Galaxy Closes the Door on Earthquakes
Two victories. That’s all that stands between the Galaxy and a Major League Soccer championship.
A telephone call from Los Angeles or New York. That’s all that stands between the San Jose Earthquakes and MLS oblivion.
Those were the story lines at Spartan Stadium on Saturday night when the Galaxy held the Earthquakes to a 1-1 tie and thereby secured a place in the Western Conference final.
Having won the first match in the two-game series, 3-1 at the Home Depot Center last Sunday, a tie was enough to send the Galaxy through.
It will play the Colorado Rapids at Invesco Field in Denver on Saturday at a time to be announced.
Colorado reached the conference final by edging FC Dallas, 5-4 on penalty kicks, after the teams had played 90 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of overtime only to end in a 2-2 tie at Frisco, Texas, site of the Nov. 13 MLS Cup Final.
For the Earthquakes, meanwhile, the future looks bleak. Saturday night’s game could well have been the last in their 10-year history. A phone call from AEG in Los Angeles or from MLS in New York could soon pull the plug on the two-time MLS champions.
Neither the Earthquakes -- who drew a playoff record crowd of 17,824 to Spartan Stadium on Saturday -- nor the Kansas City Wizards are selling season tickets for the 2006 season. Both teams are expected to be relocated by the league during the off-season.
There is a slight chance that a local buyer could come through at the last minute for the Earthquakes, but the odds on that are not promising.
For the Galaxy, meanwhile, there is the chance to add an MLS Cup title to the U.S. Open Cup it won earlier this season.
The reason the team still is in the running for the elusive so-called “double” is goalkeeper Kevin Hartman. After making a mistake late in the first half that gave San Jose a lifeline, Hartman was unbeatable in the second 45 minutes.
When San Jose applied pressure in wave after desperate attacking wave late in the match, Hartman answered with one clutch save after another. The Earthquakes outshot the Galaxy, 18-6 overall and 7-3 in shots on target.
“When we went in at halftime, with the late goal, it was a kind of sullen in here,” Hartman said of the Galaxy locker room after Brian Ching’s diving header off a Brian Mullan pass had given San Jose the lead in the 42nd minute.
A poor clearance kick by Hartman that went straight to Mullan led directly to the goal.
Then the Galaxy players, and the defense in particular, regrouped.
“It was cool,” Hartman said, “because we all kind of got together and right before the second half started and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to win this as a team and not lose it as individuals.’
“We kind of weathered the first five or 10 minutes and then we started playing again. We made it difficult for them and we got opportunities” to score.
On one such opportunity, in the 67th minute, midfielder Ned Grabavoy applied the perfect finish to a perfect Landon Donovan pass.
Seconds after San Jose’s Mark Chung had flashed a shot just wide of the Galaxy’s left post and the chant of “Beat L.A.” was echoing through the stadium, the fans were suddenly silenced when Donovan threaded a pass through the Earthquake defense to the onrushing Grabavoy, who chipped the ball over goalkeeper Pat Onstad.
“I didn’t know he could finish like that,” Donovan said. “It was a heckuva goal.”
It restored the Galaxy’s two-goal advantage and effectively ended San Jose hopes of salvaging the series.
“Knowing that we had the two-goal cushion it was a lot easier to make the saves rather than knowing any mistake was going to kill you,” Hartman said.
