Very few professional soccer players have ever scored a game-winning playoff goal and shared a shutout as a goalkeeper in the same season, but Mike Magee has now performed that rare double.
Magee, once an 18-year-old regular in New Jersey, returned to the area Sunday and converted a pass from David Beckham in the 15th minute as the Los Angeles Galaxy beat the Red Bulls, 1-0, in the first half of a home-and-home playoff series.
The Red Bulls, formerly known as the MetroStars, do not have a terrific record in the playoffs, having gone 9-15-6 in 15 seasons. Their latest frustration came from somebody who gave them six very respectable seasons before moving on.
Magee is not likely to play keeper when the series moves to Los Angeles on Thursday. He did his part June 25, when he semivolunteered to go into goal after one keeper broke his arm and the substitute was ejected.
Speaking of red cards, two geniuses got themselves tossed from the return match because of a brawl after Sunday’s game. Rafael Marquez of the Red Bulls, who once received a foolish red card for Mexico during a World Cup match against the United States, tossed a ball at none other than Landon Donovan, the most hated American player of them all. Just brilliant. Juninho of the Galaxy received his red card for tossing a punch at a Red Bull.
Magee will survive to play on Thursday, although he looked wan after Sunday’s match, ice strapped to a sore leg as he talked to some familiar faces in the news media crush. He came up through a development program in his hometown, Chicago; was spotted by Bob Bradley, then coaching the Fire; and was brought in to play for the MetroStars and Bradley, scoring 23 goals in six seasons before moving to the Galaxy. Coming back here Sunday did not kick in much nostalgia.
“It’s a different staff, only two players, one kit guy and nobody in the front office,” Magee said after the game. “But I enjoyed it here.” He did make friends, however. After Sunday’s game, he was told that one of the most familiar of the long-suffering fans, a chap who goes by the nickname of Johnny Toro, was waiting to say hello outside the clubhouse. That brought a smile to Magee’s weary face.
He played a hard game on a field slippery from the surprise snow the night before. But he managed to keep his feet at the crucial moment, in the 15th minute, when Beckham did what Beckham does, delivered a swerving 45-yard cross that got behind the Red Bulls’ defense. The defenders were so preoccupied in raising their hands to tell the officials the play was offside that they gave Magee some space. He curled a left-footed shot past the keeper, Frank Rost.
“He played a brilliant ball,” Magee said of Beckham. Asked if he had been offside, Magee said, “One hundred percent, I was not.” Then he added, “Either way, he didn’t call it, so I wasn’t.”
Bruce Arena, the Galaxy coach, said of Magee, “He is intelligent, technically good and just has a real good feel for the game,” adding, “He has always been a player that I felt was very good in the penalty area.” Arena also noted that Magee was versatile.
How versatile? At San Jose on June 25, Magee was playing up front. First, Donovan Ricketts broke his arm in a collision in the 24th minute. Josh Saunders took over but earned himself a red card and automatic ejection in the 43rd minute for hammering an opponent. Arena had no other keepers on the bench and needed a replacement from among the 10 field players.
“He was the closest to me,” Arena said of Magee. “He made the suggestion.”
As Magee recalled it: “I looked around, there were a bunch of foreigners. I was the only American. I figured we are good with our hands.”
He was good with hands and feet, scooting around the goal, making four saves, three in the last 10 minutes of a scoreless draw. He has not been back in goal since and probably won’t be there Thursday either. But he will play.
Marquez and Juninho will not be in uniform. Marquez really ought to know better. He is 32, has played for Barcelona and has been the captain of Mexico. He is currently leaving a bad impression with the Red Bulls. In the 2002 round of 16 match against the United States, Marquez cheap-shotted Cobi Jones out of frustration and was thrown out, as the United States won, 2-0. Donovan is unpopular in Mexico.
Was Marquez thinking about that as he tossed the ball at him after the final whistle? Was he thinking at all? Then again, Thierry Henry kicked Beckham in the back while he was down.
Now Marquez will not be in uniform Thursday. Magee will undoubtedly suit up — the uniform of a field player, not the more garish outfit he wore in his cameo as a keeper.
E-mail: geovec@nytimes.com
Correction: October 31, 2011
An earlier version of this column misidentified a match between the United States and Mexico in 2002. The teams met in a World Cup round of 16 match.