By Ridge Mahoney
Whether or not the Galaxy can dethrone two-time defending champion Monterrey in the Concacaf club semifinals, it is the onlyMLS team currently strong enough to challenge for the regional title.
The possible presence of Designated Players Robbie Keane and
A central midfield pairing of Juninho and Marcelo Sarvas is still beingrefined and tweaked, yet the mix of toughness and talent in that part of the field is essential. As the links between a solid back line anchored by OmarGonzalez and attacking edge supplied by Donovan and Keane and Mike Magee, they bring elements vital to staving off a talented opponent while probing foropenings to be exploited.
A stifled midfield game plagued Seattle in its semifinal Tuesday against the other Mexican representative, Santos Laguna, and its crisp passing in the middlethird seldom led to a penetrating pass or threatening cross. As Fox Soccer analyst Keith Costigan pointed out, a lot of “huffing and puffing” ledonly to errant passes or flimsy high balls.
A monster game by Osvaldo Alonso, unfortunately, wasn’t complemented by creative playmaking nor incisive dribbling from his teammates.Mario Martinez struggled to get past anyone and resorted to weak shots from middle distance. Midfielder Mauro Rosalescame off the bench and did the necessary hard work without breaking through, and a forward line led by Sammy Ochoa lacked the guile to escape the Santosdefenders.
The Sounders were missing Eddie Johnson and Obafemi Martins, both injured, and doubtless theattack suffered by their absence. Santos Laguna relied on moderate midfield pressure and patient tracking to close off the passing lanes, and ruthlessly gobbled up the aimless through ball ordesperation cross that usually ensued when the Sounders were forced into a decisive moment.
Escaping pressure and exploiting space in the attacking third are staples of the Galaxy’ssuccess, as evidenced by Magee picking up the scoring slack — he leads the team with five goals — as Donovan completed his hiatus. The Galaxy’s “huffing and puffing” in midfield,where Sean Franklin and Michael Stephens have also seen time, is coordinated and cohesive. When the Sounders ran out ofideas they also ran out of space, and all their admirable work in the middle third went unrewarded.
The semis fell at maybe the worst possible time for the Sounders, mired in a winlessrun to open the league campaign and weakened by injuries. Ochoa has proven to be a capable backup against MLS opposition but he ran ground constantly against Santos, which counterattacked sharplyseveral times and probably deserved more than the one goal it got through former MLSer Herculez Gomez.
This isn’t the ideal time for theGalaxy either, with Donovan just back in the team, Keane hobbled by a calf strain suffered in late March playing for Ireland, and keeper Carlo Cudicini chafingfrom a couple of costly errors. Young guns Jose Villarreal and Jack McBean have been carrying the forward flag much ofthe time, and will probably be called upon, depending on how Keane and Donovan are able to contribute.
On the plus side, Gonzalez is perhaps in the best form of his career, coming off apair of strong showings for the USA in Hexagonal play that included a 0-0 tie with Mexico in Azteca Stadium. One of Monterrey’s key midfielders is Mexican international Jesus Zavala, whose interplay with Walter Ayovi and Neri Cardozo will give Sarvas and Juninho plenty todeal with, and all that defensive work could limit how much the Galaxy midfielders can contribute to the attack.
Gonzalez and Co. usually got the better of Zavala and his mates in theAzteca, but though Monterrey is struggling in league play it knows how to get results on the road in CCL play. Two years ago in the CCL finals, Monterrey beat Real Salt Lake, 1-0, at Rio Tinto Stadiumafter tying 2-2 at home.
Monterrey is also bounding into this CCL semifinal off a 3-0 thrashing of UNAM in its league game last weekend, and has won or tied four of its last five leaguegames.
“The team was desperate for win, and especially in front of the home crowd,” Zavala said to the team’s Web site. “Now we need to think about what comesnext; important Concacaf games against the Galaxy and then a league match against Toluca. We have a chance to fight for the Liguilla, and we want to be in both tournaments. The team is convinced itcan make the [Liga MX] playoffs and also win the title of Concacaf, which is what we want to do.”