Recap of June 20, 2015 Match: LA Galaxy vs. Philadelphia Union
- Updated: June 23, 2015
(Photo via Twitter User @MLS)
What a match! If you watched the LA Galaxy play the Philadelphia Union, then you witnessed an exceptional performance from the Galaxy during this rather lackluster and disappoint season—so far. Hopefully, they will have more like it!
Starting Lineups and Substitutions
| LA Galaxy | Philadelphia Union | ||||
| 18 | GK | Jaime Penedo | 49 | GK | Brian Sylvestre |
| 14 | D | Robbie Rogers | 28 | D | Raymon Gaddis |
| 20 | D | A.J. DeLaGarza | 8 | D | Maurice Edu |
| 4 | D | Omar Gonzalez | 16 | D | Richie Marquez |
| 33 | D | Dan Gargan | 25 | D | Sheanon Williams |
| 8 | M | Baggio Husidic | 5 | M | Vincent Nogueira |
| 19 | M | Juninho | 7 | M | Brian Carroll |
| 3 | M | Mika Vayrynen | 27 | M | Zach Pfeffer |
| 24 | M | Stefan Ishizaki | 10 | M | Cristian Maidana |
| 7 | F | Robbie Keane | 11 | M | Andrew Wenger |
| 11 | F | Gyasi Zardes | 17 | F | C.J. Sapong |
| 31 | GK | Andrew Wolverton | 55 | GK | John McCarthy |
| 20 | D | A.J. DeLaGarza | 3 | D | Raymond Lee |
| 21 | D | Tommy Meyer | 77 | M | Fred |
| 17 | M | Sebastian Lletget | 15 | M | Ethan White |
| 25 | M | Rafael Garcia | 20 | M | Jimmy McLaughlin |
| 34 | M | Kenney Walker | 33 | M | Fabinho |
| 9 | F | Alan Gordon | 29 | F | Antoine Hoppenot |
A.J. DeLaGarza returned to the lineup after two successful matches with the Guam National Team. He played a key part this game on defense. When he and Omar Gonzalez line up next to each other, the defense typically performs well without the mistakes seen earlier in the season.
The Galaxy started the match off rather slowly and choppy. They played a bit of long-ball, failed to bring the ball down to the ground to control it better, and could not complete passes.
Similar to the match against Columbus, the Union controlled the ball slightly more than the Galaxy throughout the game. Yet, the Galaxy used their chances more wisely and took more shots (20 compared to the Union’s 14). It shows, though, that the Galaxy needs to control the ball more efficiently and more frequently rather than relying on the counterattack to create opportunities to score.
Two players stood out in their performances on Saturday—Gyasi Zardes and Baggio Husidic. Both players played excellently! They each scored one goal and assisted two others for Juninho and Sebastian Lletget. Their passing and possession overshadowed that of their teammates.
For the rest of the match, the Galaxy dominated and filled the scoreboard. Juninho followed Husidic with a goal, and then Zardes, Stefan Ishizaki, and Sebastian Lletget completed the scoring to beat the Union 5-1. C.J. Sapong scored the only Union goal, but Philly just barely missed their other attempts on target.
The final score of the game allowed Galaxy fans to see a glimpse of the team’s successful past. They finally played almost up to par and seemed to be towards the end of their poor performances. It definitely helped the Galaxy to have a familiar lineup instead of the ever-changing starters. However, I’m hesitant to say the Galaxy will be better at this point in time because anything can happen. The Union played well in the beginning, but they needed to keep up their momentum if they wanted to tie the Galaxy.
The next few weeks will tell fans whether or not the Galaxy truly have started to retake the 2015 MLS Season. On June 24, the team will play the Portland Timbers. Then they will play the San Jose Earthquakes in the 2015 California Clasico on June 27. While I’m looking forward to the Timbers match, I’m especially excited to see the Galaxy matchup against Chris Wondolowski and the Earthquakes. I think it’ll be one of the most engaging matches thus far!
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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