Beckham out but Galaxy is on
Don’t write off the Galaxy just yet.
Struggling in Major League Soccer play, ousted from the U.S. Open Cup by the unheralded Richmond Kickers and beaten by Tigres of Mexico and Chelsea of England in friendly games, the Galaxy rebounded in style Tuesday night at the Home Depot Center.
Powered by goals from Alan Gordon and Landon Donovan, Los Angeles ended a three-game losing streak with a spirited 2-1 victory over defending Mexican league champion Pachuca in the second game of the eight-team SuperLiga tournament.
It was a performance that left David Beckham applauding from a private suite in the stands, Galaxy fans in the crowd of 19,317 singing the team’s praises and under-siege Coach Frank Yallop a very relieved man.
The victory put the Galaxy in first place in its SuperLiga group heading into Saturday night’s much-anticipated game against Chivas de Guadalajara at the Coliseum.
Chivas had to come from behind to tie F.C. Dallas, 1-1, at Frisco, Texas, in the opening match of the SuperLiga tournament earlier Tuesday.
Guadalajara’s goal was more than a little controversial. Television replays showed that Antonio Olvera controlled the ball with his hand before firing a swerving shot that beat Dallas goalkeeper Ray Burse in the 67th minute.
Eleven minutes earlier, Arturo Alvarez had given the home team the lead, scoring off a pass from former Galaxy star Carlos Ruiz.
Dallas was reduced to 10 men after the Chivas goal when defender Drew Moor delivered a right hand cross to the jaw of Guadalajara’s Hector Reynoso and was immediately red-carded by referee Walter Quesada.
The Galaxy-Pachuca game produced no such unpleasantness, but it was a tense affair throughout, with Los Angeles taking the lead, being tied late and then finding the resolve to go ahead again and then hold on.
Early on, it appeared that the Mexican team had the upper hand.
Pachuca, also the defending CONCACAF champion, gradually asserted control and the Galaxy was reduced to defending in numbers. When that didn’t work, it was left to goalkeeper Joe Cannon to keep the Mexican team off the scoreboard.
Cannon produced at least two fine saves in the opening 45 minutes, first hauling in a probing cross from the left by overlapping defender Carlos Rodriguez and later making an excellent one-handed stop on a shot by Rafael Marques Lugo.
As the half came to a close, Cannon again threw himself low to turn away another shot from Rodriguez and Galaxy left back Ante Jazic hooked the ball away for a corner kick.
Cannon’s performance was all the more surprising given his attitude toward the tournament, or at least to Beckham’s participation in it.
Beckham, trying to heal an injured left ankle, did not dress Tuesday but watched from a private suite.
“Let the ankle rest,” Cannon said. “Everybody knows where we are in the [MLS] standings. It does us no good here, you know, to have a great SuperLiga and not do well in the league.
“The most important thing for us is our [league] campaign, and I think our No. 1 focus is getting Beckham ready for that game in Toronto” on Aug. 5. “That’s my opinion.”
Gordon gave the Galaxy the lead five minutes into the second half when he controlled a Landon Donovan cross with his shoulder or upper arm -- again, it could have been called a hand ball, but Guatemalan referee Carlos Batres let it go -- and fired a diagonal shot past goalkeeper Miguel Calero.
Los Angeles clung to its advantage until the 79th minute, when Pachuca’s insistent attacking play finally paid off. A pass into the box from the left by Damian Alvarez found Lugo lurking in front of the net and Lugo slipped the ball past Cannon.
The Galaxy responded immediately and an interchange between Donovan and Cobi Jones produced the game-winning goal in the 81st minute.
On a fastbreak, Donovan passed to a wide-open Jones, who cut inside two defenders and unleashed a shot into a cluster of players. One of them was Donovan, and he deflected the ball past the static Calero.
“The Galaxy really played well. They made the most out of their opportunities,” said Pachuca midfielder Gabriel Caballero. “Sometimes when you give away goals its affects you. We need to accept that our opponent played better.”
Said Donovan: “We got lucky.”
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Times staff writer Jaime Cardenas contributed to this story.
