Galaxy’s Schmid Finds a New Star in 2-0 Win Over Burn

“The one thing I learned from Bora,” Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid was saying, “is that you’ve got to make sure you feed young players the right amounts of playing time.”

Schmid put Bora Milutinovic’s lesson to good use Saturday night, giving Marvin Quijano his first Major League Soccer start and keeping him on the field for 77 sparkling minutes.

And when the 19-year-old finally came off, it was to the type of applause that later greeted Los Tigres del Norte at the postgame concert.

Enthusiastic. Excited. Upbeat.

Quijano, who came to Los Angeles from El Salvador when he was 11, lit the fuse that sent the Galaxy to a 2-0 victory over the Dallas Burn in front of 14,635 at the Rose Bowl.

The result lifted the team into second place in the Western Conference.

“I thought he did well,” Schmid said. “He’s very, very talented. He’s got a great left foot. He’s got that quickness and he can cause [defenders] problems.

“I think he can be a player in this league. He’s just got to keep his feet squarely on the ground. He knows what he needs to work on and he’s just going to keep getting better.”

The game was barely four minutes old when the former Rio Hondo Junior College player had an impact. Defender Greg Vanney floated a long ball into the Dallas penalty area that Jorge Rodriguez cleared briefly before Quijano pounced on it.

He sprinted into the area and was chopped down inside the box by defender Brandon Pollard. Referee Noel Kenny pointed to the penalty spot and Cobi Jones stepped up to take the kick.

Jones sent a weak effort to Matt Jordan’s left and the Burn goalkeeper was able to block the shot. Ezra Hendrickson, sprinting in from the right, got to the rebound and slammed it into the roof of the net to put the Galaxy ahead.

Los Angeles controlled play for most of the half against a team that relies heavily on striker Jason Kreis. Dallas is 32-4 in games in which Kreis scores a goal, and he has scored 14 times this season.

So the first task for the Galaxy was to shut him out. It didn’t take much in the first 45 minutes. Kreis had only two scoring chances, with both shots sailing off target.

Goalkeeper Kevin Hartman had no difficult saves in the half as the Galaxy back line of Vanney, Robin Fraser, Paul Caligiuri and Hendrickson blunted the Burn attack. Defensive midfielder Danny Pena also did an excellent job of keeping the creative Oscar Pareja in check.

At the other end, the Galaxy was unlucky not to double their advantage in the final minute of the half when Zak Ibsen hit a wicked, left-foot shot that shook the left post but rebounded clear.

Quijano had the same bad luck nine minutes into the second half. After turning Dallas’s Rodriguez inside out with a nifty bit of footwork, he fired a 17-yard shot that clipped the left post and went wide.

But the Galaxy was not going to be denied for long.

In the 58th minute, Quijano earned a corner kick. Vanney sent it in and Jordan came out of his net to punch it away. The ball sailed into the air and came down behind the goalie. Ted Eck then tried to clear it off the line, but the ball deflected off his thigh for an own goal.

Dallas almost managed to cut the deficit in half five minutes later, but Hartman did well to punch a Pareja free kick over the bar.

Los Angeles (14-8) put some space between itself and fourth-place Dallas (11-12) despite a starting lineup that was missing several regulars.

Carlos Hermosillo and Clint Mathis are out because of injuries, and midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos has flu. Schmid also benched defender Steve Jolley and midfielder Simon Elliott after their play in Wednesday’s Open Cup loss to the Columbus Crew.

But players such as Ibsen and Joe Franchino have been able to come in and contribute without the team missing a beat.

And now there is another.

It is difficult to see how Schmid is going to be able to leave Quijano on the bench after Saturday’s effort.

“He’s showing that he can step up and he’s somebody who presents a bright future for this team,” Schmid said.

Quijano, whose father played professionally in the Salvadoran first division, was happy to get a start.

“It’s always been in my mind to play professionally and I got my chance,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll take advantage of it.”