It Takes No Time to Lose
Major League Soccer’s best offense came face to face with its best defense Saturday.
It was no contest.
Scoring two goals in the first three minutes (an MLS record), Washington D.C. United routed the Galaxy, 4-2, in front of 19,510 fans at RFK Stadium in Washington.
The victory improved the defending MLS champion’s record to a league-best 16-8. The Galaxy fell to 9-13.
The Galaxy was without playmaker Mauricio Cienfuegos, who will be playing for El Salvador in a crucial World Cup ’98 qualifying game against Costa Rica in Costa Rica today, as well as goalkeeper Jorge Campos and defender Robin Fraser.
Fraser was injured in the U.S. national team’s 1-0 loss to Ecuador in Baltimore on Thursday night. Campos’ absence was not explained.
The keeper spent much of last week in Mexico and in meetings with Galaxy and MLS officials. He is said to be unhappy with his contract, among other things.
Kevin Hartman started in Campos’ place, but the game was less than 60 seconds old when he was picking the ball out of the back of his net.
Bolivian striker Jaime Moreno started the rout, darting between Paul Caligiuri and Danny Pena, neither of whom moved to tackle him, and beating Hartman from close range in the firstminute.
Two minutes later, Washington’s Tony Sanneh sent a pass across the Los Angeles goal area and between five defenders. Ben Iroha deflected Roy Wegerle’s shot into the net for a 2-0 lead.
The Galaxy responded in the 20th minute when Welton scored his team-high eighth goal of the season, heading in a chip from Eduardo Hurtado.
Moreno scored on a penalty kick five minutes before halftime after being brought down by Dan Calichman. That made it 3-1 and the game was essentially over--but not the embarrassment.
Mario Gori stole the ball off Hartman and netted D.C. United’s fourth goal in the 49th minute.
The Galaxy again came back, with Harut Karapetyan scoring off a pass from Hurtado in the 58th minute, but it was not enough.
Not after giving Washington those two early gift goals.
