard all the hype about how great Dallas was and how great they were going forward, but we felt that if we could get them to defend us more than we had to defend them that it would be to our advantage.”
And that’s how it worked out.
The Galaxy came out firing, took the lead within the first 10 minutes and had a two-goal edge before halftime. Dallas never recovered.
The usually dangerous quartet of Carlos Ruiz, Eddie Johnson, Ronnie O’Brien and Richard Mulrooney was curiously out of sorts for most of the game, with Johnson, in particular, managing not even a single shot. O’Brien had one.
Ruiz took six shots, none of them overly troublesome to goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, who earned his second shutout in four matches as the Galaxy improved to 3-1.
The game was Ruiz’s first against his former team since his trade to Dallas, and the Guatemalan striker and former MLS most valuable player was given a rousing welcome by the crowd of 20,021.
It was Ruiz’s March departure that opened the door for Donovan to join the Galaxy and it was Donovan who struck the first blow with a goal only 8 minutes 54 seconds into the match.
Cobi Jones’ pinpoint pass into the top of the penalty area allowed Donovan the chance to cut inside defender Bobby Rhine and evade the sliding tackle of defender Clarence Goodson before slipping the ball just inside the right post, beyond the reach of advancing goalkeeper Scott Garlick.
It was Donovan’s third goal of the season and the third time this year the Galaxy had scored in the first 15 minutes of a match, a feat it accomplished only twice in 2004.
“It’s good to score early,” Donovan said. “It makes the game so much easier.
“Cobi’s fun. He sees things. He sees the runs I make and he gets the ball to me. It was a little bit lucky, but we’ll take it.”
The Galaxy doubled its advantage at the 38:11 mark when Jovan Kirovski floated a free kick out wide to the right, Tyrone Marshall headed the ball back into the center, and Vagenas was there to slam it into the back of the net.
Vagenas, a defensive midfielder who scored only one goal in the previous three seasons, has scored in consecutive games.
“I think if I get three, they’re going to rename the stadium,” he said, laughing at the notion.
“Tyrone obviously did the hardest part. He won the head ball, crossed it, and I was wide open. It’s a lot harder to miss than make at that point.”
Marshall anchored a back line that also included Chris Albright, Ugo Ihemelu and Todd Dunivant and the four thwarted everything Dallas threw at them, especially in the second half when the Galaxy offense took its foot off the pedal.
Dallas created three decent second-half scoring chances but failed to capitalize as attempts by Carey Talley, Greg Vanney and Arturo Alvarez flashed just wide of the net.
“They understood what Dallas was throwing at them and they understood how to deal with it,” Galaxy Coach Steve Sampson said of his players.
Sampson had special praise for Ihemelu, a rookie from Southern Methodist University.
“I know it’s very early,” Sampson said, “but he’s showing me he could be considered a candidate for rookie of the year. That’s how much I think about him.”
