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Galaxy Drops 3-2 Decision to Crew

August 14, 2002 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
LA Galaxy News Release


COLUMBUS, OH (Saturday, July 13, 2002) - Despite goals from Cobi Jones and Simon Elliott, the Los Angeles Galaxy lost to the Columbus Crew, 3-2, at Columbus Crew Stadium on Wednesday night. Second half substitutes Jeff Cunningham and Robert Warzycha combined to score the winning goal for the Crew in the 78th minute.

"You can't win everything and winning on the road is a difficult task," said Schmid on falling short of becoming the first MLS Team to win three straight. "However, we are happy with what we've done over the last six or seven games. Even tonight's game, we felt that we were in the game the whole way and were not dominated or destroyed."

Despite missing veteran Galaxy midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos and defender Alexi Lalas, who were resting at home in Los Angeles for Saturday's match vs. Colorado, the Galaxy broke out to an the early 1-0 advantage.

U.S. National Team midfielder Cobi Jones gave the Galaxy a sudden lead in the sixth minute when he cashed in on a quality effort from right-winger Tyrone Marshall. Jones, who scored his third goal of the season, extended his point scoring streak to five games. The Jamaican international powered his way past the Crew's Duncan Oughton on the right side and slotted a pass along the top of the penalty area where an unmarked Jones finished easily past Crew goalkeeper Jon Busch from 16 yards out. In the 23rd minute Oughton would find redemption for his defensive error when he eluded a tackle from the Galaxy's Ezra Hendrickson inside the Galaxy box. Advancing toward goal, Oughton was yanked down by the Los Angeles defender just before another Galaxy defender, Danny Califf, slid in an attempt to break up the play.

Immediately pointing to the penalty spot, referee Terry Vaughn received no objections from the Galaxy as he awarded a penalty kick to the Crew for Hendrickson's infraction. Martino took the ensuing penalty kick and promptly smashed his shot off the inside of the left post to knot the score at 1-1 in the 24th minute.

Seizing the momentum, Columbus took the lead just four minutes later when Oughton again broke free of the Galaxy defense and crossed to Buddle who nodded his fifth goal of the season past goalkeeper Kevin Hartman to make the score 2-1 in favor of the home side.

In the 64th minute, Galaxy leading scorer Carlos Ruiz received his sixth yellow card of the season. Ruiz, who equaled the 21 caution point total, will miss the Galaxy's next game against Colorado to serve a mandatory one-game suspension.

Los Angeles would find an equalizer of their own in the 66th minute when a redirected cross from the foot of Jones found its way to Simon Elliott, who pushed the ball past Busch to tie the score at 2-2.

Despite battling the flu, Cunningham entered the game in the 70th minute for Brian Maisonneuve while Warzycha came on for Buddle in the 76th minute, setting the stage for Cunningham's game-winning score. The goal was Cunningham's team-leading 11th tally of the season. The fifth-year player from the University of South Florida leads the Crew in overall scoring with 26 points on 11 goals and four assists.

The game's final moments were marred by a scuffle near the Los Angeles goalmouth that ended with the ejection of both Martino and Hartman in stoppage time.

The Galaxy (10-8-3, 33 pts) will look to regain their winning ways on Saturday when they host Western Conference rival Carlos "El Pibe" Valderrama and the Colorado Rapids at 7:00 p.m. in the Rose Bowl. For more information regarding Los Angeles Galaxy tickets, please call the Galaxy toll free at (877) 3GALAXY.

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