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Lletget Scores Late For LA Galaxy To Force 1-1 Draw

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Los Angeles was in Seattle Sunday afternoon to take on the Sounders for only the third time this month, the LA Galaxy winning the first two.

Gyasi Zardes would be out for the Galaxy in this one as he picked up a slight knock before the game, a chest muscle strain during training.

This game gained interest throughout the week for all reasons related to the Sounders. The manager for the club since their admission into the MLS, Sigi Schmid was let go given the team’s struggles this season that find them near the bottom of the Western Conference. Although many believe the struggles for this club are directly related to the transfer of striker Obafemi Martins during the offseason with no replacement ever coming in.

Well Martin’s replacement did come in for his first start Sunday, immediately after the dismissal of Schmid. Nicolas Lodeiro was brought on from Argentine powerhouse Boca Juniors. The 27 year-old Uruguayan striker is expected to be a major signing for Major League Soccer and you could see his promise immediately in this contest.

The Sounders came out with a lot of energy on the attack. Lodeiro, Valdez and Morris were clicking on all cylinders early making life difficult for the Galaxy defenders. Thankfully for Los Angeles though they have a defender Jelle Van Damme that may have had his best performance of the year. That’s saying something for the 2016 MLS All-Star. Van Damme had a number of great clearances in this one that helped keep his club in the game and this one in the first half was certainly one of the most important defensive plays this season.

This clearance would help the Galaxy hold on to the 0-0 tie going into the half.

The second half saw few changes to get started. It seemed only a matter of time before the energy for Seattle paid off with a goal and it didn’t take long before it did.

A quick second half goal for Seattle made things look very bleak for Los Angeles as their attack did not slow after putting one in the back of the net. It wasn’t until a substitution was made that things began to look up for the men in white on Sunday as Sebastian Lletget subbed in for Emmanuel Boateng and suddenly the Galaxy attack showed some life. While bringing Lletget off the bench lately has been a point of contention for fans he has been thriving in such a role.

Lletget was able to be in the right place at the right time in the 78th minute to knot the game up at 1.

Brian Rowe and Van Damme would step up in the last minutes of the game with some saves to help the Los Angeles hold on for the draw in this one. Yes I said Van Damme, with saves. One was already highlighted above but this one is an amazing block on what looked to be an open shot from Jordan Morris.

Despite some great attack from Seattle, the ability of the Galaxy to step up when a mistake was made and tie the game up showed the type of play a team needs to excel in this league.

Jelle Van Damme was absolutely the man of the match for the Galaxy on Sunday but an absent player may have been a bigger story. The absence of Zardes was very evident in this game and it leaves very little doubt of the importance the attacker has on this team.

Los Angeles played Seattle for the final time this month ending their three game stretch with two wins and a draw against the Western Conference foe.

The next game for the Galaxy will be against the New York Red Bulls next Sunday on Fox Sports One at 6:30 PM PST. Thanks for following along Galaxy fans and keep on coming back to CaliSports for all your Galaxy news.

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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