Eddie Gaven didn't know how he was going to get the ball back from Amado Guevara. But he knew to continue his run and that somehow Guevara would find him.
Standing at the top of the restraining arc with three Los Angeles Galaxy players in front of him, Guevara deftly lifted the ball to Gaven, who knocked in the rebound of his saved header in the 67th minute to give the MetroStars a 2-1 win against the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night at Giants Stadium.
"I've seen it done in training, he always does stuff like that," Gaven said. "I didn't know how he was going to get me that ball but I knew he would pull off some great play because he's a great player."
Added Guevara: "Those things happen just at the moment. It's something that you practice from time to time, it doesn't always work. It just happened that we were lucky and it worked with Eddie."
And, after blowing a pair of two-goal leads in a loss at New England and a draw at Real Salt Lake, the Metros made sure this lead held up. Zach Wells didn't even have to make a save as the Galaxy's offensive woes and road troubles continued.
They scored just three goals in the past six games and have one point in eight games away from the Home Depot Center in their sixth consecutive game without a win. The MetroStars also won their sixth win in their last seven games at home against their West Coast rival. The other game was a tie.
"The way things have been going lately, we really wanted to concentrate on finishing out the last 15 minutes," Wells said. "The last two games we've given up four goals. We wanted to come out and close the game out. It was a big focus before the game and at halftime and we were able to do that."
But Wells did give up the equalizing goal on a perfectly placed shot by Herculez Gomez from the extreme right of the box. Gomez received the ball from Paulo Nagamura and put the ball off the far post and in, as Wells remained motionless on his line.
"You're in a game where not much is happening and now from a very strange position a player lets one go and it hits off the inside of the post and goes in," Metros coach Bob Bradley said. "Maybe the easiest games for goalkeepers are the ones where there's a lot of action and you're in it throughout the game."
"There was no possible way I could reach it," Wells said. "At that point you just have to give the guy credit."
Twice in the first half the MetroStars, who leapfrogged D.C. United into fourth place in the Eastern Conference, burned the Galaxy with long balls over the top of their defense. The first, a ball from Guevara to Ante Razov, led to the first MetroStars goal as Razov was knocked down by Galaxy defender Ugo Ihemelu in the box.
Guevara stepped to the spot and put the ball to Hartman's left to give the Metros a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute. It was his team-leading sixth goal of the year.
In the 45th minute Sergio Galvan Rey was freed towards goal by a Lisi long ball but he was tripped by Todd Dunivant and Razov put the ensuing free kick off the crossbar.
"We needed the win," Guevara said. "We lost the three points in Salt Lake and this was a game that we had to win."
At the halfway point of the season, the MetroStars snapped a two-game winless streak as they moved to 24 points on the season. They also recorded a third victory at home this season after starting without a victory in their first five games at Giants Stadium.
"As a team we try and break each quarter of the season down and I think if I added it up right, in this last quarter we won four, lost one and tied three," Bradley said. "I felt like in this eight-game stretch we've made progress and now we want to build on that and in this next quarter of the season see if we can't go a bit further."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
