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CaliClasico: Ashley Cole’s Ejected, Gio Scored

Last Wednesday, the LA Galaxy celebrated Pride Night during its match against Western Conference leaders, the Colorado Rapids. They tied 0-0 in a rather lackluster match. Tonight, the Galaxy played its third CaliClasico of the season. LA won the first one on March 19, and it tied San Jose in the second on May 22. Tonight’s CaliClasico second half proved more exciting and gut wrenching than the past six games combined.

The Galaxy have not won a match since May 8 against the New England Revolution nor scored a goal since May 28 against the Montreal Impact (300 minutes without a goal at the beginning of tonight).

We actually had a new player start today—Gerrrad. Bruce even gave him the captain’s armband. He seemed to play well too—quite the attacking-minded player. LA has lacked that attitude lately.

Oh, wait. That’s just Steven Gerrard with his name misspelled.

During the first half, LA seemed more aggressive. They controlled the ball more in the first twenty minutes, but the Earthquakes saw more possession in the last twenty-five. San Jose had twelve shots compared to the Galaxy’s single shot.

Chad Barrett came closest to scoring when his shot bounced off the crossbar right before the half ended.

Unfortunately, the Galaxy will be down two defenders for the July 4th match against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Jelle Van Damme received his fifth yellow card tonight. The fourth came on Wednesday. His good behavior earlier in the season allowed one yellow to be rescinded, but he’s now out of luck.

In the second half, it seemed more evenly matched with LA attacked as much as San Jose attacked. Steven Gerrard made his presence known and tremendously stimulated the LA offense.

Gerrard nearly ended LA’s goal drought in the 60th minute. He tried too hard to make a fancy goal and David Bingham ended up saving the shot.

Nine minutes later, the Galaxy scored its first goal since May 28 (371 minutes without any goals). Gerrard crossed the ball from the sideline into the box, and Gio headed it home past Bingham.

After Gio’s goal, San Jose punished LA with a barrage of shots. Our wonderful goalie Rowe, though, saved almost every single one. The LA defense saved the rest. With fifteen minutes left and a much-needed victory within reach, the Galaxy grasped its lead tightly.

In the 79th minute, our favorite twelfth man saved the day again. Chad Barrett headed the ball and it bounced again right off the crossbar.

At the 90th minute mark, Barrett finally scored a goal. Shea Salinas crossed a free kick into the box and found Barrett at the end to head in the ball.

Three minutes later, the referee ejected Ashley Cole. He first pulled out a yellow card, and shortly after showed the red card. I honestly cannot tell you why he ejected Cole, but the consensus is that he said something either to the referee or just to the universe and the referee disliked what he heard.

The LA Galaxy’s next regular season match on the Fourth of July will be very interesting. Scratch what I said earlier about defenders. They will be down three defenders—Robbie Rogers is recovering from surgery, Van Damme is suspended due to yellow card accumulation, and Ashley Cole received a red card. We all know who will be on the field now – Leonardo. Let’s keep our hopes up that Leonardo will be an effective replacement.

After six boring games, tonight’s CaliClasico ended with a lot of drama. This GIF about sums up the match:

A goal for both teams, yellow card accumulation, and a red card. Wow. We shall see how LA fares without Cole and Van Damme.

Next Wednesday, the LA Galaxy will play the Portland Timbers during the U.S. Open Cup. Stay tuned to see which team moves on in America’s biggest soccer tournament!

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