DALLAS PAYS THE PRICE FOR FUDGING ON DEFENSE.

Byline: Richard Gonzalez Staff Writer

Although Dallas Burn coach David Dir likened the Galaxy players to a cast of insulting gripers heading into Sunday, at least they weren't the ones who emerged from the Rose Bowl as a bunch of cheaters.

Don't misunderstand, Dallas played by the rules - it just didn't play honestly on defense. Ultimately, it was the difference.

Burn goalkeeper Matt Jordan was caught ``cheating'' off his line twice, leading to both strikes in the Galaxy's 2-1 victory in the opening game of the best-of-three Western Conference Finals of the MLS playoffs. Ezra Hendrickson scored the game-winner for Los Angeles on a deflection in the final minute.

Even Dallas' goal, a 75th-minute tap-in by Ariel Graziani, appeared to have been a ``cheat'' of sorts as television replays indicated Graziani may have been in the offside position while being fed the ball from teammate Paul Broome.

The Galaxy took the lead in the 39th minute on a Mauricio Cienfuegos free kick from the top corner of the penalty box. Jordan, seeing Greg Vanney cutting through the box and Paul Caligiuri unmarked near the top, drifted two steps off the goal line - and Cienfuegos made him pay with a perfect curling shot just by the near post.

``There was a lot of movement in front . . .,'' Jordan said. ``I don't know how much chance there was to stop it. It was a perfectly placed shot.''

Unlike Hendrickson's.

The Galaxy, which saw its momentum slip away in the second half, escaped with victory when Hendrickson's low shot from a tight angle along the goal line sailed past Broome and ricocheted off the neck of Brian Haynes and the out-of-position Jordan.

Losing in the playoffs is never easy to digest. It was particularly galling for Dallas in this case since some Galaxy players freely expressed relief in having to play the Burn instead of Chicago for the conference title.

``L.A. made that very clear publicly,'' Dir sarcastically said. ``I thought we gave them everything they had. The second half, we played much better and took some control . . . I'm getting everything I can out of this team right now and that's all I can ask as a coach.''

If not for Hendrickson's fortunate tally on the deflection, the Galaxy possibly could have been collared with a shootout loss and the prospect of going to Dallas in a backs-to-the-wall scenario.