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Good foot forward Penalty kick lifts Galaxy past Mutiny in playoff opener
ATLANTA (CNNSI.com) -- In what promised to be the most evenly matched of the four Major League Soccer quarterfinal matchups, the Los Angeles Galaxy took a distinct advantage on Thursday night. Greg Vanney scored on a penalty kick in the 61st minute as the Galaxy opened the MLS postseason with a 1-0 victory over Tampa Bay at the Mutiny's Raymond James Stadium. The penalty kick was awarded after Tampa Bay's Ritchie Kotschau tumbled over Luis Hernandez from behind after he had broken free into the penalty box. Vanney converted five of six penalty kicks during the regular season. "It's always to good to win on the road and it certainly helps your team's confidence," said Galaxy coach Sigi Schmid. "Our team having come off the last two games with not winning, it is a shot of adrenaline and confidence that we needed." Los Angeles received three points for the victory under a new playoff format. Game 2 of the quarterfinal series is Wednesday night at the Rose Bowl. Game 3, if necessary, will be Saturday at Tampa. Tampa Bay has lost seven straight playoff games, and hasn't scored in 414 minutes. Los Angeles, which lost to D.C. United in last year's MLS final, lost goalkeeper Kevin Hartman in the 39th minute with a concussion. He was replaced by Matt Reis. Hartman appeared to hit his head against the goal post after landing on the ground following a shot by Josh Keller in the 38th minute. Tampa Bay's Steve Ralston also collided with Hartman early in the half during a goalmouth scramble. Tampa Bay had the better scoring chances during a scoreless first half. Hartman made a diving deflection on Carlos Valderrama's shot from 17 yards in the 18th minute, and Manny Lagos sent a 30-yard shot just wide in the 35th minute. The Galaxy defense managed to shut out the league top scorer, Mamadou Diallo, and its top assist man in Valderrama, visibly frustrating the Mutiny side. "I think it was a gutsy effort more than anything else," said L.A. defender Robin Fraser. "We came in knowing they are a very, very good attacking team and really for us to do well we would have to dig in defensively. I think that everybody rose to the challenge." The Galaxy were without three starters -- Peter Vagenas, Sasha Victorine and Danny Califf -- who are with the U.S. Olympic team. Tampa Bay's Chad McCarty also is playing for the U.S. squad. Post-game quotesL.A. coach Sigi Schmid On the defense's performance: "I thought our defense did a great job. I thought [Paul] Caligiuri did a very good job on Diallo with help from Robin. I think that Greg Vanney and Simon Elliott did a great job on Valderrama and really cut down on the number of times Valderrama could even look to get the ball to Diallo. As a result of that, Diallo starved a little bit and that really helped our game." "Vanney was matched up on Valderrama about 60 percent of the time and that added a little bit more to the midfield, which also helped us when we won the ball. That was the big change from first half to second half. Second half we held onto the ball and once we held onto the ball that made the game much easier for us." On Cobi Jones' and Luis Hernandez's performances: "Luis did a great job on that run drawing the penalty and I thought Cobi worked extremely hard today. We were unlucky I thought not to get four or five goals in the second half. You have got to measure it by how many chances you create. It is a situation were, overall, we created chances and we created some pretty clean chances, now its just a matter of finishing those opportunities. I thought Cobi and Luis' efforts were super. The only reason we took Luis out at the end was because he was starting to cramp up which shows the amount of energy he put into the game." On the six days between games: "Today was a tiring game so for sure having a few extra days off going into the next game is a plus for us." L.A. defender Paul Caligiuri "I have to really credit the whole entire team, everybody played their roles really strong. My job was to step up and mark Diallo and I had a lot of help from Robin Fraser, who I have to give some credit for supporting me from behind. Anytime you step into Tampa and you are playing against 'Big Mama' it's a big job and that's what it was for me tonight. It is just one game right now and Wednesday is going to be a different game. I am sure they are going to come onto the Rose Bowl and step up their game. We will need to step up our intensity as well. They have true professional like [Carlos] Valderrama, [Steve] Ralston and Mamadou [Diallo]. So it is still a tough series, but its great that we can jump on a one nil lead on the road. There were times during the 90 minutes when we gave up an opportunity here and there, but overall the Galaxy played a tactically sound game, everybody played their roles and we had the better chances. We are glad that Luis [Hernandez] drew the foul and drew the penalty kick." L.A. defender Robin Fraser On winning on the road: "It's great. Obviously, this is what anyone would want is to win the first game and to win the first game on the road is even better. We have put ourselves in a pretty good position to try and take care of this thing at home and not have to come back to Tampa. I think had we lost, even though the home team is expected to win, it would have been a much deeper hole than we would have liked to be in." On Caligiuri marking Diallo: "I thought Cal was fantastic. He did just about everything he had to do and whatever became a little difficult for him most times it seemed like I was pretty close or close enough to help him. It was good, he and I had very good communication all day and we never lost track of him [Diallo], which is the important thing." L.A. goalkeeper Kevin Hartman "I feel good. It was a difficult choice to force myself to leave the game, but I thought that it was the right decision. I thought that I had played well while I was in there, but I took a bit if a knock and was having trouble focusing on the ball and seeing it as it moved. The more opportunities that they got the more pivotal I thought that I was that I wasn't in there." Will the extra rest before next Wednesday help: "I went and had a CAT Scan at the hospital and they said that everything seemed to be okay. I have been cleared to travel so it's not some thing where I will be sitting here waiting to go. I am sure the time will be nice, but at the same time I just want to get out and train some more. That's just kind of how I am." "We are happy to be bringing it back home for a game two that we're going to have to capture. You are not really going to win two games on the road and now that we have one on the road it is something that we are going to have to clinch at home and ask for support from our fans. We are definitely going to need their [the fans] support."
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