Galaxy Steps It Up a Notch in 5-1 Victory
KANSAS CITY. Mo. — Two goals and one assist for Mauricio Cienfuegos.
One goal and two assists for Luis Hernandez.
One goal and one assist for Sasha Victorine and one goal and one assist for Paul Caligiuri.
Add it all up Saturday and it amounted to the Galaxy’s most impressive victory of the Major League Soccer season, a 5-1 hammering of the Kansas City Wizards.
The Galaxy has won by the same margin before, but that was against the hapless Miami Fusion. This was against the league-leading Wizards, a team the Galaxy has to overtake to retain its Western Division title.
There were seven points separating the clubs before the game, now there are four. Next Saturday, they play again at the Rose Bowl and Kansas City’s lead could be cut to one point if the Galaxy turns in as dominating a display as the one it showcased before 10,503 at Arrowhead Stadium.
“It’s definitely a good feeling,†Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said. “It’s nice to have all your players around.â€
There wasn’t a Galaxy player who put a wrong foot forward Saturday, discounting the defensive lapse that gave the Wizards their lone goal when Los Angeles already led by three. It was a technically superior performance by a team that, on its day, is the best in MLS.
Considering that it was a humid, 101-degree afternoon and that the on-field temperature was even higher, it was no time to be playing soccer. For Cobi Jones, it was even worse. He was feeling under the weather but started anyway and lasted 45 minutes, long enough for the Galaxy to take a 1-0 lead into the locker room.
“Even though Cobi was sick, I thought Cobi’s efforts were tremendous,†Schmid said.
The same could be said of the entire Galaxy lineup.
Cienfuegos and Hernandez, in particular, clicked as if they had been playing together for years instead of weeks. Goalkeeper Matt Reis was nearly flawless, although he got a break three minutes into the second half when he appeared to foul Kansas City’s Miklos Molnar only to have referee Ricardo Valenzuela ignore the Wizards’ loud calls for a penalty kick.
“Mentally, I think our guys were broke after the non-call on the PK,†said Brian Bliss, Kansas City’s assistant coach.
The Galaxy back line of Ezra Hendrickson, Danny Califf, Robin Fraser and Greg Vanney was in excellent form, ably assisted by midfielders Simon Elliott, Peter Vagenas, Cienfuegos and Jones.
Up front, the combination of Hernandez and Victorine, supported by all four midfielders, kept Kansas City on its heels for most of the game.
“It’s getting better,†Schmid said of the combination between Hernandez and Cienfuegos. “Also, the combination between Hernandez and Caligiuri on the one goal was big-time. Our team knows him [Hernandez] better and he knows our team better.
“In the formation we’re playing now, there are midfielders getting forward and getting goal-dangerous. Mauricio today got two great goals off two good passes and actually could have had two more.â€
Victorine opened the scoring in the 21st minute, taking a pass from Elliott and beating Kansas City goalkeeper Tony Meola low to his left. The goal was the only scoring in the first half and ended the Wizards’ MLS-record 23-game stretch of not having trailed at the half.
After surviving some intense Kansas City pressure early in the second half, the Galaxy hit full stride, scoring three goals in an eight-minute span.
Cienfuegos banged in a 20-yard shot off a Caligiuri pass to make it 2-0 after 70 minutes. Caligiuri, who came on in place of Jones, made it 3-0 in the 74th minute off a nifty Hernandez back-heel pass.
Kansas City’s Mo Johnston cut the lead to 3-1 a minute later, but Cienfuegos headed in his second goal of the game off an eye-opening Hernandez pass in the 78th minute.
Finally, in the 83rd minute, Hernandez grabbed a well-deserved goal of his own, Elliott getting his second assist.
“We played awesome,†said an elated Reis, filling in for injured Kevin Hartman.
“We’re high as a kite,†Victorine said. “It’s a big confidence boost for us. We knew we could do this, now it just shows we can.â€
Said Fraser: “At this point of the season, I think it’s important that we start playing well and firing on all cylinders.â€
Added Cienfuegos: “I’m happy with the victory because this was a game we needed to win.â€
Elliott, from New Zealand, had nothing to say. He was too busy singing--something about Jeremiah and a bullfrog.
And as every Galaxy player now knows, there’s nothing worse than an off-key Kiwi.
But at least the team is on-song once again.
