Alejandro Moreno's exasperation was apparent. Another question about his goal in last weekend's victory at San Jose? Really?
The Venezuelan forward has been asked again and again about the goal at the end of the first half, the Goats' first in a 2-1 comeback triumph that made Robin Fraser a winner for the first time in Major League Soccer. It was, officially, a header from Heath Pearce's free kick that bounced inside the left post, but repeated viewings of the play have many believing Pearce should have received credit.
If you believe that, Moreno says, "well, you would be wrong."
MLS's statisticians agree, confirming Monday that the goal was Moreno's, his second this season and 48th in nine-plus MLS seasons, including one in Columbus' playoff run toward its MLS Cup 2008 title.
Pearce, in his third MLS season after four years in Denmark and Germany, has never scored in 40 league outings.
"I haven't seen the replays, but if he said he touched it, I assume he touched it. So it's his goal," Pearce said after the Goats' training session Wednesday. "I just tried to put the ball in a dangerous spot, and he got his head on it, so he got a goal."
The close-cropped Moreno said the ball hit him "in about 15 of the hairs in front of my head" and that Pearce "knows I touched it. From his angle, he could see me getting up for the ball and touching it. I can't argue against the TV angles, all I can tell you is I touched the ball."
Pearce, who has played at left back most of his career but has played at center back the past 4� games, acknowledges he'd like to hit the net one day.
"Everybody loves to score goals. Even goalies like to score goals," he said. "It's something I would love to do at some point in my career."
This one, he'll let Moreno have. And he does get credit for an assist, his eighth in MLS.
Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/soccer/post/_/id/7740/chivas-usa-moreno-scored-with-15-hairs
No comments:
Post a Comment