Galaxy Makes Its Point the Hard Way
One point, that’s all it was worth.
After running rings around the New England Revolution for 90 minutes Thursday night, the Galaxy left Foxboro Stadium with a single point.
That it defeated the Revolution is of secondary importance. The Galaxy won, 2-1, in a shootout. But it should have won, 1-0, in regulation.
Instead of adding only one point to its lead over the San Jose Clash in the race for a Major League Soccer playoff berth, it should have added three.
And the difference between one point and three was an ill-considered foul with 23 seconds remaining.
That and a freighter-full of missed chances.
The Galaxy had held the Revolution scoreless for more than 89 minutes when substitute Jose Vasquez fouled Giuseppe Galderisi in the game’s dying seconds, bringing about a New England free kick.
Alberto Naveda floated the ball in from just outside the penalty area and to the left of the Galaxy net. Ivan McKinley outjumped the Galaxy defense and headed a shot into the net just beneath the crossbar.
The goal brought 21,866 fans out of their seats--and left Galaxy goalkeeper Jorge Campos sitting on his.
It should never have come to that.
Time and again during regulation--and at least five times during the final six minutes--Galaxy attackers broke through New England’s porous defense only to steer their shots wide or be denied by goalkeeper Jeff Causey.
Mauricio Cienfuegos, Harut Karapetyan and Cobi Jones all had excellent chances to put the game out of reach. All failed.
The only Los Angeles player to beat Causey in regulation, in fact, was Welton, the former New England striker and current Galaxy goal leader.
The Brazilian striker fired a hopeful but well-aimed shot from 25 yards out in the ninth minute. The ball eluded defender Alexi Lalas, who had turned to block it, and slid inside the left post beyond Causey’s despairing dive.
Surviving a few scary moments on defense, the Galaxy (10-13) kept attacking, but to no avail.
The Revolution which had not scored in 379 consecutive minutes coming in and had lost four in a row, didn’t look like as if it would break either streak.
Los Angeles outshot New England, 16-11, but seven saves by Causey were the difference between an 8-0 lead and a 1-0 lead going into the final minute.
“We’ll take the win, but we should have iced this game long before the 90th minute,” said Octavio Zambrano, the Galaxy’s interim coach. “We had several opportunities in both halves but were unable to finish. Sometimes that just happens.”
The game was not especially physical, but referee Paul Tamberino nonetheless issued six yellow cards, five against New England, and tossed the Revolution’s Ted Chronopoulus out of the game in 82nd minute for his second violent foul.
Oddly enough, New England (12-12) might not even have tied the score had it not been for a trade it made Wednesday, when Galderisi, a forward, and McKinley, a defender, were acquired from the Tampa Bay Mutiny in exchange for forward Chiquinho Conde and midfielder Sam George.
But the foul on Galderisi and the subsequent header off the free kick by McKinley sent the game to a shootout.
Jones, Martin Machon and Chris Armas scored for the Galaxy, with Karapetyan and Greg Vanney failing. Imad Baba and Mike Burns scored for New England, Campos saved Francis Okaroh’s shot, Evans Wise exceeded the five-second limit and Galderisi missed wide left.
MLS Notes
When MLS adds its two expansion teams next season, the Miami Fusion will play in the Eastern Conference and the as-yet-unnamed Chicago team will join the Galaxy in the Western Conference, the league announced Thursday.
Existing clubs will be able to protect half of their 20-man rosters, including four of their five foreign players, for the expansion draft. Chicago and Miami will select from the 100 unprotected players in early November.
Clubs will be limited to a maximum loss of three players and after a player is selected, the team losing the player can protect another.
The league also announced the 1998 season will begin March 15, a week earlier than this year, and run its 32-game schedule over 29 weeks, concluding Sept. 27.
