Feeling Burned, Galaxy Turns to Frye in the Pinch

Adam Frye has an unknown benefactor in Mexico City.

That person--possibly Club America Coach Alfio Basile--decided that striker Luis Hernandez would not be made available to the Galaxy for the CONCACAF Champions Cup that started Tuesday night.

The reason given was that Hernandez had pulled a muscle in his rib cage. No one at the Galaxy buys that excuse. They believe Club America is being uncooperative over the player the two teams share.

Either way, Hernandez’s absence means that Frye, a virtual unknown who played only 238 minutes in Major League Soccer last season as an off-the-bench defensive substitute, will start tonight.

The former UCLA player will be paired alongside Cobi Jones in the Galaxy attack as Los Angeles tries to win the first of two games that will qualify it for this summer’s FIFA World Club Championship in Spain.

If the Galaxy defeats Real Espana of Honduras tonight at 8:30 at Cal State Fullerton and then beats the winner of tonight’s other game between D.C. United and Alajuelense of Costa Rica, on Friday night at the Coliseum, it will be going to Spain.

“For both [MLS] teams it’s a unique opportunity, an opportunity that American teams don’t get every day,” said Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid.

And a notable opportunity too, for Frye, a 26-year-old from Alamogordo, N.M.

So far, his MLS career has been unremarkable. He spent three seasons with the Tampa Bay Mutiny and one with the San Jose Earthquakes before being picked up on waivers by the Galaxy in March.

Now, he is filling in for the Mexico national team’s all-time leading scorer and playing alongside the U.S. national team’s all-time appearance leader.

Nervous? Not a chance.

“I think it’s a great opportunity,” Frye said. “It’s kind of exciting. I’m looking forward to the challenge. I think everybody on the team is ready for it. We’ve been preparing for two months, with very few days off. We went practically right through Christmas. We’re taking it seriously.”

Nor is Schmid concerned about playing a converted defender up front in such an important game. For one thing, he has no choice. Hernandez is unavailable, Sasha Victorine is not 100% fit and Sebastien Vorbe has been moved into midfield. For another, Frye has experience in attack.

“Adam played for the first 18 years of his life as a forward, so he’s not unfamiliar with it,” Schmid said. “It’s not something he’s forgotten how to do, so that’s been a big plus.

“The other thing he has brought to the table playing up front is he’s very good in the air. [Former Galaxy forward] Carlos Hermosillo was good in the air, but Frye is maybe a little more dynamic. It’s the first time in a long time that we’ve had anybody up front who’s like that.”

The Galaxy will play out of a 3-5-2 formation, using Alexi Lalas, Greg Vanney and Paul Caligiuri in defense, behind a midfield of Simon Elliott, Mauricio Cienfuegos, Pete Vagenas, Ezra Hendrickson and either Zak Ibsen, Brian Kelly or Marvin Quijano.

That will leave Frye and Jones as the point players being counted on to score, or at least create, the goals.

“From a standpoint of matching him with Cobi, the thing that Adam brings is he just works his rear end off and he works unselfishly,” Schmid said. “If Cobi wants him to run to the right, he’ll run to the right. If Cobi wants him to run to the left, he’ll run to the left.

“So him being up front helps Cobi become a little more dangerous. He [Frye] realizes that, ‘OK, I’m here to be a worker bee. I’m here to help,’ and he’s approached is from that attitude. He’s been super.”

Jones has helped Frye in other ways too.

“Cobi told me that if I was looking to feel a little lighter and bubblier, I should try this new diet that he has,” Frye said. “I didn’t do it for too long because I don’t think it’s that healthy for a regular person, [but] for a couple of weeks it sure did do the trick.”

Frye, 10 pounds lighter and relishing the chance to contribute, says his defensive experience will benefit him on offense.

“I think what helps me the most is that as a defender I’m pretty tenacious at trying to win the ball back,” he said. “It helps when you have a forward who’s up there who has the ability to win the ball one-on-one instead of just letting them waltz right through you.”

Schmid agreed.

“As a team, it allows us to press at times defensively because we’ve got a guy up front who’s obviously very comfortable at winning the ball back,” he said. “Cobi is a very good defender as well, so it gives us a new dimension.”

So, even if Club America relents at the last minute and releases Hernandez today, it will be Frye who starts tonight.

Real Espana poses a few problems, but Schmid is confident.

“They’ve got a decent center forward, a guy with some size and some speed,” he said. “He [Luis Ramirez] is somebody, obviously, they try to play through. They’ve got some good skillful midfield players that you have to be aware of, and they play a very disciplined style.

“I think the [Galaxy] team has prepared well. I think the team has worked hard. The players sacrificed some of their off-time and their down time to make sure they were prepared physically. So I’m very confident that we’re ready physically to play in this tournament and I feel very happy with how we’ve come together.”

*

In Champions Cup games Tuesday night, Olimpia of Honduras and Pachuca of Mexico advanced to Friday’s semifinals with victories in front of 5,701 fans at Titan Stadium in Fullerton.

Olimpia upset Toluca of Mexico, 1-0, on an 86th-minute goal by Robert Lima off a free kick by fellow Uruguayan Danilo Tosello. Toluca squandered two scoring opportunities, once hitting the left post and later seeing Victor Ruiz’s penalty kick saved by keeper Donaldo Gonzalez.

In the second game, Pachuca defeated Joe Public of Trinidad and Tobago, 1-0, on a penalty kick goal by Gabriel Caballero in the 73rd minute. Pachuca was frustrated by the Caribbean team’s defense until American referee Kevin Stott awarded the penalty kick when Haitian defender Pierre Bruny Richard fouled Caballero.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

CONCACAF Champions Cup

Tournament schedule:

TUESDAY’S RESULTS (CAL STATE FULLERTON)

* Olimpia (Honduras) 1, Toluca (Mexico) 0

* Pachuca (Mexico) 1, Joe Public FC (Trinidad & Tobago) 0

TONIGHT (CAL STATE FULLERTON)

* DC United (MLS) vs Alajuelense (Costa Rica), 6:30 p.m.

* Galaxy vs Real Espana (Honduras), 8:30 p.m.

FRIDAY (COLISEUM)

* Semifinals--Olimpia (Honduras) vs. Pachuca (Mexico), 7 p.m.; Wednesday’s winners, 9 p.m.

SUNDAY (COLISEUM)

* Third-place game--10:30 a.m.

* Final--1 p.m.