It’s Not Pretty, but the Galaxy Will Take It

There may be life on Mars, and perhaps even a flicker of it in the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Left for dead by its fans after six losses in eight games, the Galaxy showed some signs of revival Thursday night by defeating the New England Revolution, 1-0, on a late goal by Eduardo Hurtado.

There were only 10,251 at the Rose Bowl to see the game, a season low for the Galaxy but a figure partially explained by the 6:30 p.m. starting time and the live coverage on ESPN2. Those who did come were treated to what Revolution Coach Frank Stapleton termed “an interesting game tactically.”

Which is another way of saying that this was not the best advertisement for Major League Soccer.

Both teams showed tremendous commitment. They ran non-stop for 90 minutes. They tackled with vigor and and worked hard off the ball. But there was little shape to the game, little sense that either team was in control.

This was basically schoolyard stuff, all kick and run. Smooth-flowing plays were noticeably absent. Turnovers were frequent. Ragged is the word that best describes it.

Even the lone goal was, well, interesting.

Mauricio Cienfuegos helped create it, pushing a diagonal pass out to the right of the New England net that Cobi Jones sprinted for and caught up to at the endline, earning a corner kick.

A short corner from Jones to Cienfuegos and back to Jones gave Jones the chance to cross the ball to the far post, where Hurtado lurked, alone and unguarded. The Galaxy’s leading scorer sent a looping header over Revolution goalkeeper Jim St. Andre and into the net.

St. Andre was caught in no-man’s land, off his goal line but not far enough out to challenge Hurtado for the ball. No defender was backing him up by protecting the right side of the net, which is exactly where Hurtado’s header ended up.

The goal came with only nine minutes left in regulation. It had taken the Galaxy 81 minutes to find a way through the New England defense.

“The mark of a good team is finding a goal when things aren’t going well,” Revolution defender Alexi Lalas said. “It was our fault. We didn’t have anyone marking Hurtado and we didn’t adjust to the short corner.”

Striker Joe-Max Moore, another of the Revolution’s U.S. national team players, said the Galaxy had controlled the second 45 minutes.

“The whole second half it felt like we were playing defense,” he said. “They [Galaxy players] move the ball around nicely, they play skillful soccer.”

Not skillful enough to please Coach Lothar Osiander, who was becoming increasingly agitated as the minutes ticked down, no goal arrived and it appeared the Galaxy (15-6) might be headed for its third consecutive shootout.

Was he relieved when the goal was scored, Osiander was asked.

“The sense of relief was at the final whistle,” he said.

“I thought we dominated most of the game, [but] I think we pressed too hard. We closed our own space down. I think we maybe should have held the ball in our half of the field a little longer before we stabbed it to our front players.”

It won’t get any easier for the Galaxy. Defender and captain Dan Calichman left in the second half because of a hamstring injury and is questionable for Sunday’s game against the Wiz at Kansas City.

Definitely not playing is goalkeeper Jorge Campos, who will be back in Mexico, in the nets for Atlante in the Mexican League opener.

Osiander said he fought the idea, “but you can only hit your head against the wall so many times” and finally had to yield and allow Campos to play for his “other” team.

The Galaxy returns to the Rose Bowl Wednesday to play Mexican League champion Necaxa in an international exhibition.