Fireworks Galore! LA Galaxy vs. Toronto FC July 4, 2015

(Photo via Twitter User @LAGalaxy)

Fireworks, goals, and sparks galore! This year the LA Galaxy celebrated the Fourth of July by playing their only 2015 MLS Regular Season match against Toronto FC.

Starting Lineups and Substitutions

For not having three key players, the LA Galaxy played excellently! Omar Gonzalez, Gyasi Zardes, and Jaime Penedo are currently competing in the Gold Cup tournament. While not quite a key player, he is our super sub—Alan Gordon received a yellow card in the Galaxy’s 3-1 loss against the San Jose Earthquakes, and MLS suspended him from the Toronto match because of yellow card accumulation.

In the early minutes of the first half, the Robbie Rogers-Sebastian Lletget combination struck again! When these two make a play together, it has often ended in a goal or an assist. Rogers passed the ball to Lletget towards the corner of the box and Creavalle made contact with Lletget from behind. The referee awarded the Galaxy with a penalty kick, and Robbie Keane swiftly put into the net!

The match stayed fairly close—at least regarding possession, passing, and shots. Both teams took twelve shots each while the Galaxy had seven on target compared to Toronto’s three. Brian Rowe (LA) and Chris Konopka (TFC) either blocked the rest of the shots or the players missed the target completely.

Right before halftime, Keane added another goal to the scoreboard. The play started in the defense and then went to the top of Toronto’s box. Stefan Ishizaki passed the ball into the box to Baggio Husidic who then crossed the ball to Keane. Because of Toronto’s defensive mistake that left so many Galaxy players open, Keane easily tapped the ball past Konopka.

At the start of the second half, Toronto gained their rhythm for at least part of the match. Sebastian Giovinco (The Atomic Ant), Marco Delgado, and Robbie Findley all took a shot within the first few minutes. Luckily, Brian Rowe—standing in for Jaime Penedo—saved all three shots. (If ever something—knock on wood—happened to Penedo, I’m confident in Rowe’s ability.)

Fans watched in fear at the 50^th minute when it looked like Dan Gargan might have been injured. He sprinted towards the end of the Galaxy’s half…and ran right into the advertisements! He hung over them for a good minute or two before he struggled to walk off the shock. Ten minutes later, Bruce Arena subbed him out for Tommy Meyer.

In the 59^th minute, Keane struck again! He tallied a third goal—scoring his second hat trick of the season. Justin Morrow made a poor attempt at a pass back to Konopka, and Keane intercepted it like the amazing forward he is! Keane cut to the right of the goalkeeper, dribbled for a few yards and then slotted the ball into the open net right before a Toronto player attempted to block the shot. Has Mr. Keane regained his composure after missing several matches due to an injury? I think so!

We all thought we’d seen the last goal of the match. But boy were we wrong!

As the end of the match approached, the fourth referee signaled the addition of five minutes for stoppage time (95 minutes total for the match). In the 94^th minute, Lletget passed the ball Ignacio Maganto and then made an overlapping run around Maganto. Nacho skillfully passed the ball into the right corner of the box—Lletget’s sweet spot—and Lletget pounded the ball into the goal. He scored the fourth goal of the match and his fourth goal as a LA Galaxy player!

Overall, the Galaxy has shown much improvement in the last five matches—not including the 3-1 loss to the Earthquakes. Defensively, they successfully shut down Sebastian Giovinco—number four in the standings for the season’s leading goal scorers. The midfield played much better too and controlled the game. The forwards…how can you not say they’ve improved?

During halftime, the LA Galaxy introduced Steven Gerrard, the newest player to put on the Galaxy’s jersey! He will probably start his Galaxy career this Saturday (July 11) when they take on Club America as part of the International Champions Cup.

Unfortunately, as one player arrives, another one leaves. After the game, Stefan Ishizaki announced that he had just played his last match with the LA Galaxy. Because of this important news, I will devote an entire article to Ishi’s announcement.

Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things LA Galaxy and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, all the time!

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