Moreno Plays to His Strengths
Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid was talking about Alejandro Moreno, explaining how the Venezuelan striker doesn’t mind mixing it up with opposing defenders.
“Moreno is a player who likes to get into physical challenges,” Schmid said. “He likes contact. He likes to bump people. He’s always in a tussle.”
So much so that Moreno’s Galaxy teammates have taken to calling him “El Tanque,” the Tank, a nickname that once belonged to former Galaxy forward Eduardo Hurtado of Ecuador, who scored 30 goals in 50 games for Los Angeles between 1996 and 1998.
At 5 feet 9, 170 pounds, Moreno is several inches shorter than Hurtado, but he is starting to have a similar impact. His three goals in eight minutes in a 4-2 victory over D.C. United on Wednesday night gives him five this season, second in Major League Soccer to teammate Carlos Ruiz.
Not bad for a player who, until Ruiz was sidelined by an ankle injury, was coming off the bench rather than starting.
Tonight, Moreno has the chance to catch and perhaps pass Ruiz when the Galaxy plays the defending MLS champion San Jose Earthquakes on their narrow Spartan Stadium field.
The small field will reduce the space Moreno has to work in, and the quality of such bruising San Jose defenders as Jeff Agoos, Craig Waibel and Ryan Chochrane means he will be closely shadowed and perhaps roughly handled.
No worries, said Moreno.
“As much as I take it, I don’t mind dealing it,” he said, adding that he does not go out looking to get into physical scraps.
“I enjoy it to an extent,” he said. “There are certain things that I can do in terms of holding the ball for us that give us an opportunity to have our midfielders support the front line.
“Certainly, there are times when I’d rather do other stuff than having to play with my back to goal, but it’s something that I’m good at, so I try to exploit it as much as I can.”
Even Moreno has been surprised, however, by the sudden rush of goals. He scored only six in his first two MLS seasons, but has five in only six games in 2004.
“I like to think of myself as a pretty decent player, so you expect the best out of yourself,” he said. “But let’s get real, when you take five shots in the season and all five of them go in, something’s going right for you.”
Schmid has not been surprised.
“I thought Alejandro played very well at the end of last year,” he said. “He pushed himself a lot and put himself into the starting lineup. I know he was disappointed at the start of this season. He’s an intelligent kid, and he knew that the signing of Jovan [Kirovski] was going to present a possible obstacle, and Jovan got off to a good start.”
The emergence of Moreno, accompanied by the arrival of Kirovski and Joseph Ngwenya, means that opposing teams no longer can rely on shutting down Ruiz to shut out the Galaxy. Los Angeles now has a four-pronged attack, and the four forwards have combined for 15 of the team’s 16 goals.
It adds up to a 4-1-3 record, a far cry from the 0-4-4 start of last season.
“I’m very happy with the depth that we have up front,” Schmid said. “That’s something that we worked very hard to try to get this year.”
