MetroStars2Revolution1
All goals count the same on the scoreboard, but in life – as in the MLS season – some are bigger than others.
Adolfo Valencia has made a career out of scoring the biggest ones, and he did it again last night in the MetroStars’ season-opener.
The defending Eastern Conference champions have been the trendy pick to win the league title, but seemed destined to let the New England Revolution escape Giants Stadium with a draw.
But Valencia’s diving header in the second minute of injury time gave the MetroStars a 2-1 win in front of 30,753 at the Meadowlands, a stirring victory that Valencia says was vital for the season.
“It’s very important you start with your right foot – when you start with your right, you can do big things in the season,” said Valencia, who capped a furious sequence with his goal.
Forward Clint Mathis, who’d scored the MetroStars’ first goal, chested down a cross from Tab Ramos, and passed it to Mark Chung. The left midfielder fired a shot from 22 yards out that hit the left post. But Valencia pounced on the rebound, and while goalie Jeff Causey was still prone, Valencia put a diving header into the net for the game-winner.
Valencia has a penchant for late-game heroics. Last Aug. 12, his Golden Goal three minutes into overtime gave the MetroStars a 2-1 win over this same New England team. Then on Sept. 15, his goal with 15 seconds left in overtime lifted them to a 2-1 first-round playoff win over Dallas. And last night, he was at it again.
“I’m always patient, and wait for the right time,” Valencia said. “The best thing I have is a lot of confidence in myself as a player. Every chance I get I’ll take it. That’s what happened.
“When Chung shot the ball, they lost track of it. It was there, and that’s what I’m supposed to do. I finished.”
They’d fought hard for 90 minutes, a game with 49 fouls and eight yellow cards, and each team seemed headed for a single point.
Mathis – who’d curiously started the game at defensive midfield, before moving up front when F Alex Comas left with a sprained left knee in the 28th minute – scored first in the 61st minute.
Leonel Alvarez had fouled Chung, drawing a card and giving the MetroStars a set piece. And Mathis – who’d scored the game-winner in a 2-1 World Cup qualifying victory over Honduras with a free kick with four minutes left – hit another last night. His 27-yard shot deflected off the last man in New England’s three-man wall and just past a diving Causey.
Valencia almost made it 2-0 minutes later, but hit the left post on a breakaway. It almost came back to haunt the MetroStars, when Alvarez knotted the score in the 73rd minute. He crossed the ball, and Johnny Torres and goalie Tim Howard both went for it. But Torres’ head knocked Howard’s hand away as the ball bended into the net for the equalizer.
But Valencia atoned for hitting the post in the waning moments, when his team needed him the most.
“That’s been his career all his life,” said coach Octavio Zambrano.
“Sometimes you feel he’s not doing it as well as he should be doing it, but you know you can count on him. Then he gets a goal.”
And Ramos said it’s not serendipity, it’s a skill.
“He has a knack, but he’s had that knack for 20 years,” Ramos said. “That’s why he’s a great player. What we have on this team that’s different from before is we can score goals. If there’s a minute on the clock, we have a chance.”
