A former Argentine international barking at Galaxy players outside the locker room and a practice session illuminated by stage lights would indicate the Galaxy’s friendly with Mexican club Guadalajara last Tuesday was anything but amicable. BY RIDGE MAHONEY “It’s like what I said to one of my youth teams years ago,” said L.A. coach Sigi Schmid, “when you go to Mexico, bring a book, because there will be some waiting.” There was also some inconvenience and not a little bit of acrimony amid the match, which the Galaxy won, 2-1, on goals by Mauricio Cienfuegos and Brian Ching. Former Galaxy striker Carlos Hermosillo scored for Guadalajara in the 12th minute. Buses had been arranged to transport the team, but no vehicle showed to pick up the team when it arrived at the Mexico City airport, and there was no bus later in the day to take the team to its training session, the location of which was changed twice due to the delays and facility availability. The Galaxy ended up practicing at night. The stadium lights were not turned on, so the players trained under spotlights that were illuminated so a work crew could build and furnish a stage for a concert to be held in conjunction with the game. “It was one of those friendlies that wasn’t so friendly,” said Schmid. “There were a lot of vicious tackles and it got really rough after one of our players, Brian Ching, struck one of their players [Eduardo Medina] with an elbow and broke his nose.” According to Schmid, Sasha Victorine and Cobi Jones were both crunched by crude tackles in the second half. After Ching scored in the 88th minute to make the score 2-1, a Mexican player deliberately planted his foot in Ching’s groin. “He has three stud marks in a very interesting place,” said Schmid. “The referee did red-card their player.” After the game, Guadalajara coach Oscar Ruggeri — a member of Argentina’s national team in the ’80s and early ’90s — berated the Galaxy players. His assistant is Cacho Cordoba, whom the Fusion chose as its first head coach after he’d been an assistant in Dallas. Schmid used 17 players in the match, including Project-40 players Isaias Bardales Jr. and Marvin Quijano. Forward Brian Mullan played the second half and Ching went the full 90. “Brian [Ching] getting a goal will help his confidence and Brian Mullan is a player people should keep their eye on,” said Schmid. “I think he’s going to be a very, very good player in this league.” Schmid is hoping to finalize the acquisition of defender Craig Waibel as a discovery player in the next few days. “We’re going to play with four backs instead of three a lot of the time,” said Schmid, “and he can play any of those four positions.” Ridge Mahoney is a senior editor of Soccer America.