The final whistle had been blown and the coaches were shaking hands after the Los Angeles Galaxy defeated the New York Red Bulls 1-0 in the first leg of their conference semifinal at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey October 30.

Everything seemed to be a wrap and the commentators were talking about the next meeting at the Home Depot Center when a fight broke out. The Red Bulls’ Rafa Marquez caught the ball from a goal kick as the final whistle blew. Instead of just heading off the pitch, he decided to throw the ball at Landon Donovan. A fairly decent toss, too.

The Galaxy’s Adam Cristman was right next to Marquez, and came over to give him a nice little shove. They got into it a little, which drew other players from both sides. Marquez looked like he was throwing punches, and Los Angeles’ Juninho threw one or two himself. Their actions got Marquez and Juninho each a red card, which means they will be unavailable when the two sides play the second leg at the Home Depot Center.

Even if it means nothing, it means something

In addition to loving soccer I’m a hockey fan, and in that context the fight wasn’t all that much. Still, it’s soccer, not hockey, and that’s not supposed to happen. That doesn’t mean I don’t take my hat off first to Cristman, and second to Juninho. That’s standing up for your team when some ne’er do well tosses a ball at at teammate.

It’s one thing I was a little disappointed in by the Portland Timbers in their last game of the season against the dirty-playing Houston Dynamo. There was more than one incident where the team could have come to the defense of someone being attacked by a Dynamo player. The most egregious was the hit on Mike Chabala by Houston’s Danny Cruz.

The contact put Chabala on the ground dazed, and he even appeared to be knocked out for a minute or so. Cruz drew a yellow card from the action that absolutely should have brought a red. Chabala was a little bothered that no one from the Timbers came to stand up for him.

“It was disappointing,” Chabala said. “If it had happened to somebody else on my team, I’m getting in somebody’s face. Regardless of whether it’s (a teammate) I’ve for two weeks or two years. I would have been right there in the middle of it sticking my face in somebody else’s face.”

The Timbers did respond positively and play more aggressive in the rest of the games, but more action against the Dynamo might have produced a different result. I’m not saying I want the side scrapping all the time, but once in awhile letting it be known they are one for all, even if it means pushing someone who threw a ball.

Jeff Musall has been a fan of the Portland Timbers since moving to the area in 2001. He was excited by the team’s first year as an MLS side and is anxiously looking forward to next year.

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