Rapids coach Fernando Clavijo made one change Saturday to the lineup that defeated FC Dallas on Oct. 30 on penalty kicks, partnering Jean Philippe Peguero and Jeff Cunningham in attack.
With attacking midfielder Alain Nkong serving a one-game suspension, Clavijo pushed forward Jovan Kirovski into Nkong’s position and started his two most productive strikers together for the first time since Sept. 21.
Clavijo said Nkong’s absence was huge.
“We’re going to cry for that one for a long time, what the league should have or could have done,” Clavijo said. “To have the best team possible there, we did not.”
Veteran Leo Cullen maintained his place in the starting lineup, playing in a three-man defensive formation with Mike Petke and Eric Denton, with Pablo Mastroeni dropping deep from his defensive midfielder position.
Galaxy coach Steve Sampson made no changes to his lineup that drew 1-1 with San Jose on Oct. 30.
A tad bit early?
The Rapids thought they tied the game Saturday in the 33rd minute when Peguero headed Terry Cooke’s corner kick into the back of the net.
Referee Brian Hall waved the goal off because he had not blown his whistle to restart play.
“I don’t know what happened there, but that’s been the whole season,” Clavijo said. “I’m not going to ask questions. Somebody is going to look at the tape and they’re probably going to say it’s a goal. But it’s too late.”
Drought ends
Landon Donovan’s goal in the 28th minute Saturday was the first goal the Galaxy had scored against the Rapids since April 17, 2004. Counting the postseason, Los Angeles had failed to score in its past four trips to Invesco Field at Mile High.
Rebuilding the Galaxy
Since replacing Sigi Schmid in August 2004, Sampson has revamped much of the Galaxy roster.
After the retirement of veteran midfielder Andreas Herzog, the Galaxy dealt forward Alejandro Moreno and defender Chris Aloisi to rival San Jose for former Dakota Ridge High School (Littleton) player Todd Dunivant and goalkeeper Steve Cronin. Sasha Victorine was dealt to Kansas City.
Sampson’s biggest move was acquiring forward Donovan from Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen with the allocation pick received from FC Dallas in exchange for forward Carlos Ruiz.
Like Clavijo, who coached the Haitian national team, Sampson brought in players he was familiar with following his stint as coach of the Costa Rica national team – defender Michael Umana and Pablo Chinchilla.
Sampson also brought in Guatemalan midfielder Guillermo Ramirez, Brazilians Paulo Nagamura and Ednaldo da Conceicao, forward Herculez Gomez, defender Ben Benditson and midfielder Mamba Chisoni.
