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Galaxy Draw Sounders In Schmid’s Return

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Sigi Schmid made his return to Los Angeles Saturday evening, taking over as manager for the Galaxy for the first time since 2004. Schmid took over a struggling Galaxy squad that had lost five straight MLS matches heading into this one with Schmid’s old club the Seattle Sounders.

Along with Schmid several other Galaxy players found their way back into the lineup with Gyasi Zardes returning from Gold Cup duty and Pele van Anholt getting his first start after arriving on transfer from the Netherlands earlier this month. One player that wasn’t ready to go Saturday was newly acquired Designated Player Jonathan Dos Santos. Dos Santos is currently waiting for his work visa and hopes to be ready for the club’s next matchup against Portland.

With all of this news surrounding the game, the stage was set well for the two rival clubs to get after each other. It didn’t happen, not early on at least.

The two squads had a bit of a feeling out period as the play remained very balanced in the first half.

There was for Los Angeles some bright spots though. Zardes who has been on a goalless streak since last August and is lacking a bit of confidence as of late was making good runs on the ball. He found open players and created opportunities at a much better rate than before he left for National Team duty. van Anholt also showed his skill and effectively shut down his side of the field for the Sounders attack.

Also there was a woe for the Galaxy in the first half as Captain Jelle Van Damme got a yellow card in the 45th minute and that card will force him out of the next match with yellow card accumulation.

The second half started similarly to the way the first ended, balanced play with neither side really finding an opening. Things then took a big shift after about 10 minutes and play opened up for both sides. van Anholt again got a chance to shine as he made a very well timed slide to prevent a goal from Seattle’s Clint Dempsey on the break.

Chances then freed up for Los Angeles as Giovani Dos Santos, Emmanuel Boateng, Romain Alessandrini and Zardes started to create space in the attack. A slight miscue here in the 59th minute saw Boateng just miss the goal going for a header.

Play sped up considerably and both teams grew more comfortable on the attack. Chances came equally for both sides but the pace of play was seemingly leading to a goal-scoring opportunity from one of these dangerous attacks.

All play then halted for the Galaxy as in the 86th minute the previously booked Van Damme found himself in the referee’s notebook yet again after a rough tackle and the prospect of him missing just next week’s match got even worse.

Play stalled after this as Los Angeles found themselves on the defensive. Dos Santos subbed out for Rafael Garcia and the team began to drop into that defensive third to hold for the draw.

And draw they would as neither team could put a ball in the back of the net at the end of 90 minutes.

A draw probably isn’t the start Schmid dreamed of for his return to Los Angeles but the team definitely showed better than previous performances in his debut. Having been with the team since only Tuesday, one has to imagine the players will only improve with more time under new leadership.

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