Vagenas Is the Headliner in Galaxy’s Win
Peter Vagenas found himself unmarked in the middle of the box Saturday night, facing the net, when he saw a missile curling from the left corner.
“I just thought, ‘... It’s coming right to my head.’ Now it’s on me to finish,’ ” Vagenas said.
And finish the midfielder did. His feet planted firmly in the Home Depot Center field, Vagenas bent hard at the hips and powerfully headed the ball from Ednaldo da Conceicao into the net, giving the Galaxy a 2-1 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes before 22,207.
Vagenas’ game-winner came in the 77th minute -- the same minute in which Conceicao entered the match as a substitute -- and occurred with the Galaxy a man down after rookie defender Ugo Ihemelu was sent off with his second yellow card 14 minutes earlier.
“Guys give me a hard time because I have a long face but I think it paid off,” said Vagenas, who also had an assist against the Earthquakes and has three goals this year after being goal-less since 2001.
The Galaxy (5-2-0) is 5-0 at home for the first time since 1998 and jumped into a first-place tie in the Western Conference with FC Dallas, which meets Chivas USA tonight.
The match was supposed to belong to forward Landon Donovan, who was playing his former club for the first time. He claimed to be satisfied with the win, even though his injury-time goal was waved off after he was called offside -- a call Galaxy Coach Steve Sampson described it as “diabolical” when told by reporters that Donovan had, in fact, appeared onside.
“The problem was, I ran like 80 yards celebrating so I was exhausted after it,” joked Donovan, who spent four years in San Jose before an unsuccessful run in the German Bundesliga this winter. The secretive manner in which Donovan surfaced with the Galaxy, the Earthquakes’ most bitter rival, did not sit well with bitter San Jose fans.
“I was nervous, kind of excited,” said Donovan, who will miss the Galaxy’s next three matches because of U.S. national team duty. “It was weird seeing those faces on the other side.”
But San Jose (2-2-4) was a shell of its former self. In the last two weeks, the Earthquakes have lost to injury defenders Troy Dayak and Craig Waibel for the season and forwards Brian Ching and Brian Mullan for four to six weeks.
San Jose acquired Mark Chung in a trade with Colorado on Thursday and the midfielder paid immediate dividends.
With the Galaxy leading, 1-0, on Jovan Kirovski’s blast from the top of the box off a leave from Vagenas and a Donovan pass in the 39th minute, Chung entered the match in the 61st minute.
Two minutes later, Ihemelu was sent off after his hard tackle on Brad Davis and the Earthquakes had their man advantage. Sampson countered by adding another defender, Michael Umana, for Kirovski. No matter.
In the 69th minute, San Jose’s Dwayne De Rosario passed to Chung, who beat Galaxy defender Todd Dunivant by sending a quick through ball in the goalkeeper’s box to Ronald Cerritos, who split a pair of Galaxy defenders.
Cerritos redirected the ball with his foot to beat Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman and the score was tied.
Galaxy midfielder Guillermo Ramirez left the match after taking a blow to the front of his left leg and was replaced by Conceicao, who initiated the game-winner with his curling, left-footed pass after a long ball from the back.
“That was his off foot, and not to take anything away from Naldo but the chances of that happening are one in 100,” said Vagenas, whose three goals have come in the last five games. “It was just a beautiful pass ... a stroke of luck, but we’ll take it.”
