It's a Galaxy defeat but a landmark day

By Grahame L. Jones

Aug. 19, 2007 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Major League Soccer finally has a game it can put in a time capsule and fire into the future for other generations to enjoy.

There have not been too many of those, but this was certainly one.

On Saturday night, in front of a club-record 66,237 at Giants Stadium, the New York Red Bulls defeated the Galaxy, 5-4, in a match that was not only graced by glorious goals but was filled with enough incidents to keep fans on both coasts talking for days, if not weeks.

“If the fans tonight didn’t enjoy the game, then they know nothing about soccer,” said Galaxy Coach Frank Yallop.

His sentiments were echoed by players from both teams.

“If you’re at this level and you don’t enjoy playing in front of that many people, this many TV cameras and everything, then what are you playing the sport for?” asked New York midfielder Clint Mathis, who scored one of the Red Bulls’ goals. Forwards Juan Pablo Angel and 17-year-old Jozy Altidore each provided two more.

“You have to be pumped up for a game like this,” Mathis continued. “I hope eventually every game is like this. I’m not going to get the experience in my lifetime, but hopefully a kid like Jozy does. This is what the game’s about. This is how it is in Europe.”

Before Saturday, the Red Bulls averaged 11,573 fans. The presence of Galaxy midfielder David Beckham put an extra 55,000 fans in the stadium where Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and others attracted sellout crowds three decades ago.

Beckham did not disappoint. After the Galaxy had fallen behind early, he created two goals for Honduran striker Carlos Pavon with sublime free kicks that eluded the New York defense but found the suddenly resurgent Pavon.

“I haven’t been involved in a game like this since I was 9 or 10 years old,” said Beckham, who today will fly to England for Wednesday’s friendly international against Germany at Wembley Stadium.

Beckham not only started his first MLS match but played for the full 90 minutes, constantly urging the Galaxy to greater efforts as it first fell behind, 1-0, then led, 2-1, thanks to Pavon’s first two goals for the club. The Galaxy then trailed 4-2, came back to tie it at 4-4 on goals by Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle, and finally was beaten by an extraordinary 88th-minute goal by Angel.

The stands were filled with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of fans wearing Beckham jerseys, but that did not stop the crowd from booing whenever Beckham took a corner kick. He took it all in stride.

“I’ve had worse,” he said. “It’s all in good fun. It adds to the atmosphere.”

The game was always going to come down to two things. One, could the Red Bulls cope with Beckham’s free kicks? They could, to a degree, because while two resulted in Pavon goals, four others were blocked by the defensive wall.

The other determining factor was could the Galaxy’s injury-riddled defense stop Angel and Altidore? In the end, it could not.

Abel Xavier missed the trip because of injury and Ante Jazic was sidelined by a right ankle sprain early in the match. New York took full advantage of the absence of the two veteran defenders.

Angel put the Red Bulls in front in the fourth minute with a free kick that flew beneath the Galaxy’s leaping defensive wall. Pavon responded by twice scoring on headers off Beckham kicks, in the sixth and eighth minutes.

Mathis tied it just before the half ended with his club-record 45th goal, and two goals by Altidore then seemingly put the Red Bulls in command with 20 minutes left.

“I am never going to forget a game like this,” Altidore said. “It was an amazing feeling. The atmosphere, the crowd, the game itself, it was truly amazing.”

The Galaxy fought back, however, and tied it on the goals by Donovan and Buddle before a Mathis shot two minutes from the end brought a superb save from Galaxy goalkeeper Joe Cannon, only for the ball to rebound to Angel, who scored the game-winner from a narrow angle off the fallen Cannon’s hands.

“We can’t be mad at our guys,” Donovan said. “We played well and it was fun to watch, I’m sure.”

The respective coaches found it enthralling but nerve-racking, as New York’s Bruce Arena pointed out.

“I think if you talked to Frank Yallop and I behind closed doors, we’d tell you that we had a lot of breakdowns throughout the night,” Arena said. “But having said that, it’s all part of the game. Scoring goals is an important part of growing the sport in our country.”

Yallop was upbeat despite the loss that left Los Angeles deeper in the playoff hole. The Galaxy is 3-8-5 and 12 points shy of the eighth and final playoff spot with 14 games left. It next plays Chivas USA on Thursday night at the Home Depot Center.

New York improved to 10-7-3.

grahame.jones@latimes.com

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Goal-fest

The most goals scored by both teams in an MLS game:

11 -- May 6, 1998

Galaxy (7) vs. Colorado (4)

10 -- May 8, 2004

MetroStars (5) at San Jose (5)

10 -- Aug. 26, 2000

MetroStars (6) at Dallas (4)

10 -- May 2, 1996