A Heady Occasion for Galaxy
Two near-identical goals, one off the close-cropped head of Chris Armas and the other off the bald dome of Welton, headed the Galaxy into Major League Soccer’s playoffs Friday night.
A 2-1 victory over the Dallas Burn in front of a Rose Bowl crowd of 19,421, was enough to secure Los Angeles a place in the postseason and at the same time put either the San Jose Clash or Colorado Rapids on the verge of elimination.
Considering that eight of the 10 teams make the playoffs--four in each conference--the Galaxy’s success is hardly startling news. On the other hand, the team has turned a 3-9 start into a 14-16 record.
“It is a big deal,” said interim Coach Octavio Zambrano, who took over from Lothar Osiander at the 3-9 mark. “Any time you clinch a playoff [berth] in front of your fans and by playing well, you have to feel good about it.
“For all of the times that we have not played so well, this is a time when we have to rejoice because we played good soccer tonight.”
Galaxy captain Dan Calichman had another take on the achievement.
“We’re just happy right now to make the playoffs,” he said. “Certainly, at the beginning, all the players had a little bit of doubt whether we were going to be able to turn this thing around. But we were able to do so.
“I surely want to give credit to Octavio, I think he’s done a great job. But I also want to give credit to Lothar [Osiander] because it’s still the same team he had out here and it’s the team he put together that [is] doing all this.
“So if we go far in the playoffs and we win this damn thing, certainly Lothar gets some of the credit.”
The second half was tremendous fun for the fans--whose numbers tripled recent crowds. Dallas goalkeeper Mark Dodd, playing superbly, was kept busy fending off wave after wave of Galaxy attackers as Los Angeles sought the winning goal.
Armas had given the Galaxy the lead in the 35th minute, but Dallas tied the score when Ted Eck, racing into the Los Angeles penalty area, was unceremoniously upended by Calichman. Mexican forward Damian netted the resultant penalty kick.
Dodd was spectacular in denying Cobi Jones, Harut Karapetyan, who saw one rocket-like shot skip off the top off the crossbar, and the rest of the Galaxy.
But he was helpless in the 83rd minute when Mauricio Cienfuegos curled a cross in from the left and Welton leaped to send a looping header over the goalkeeper just below the crossbar.
It was the Brazilian striker’s team-leading 11th goal.
The first half was nothing but a succession of wasted chances by both teams.
Los Angeles should have taken the lead in the 17th minute when Eduardo Hurtado collected a blocked pass and set off on a 30-yard diagonal run, pursued by two defenders.
“El Tanque” took the ball to within five yards of the net when Dodd and the two defenders closed in on him. Somehow, Hurtado stumbled and ended up in a heap on the ground, the ball got away from him and the scoring chance was lost.
That’s been the story most of the season for the Ecuadorean striker, whose production has plummeted from a team-high 21 goals in 26 regular-season games last season to eight goals in 19 games this season, with two matches remaining.
The Burn fared no better when it went on the attack. Damian blasted a shot wide of the left post in the 21st minute and Swiss midfielder Alain Sutter squandered a free kick three minutes later, putting the ball closer to the corner flag than the net.
After all those miscues, Armas’ goal was delightful in its simplicity and execution.
Cienfuegos created it, gathering the ball with his back to the goal about 25 yards out, turning and floating a cross into the goal area. Armas ran under it and looped a header over Dodd.
It was Armas’ third goal of the season but not, as it turned out, the one that clinched the Galaxy’s playoff berth.
