Galaxy Tries to Dial Down Diallo
TAMPA, Fla. — It was bad enough that the Galaxy limped through its final two regular-season matches without scoring a goal.
Now it opens the Major League Soccer playoffs against a team that not only boasts the league’s top assist man in midfielder Carlos Valderrama, but also has the leading scorer in MLS, first-year forward Mamadou “Big Mama” Diallo.
These things happen when you sluggishly drop two 1-0 games to close out the season and lose home-field advantage for the postseason.
The fifth-seeded Galaxy (14-10-8, 50 points) has traveled to Tampa to face the fourth-seeded Mutiny (16-12-4, 52 points) in the opening game of the best-of-three, first-round series today at 5 p.m. PDT in Raymond James Stadium.
The teams split a pair of matches this season, each winning on its home field. The Galaxy won, 2-1, on June 17 at the Rose Bowl, with Valderrama missing a penalty kick; the Mutiny returned the favor with a 2-0 victory in Tampa on July 22, when the Galaxy was missing six players because of national team call-ups for World Cup qualifying.
“The key is shutting down Diallo by keeping his service away from Valderrama,” Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said after practice Wednesday afternoon. “We can’t necessarily keep Valderrama off the ball--he’s going to get the ball--but we want to get him playing east-west as much as possible and not north-south.”
Valderrama, known for his wild, orange-hued Afro hairstyle as much as for his many on-field exploits, set an MLS single-season record with 26 assists, bettering the record of 19 he shared with D.C. United midfielder Marco Etcheverry.
Many of the Colombian’s assists benefited Diallo, whose mark of 26 goals was one shy of the single-season record Roy Lassiter set in 1996 with the Mutiny.
Diallo, 28, and a native of Senegal in West Africa, was a discovery player for the Mutiny who took the league by storm, winning the league’s most-valuable-player award at the All-Star game with two goals and an assist.
In the two matches against the Galaxy this season, he scored one goal on 11 shots.
Galaxy rookie defender Danny Califf marked the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Diallo in the previous matches, but Califf is in Australia with the U.S. Olympic team.
Paul Caligiuri, 36, gives up four inches and 15 pounds to Big Mama, but he has picked up the assignment of defending Diallo, who also had four assists to lead the league with 56 points.
Said Schmid: “We need to cut down the service [from Valderrama to Diallo], and we need Cal to do a good job on Diallo.”
Caligiuri played a similar role last fall during the Western Conference finals, drawing the defensive assignment of Dallas Burn forward Jason Kreis, who had led the league in scoring. Kreis’ lone goal came on a late penalty kick in Game 3 of the three-game series.
“It’s a familiar role and I enjoy it,” Caligiuri said. “I’m really excited about it.”
The Galaxy is also without midfielders Peter Vagenas and Sasha Victorine, who were selected for the Olympics along with Califf.
“The three Olympians are three important players,” Schmid said. “Other teams may have lost players for the Olympics, but we lost three full-time starters.”
The Mutiny lost only one player to the Olympics, defender Chad McCarty, who started 22 games.
“That’s been the situation all year,” Schmid said, “playing without a full lineup. And we haven’t looked very fluid as a team.”
The Galaxy will, however, regain the services of forward Luis Hernandez, who sat out Friday’s season finale at Colorado after receiving three yellow cards in three consecutive games.
“Ever since the plane landed, I just got that playoff feeling,” Caligiuri said. “It’s a new season.”
