The LA Galaxy Hold Off the Seattle Sounders, August 9, 2015

In a rematch of the 2015 Western Conference Finals, the LA Galaxy played the Seattle Sounders on August 9, 2015. I don’t think anyone really knew what to expect with this match. A few of the Sounders sat on the injured list—Obafemi Martins, Osvaldo Alonso, Andy Craven, and Andres Correa (the same number as LA, but Alonso and Martins help the team greatly). To add more issues, @InsideMLS tweeted this information out right before the game started:

Clint Dempsey picked up a hamstring injury in training on Friday. #LAvSEA #MLS

— Inside MLS (@InsideMLS) August 9, 2015

The two teams last met on April 12, 2015—also a home game where LA barely beat Seattle 1-0.

Starting Lineups and Substitutions

Right at the start, the Sounders pounced! Chad Barrett found a hole in the Galaxy defense and made them pay for the mistake. Erik Friberg crossed the ball into the box, and Barrett gracefully kicked it past Donovan Ricketts. Unfortunately, he injured his hamstring while celebrating his goal. I couldn’t help but feel bad for the guy because you never want a player to leave with an injury (rival or not), especially after scoring. The Sounders lead only lasted another ten minutes.

In the thirteenth minute, Gyasi Zardes equalized the match at 1-1. Similar to Barrett’s goal, he caught Seattle’s defense ball watching. Juninho crossed the ball into the box, and Zardes slammed a difficult angle into the back of the net!

In only his second match with the LA Galaxy, Giovani dos Santos has already contributed tremendously! Against Seattle, he inadvertently assisted Robbie Keane’s only goal of the night. A.J. DeLaGarza crossed the ball and it bounced off the shins of dos Santos. It rolled to the Irishman, and he easily slotted it past Stefan Frei.

Almost twenty minutes later, dos Santos scored his first MLS regular season goal! Keane and Sebastian Lletget assisted before the Mexican player easily beat Frei and put the ball across the line. He continued to make his new fans proud and further the LA Galaxy’s journey to the 2015 MLS Cup!

Not only has dos Santos helped the Galaxy, but he also seems to have sparked more interest in Major League Soccer within the Mexican and Hispanic communities—at least from what we can see so far. Will it continue? Hopefully. MLS needs to capitalize on this demographic in order to produce more success—one reason why the league awarded Los Angeles (Chivas USA) and Salt Lake City (Real Salt Lake) expansion teams in 2005 as I learned while researching for my Master’s thesis.

As great as these goals were, I think Robbie Rogers made one of the best plays of the night. In the 71st minute, Erik Friberg launched a cross into the box and Donovan Ricketts attempted to catch the ball, but only laid it off right at Andy Rose’s feet. Rose then kicked the ball towards the goal, but without enough power. Rogers ran from the left post and slid in the ball’s direction. Miraculously, he connected with and redirected it out of bounds. He was my Man of the Match.

I expected an intense match because of the rivalry, and I definitely watched one! The Galaxy played on point for most of the match, but the Sounders never let up either! With this team, I certainly believe the LA Galaxy could win their 6th MLS Cup—mostly because of two players: Sebastian Lletget and Giovani dos Santos. They’ve both shown excellent aggressive play, scoring skill, passing skill, speed, and overall high soccer IQs.

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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