The New England Revolution and Los Angeles Galaxy shared the points in an entertaining 1-1 draw at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday night.
Herculez Gomez opened the scoring for the visitors in the 16th minute from a Landon Donovan feed. New England's Shalrie Joseph leveled from the penalty spot 10 minutes later after Ugo Ihemelu handled the ball in the area.
After a cagey first half in which both sides possessed well, but did not commit to moving forward, the second half opened up with entertaining attacking play and chances for both sides to seize the three points.
Tyrone Marshall suffered a hamstring injury, forcing him off the field after five minutes. Costa Rican defender Michael Umaña replaced the veteran defender at the heart of the Galaxy defense.
The Galaxy drew first blood in the 16th minute through Gomez. Ihemelu intercepted a loose pass in midfield and distributed to Donovan. The U.S. international split the defense with his through ball to find Gomez, and he raced into the area before widely rounding Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis and rolling the ball home for his fourth goal in the last four games.
Jay Heaps picked up a yellow card for a challenge on Donovan in the 21st minute, ruling him out of the Revolution's Aug. 6 match against Kansas City for caution point accumulation.
Gomez nearly doubled the advantage after 24 minutes. Set free by Peter Vagenas, Gomez's chip was lofted just over the bar with Reis well off his line.
The Revolution drew level in the 26th minute from a Shalrie Joseph penalty. A cross was whipped in from the right, and as Ihemelu bent forward to head clear, the ball struck his hand and referee Marcel Yonan pointed, somewhat harshly, to the spot. Joseph, captain for the night in place of the suspended Joe Franchino, struck his penalty to the lower left hand corner just past the dive of Kevin Hartman.
Gomez and Donovan went close again in the 39th minute. Paulo Nagamura intercepted a loose pass in midfield and distributed to Gomez on the right side of the box. His cross to the far post just missed Donovan with the goal beckoning.
After the recess, Los Angeles started well through the attacking duo of Gomez and Donovan. First, a low Cobi Jones cross was poked away by Reis with Donovan looming at the far post on 56 minutes.
Gomez then should have fared better from a Donovan free kick in the 59th minute. His shot was straight at Reis after he had shaken his mark at the near post.
Andy Dorman responded for the home side after 63 minutes with a stinging 30-yard blast towards the upper right corner that forced the best from Hartman to push it away for a corner kick.
The home side continued to press, forcing two quick saves from Hartman in the 70th minute. Jose Cancela's bending free kick was pushed away with a dive to Hartman's right, while Taylor Twellman's diving header was denied from the resulting corner kick.
But that was the closest either team would come to scoring the rest of the way, though Dempsey drew yellow on 82 minutes for a two-footed lunge on substitute Pando Ramirez.
MLSnet.com Man of the Match: Herculez Gomez (Los Angeles Galaxy)
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
Los Angeles Galaxy (8-7-5) vs. New England Revolution (10-3-6)
July 27, 2005 -- Gillette Stadium
Scoring Summary:
LA -- Herculez Gomez 4 (Landon Donovan 5, Ugo Ihemelu 1) 16
NE -- Shalrie Joseph 2 (penalty kick) 26
Los Angeles Galaxy -- Kevin Hartman, Ugo Ihemelu, Tyrone Marshall (Michael Umana 5), Todd Dunivant, Troy Roberts, Chris Albright (Guillermo Ramirez 75), Cobi Jones, Paulo Nagamura, Peter Vagenas, Herculez Gomez (Joseph Ngwenya 81), Landon Donovan.
Substitutes Not Used: Steve Cronin, Ned Grabavoy.
TOTAL SHOTS: 10 (Herculez Gomez 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (Herculez Gomez 2); FOULS: 9 (3 tied with 2); OFFSIDES: 1 (Todd Dunivant 1); CORNER KICKS: 3 (Landon Donovan 3); SAVES: 4 (Kevin Hartman 4)
New England Revolution -- Matt Reis, Jay Heaps, Michael Parkhurst, Avery John, James Riley, Jose Cancela, Andy Dorman (Connally Edozien 77), Shalrie Joseph, Marshall Leonard (Ryan Latham 64), Taylor Twellman, Clint Dempsey.
Substitutes Not Used: Jeff Larentowicz, Khano Smith, Luke Vercollone, Doug Warren, Easton Wilson.
TOTAL SHOTS: 6 (6 tied with 1); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (5 tied with 1); FOULS: 12 (Shalrie Joseph 4); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 6 (Jose Cancela 6); SAVES: 2 (Matt Reis 2)
Misconduct Summary:
NE -- Jay Heaps (caution; Reckless Foul) 21
LA -- Landon Donovan (caution; Dissent) 69
NE -- Clint Dempsey (caution; Dissent) 82
NE -- James Riley (caution; Professional Foul) 87
LA -- Peter Vagenas (caution; Reckless Foul) 90
Referee: Marcel Yonan
Referee's Assistants: -Kermit Quisenberry; Bill Dittmar
4th Official: Gus St. Silva
Attendance: 8,954
Time of Game: 1:57
Weather: Cloudy-and-93-degrees
All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial.
