Star Wars: LA Galaxy vs. New York City FC, August 23, 2015

LA Galaxy fans received their first chance of the season to watch the New York City FC (NYCFC) and its star lineup of Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo, and David Villa play in the StubHub Center on August 23. 2015. Unfortunately, though, Lampard refrained from playing in order to continue his recovery from a quad injury.

Starting Lineups and Substitutions

Unsurprisingly, the LA Galaxy continued its tradition of starting the game off rather slow and uncoordinatedly. New York City maintained its possession and passed well. For most of the match, NYCFC dominated in the aspects. Yet, the Galaxy successfully used its possession and opportunities to come out victoriously.

For this article, I’ve decided to focus less on the traditional recap and more on what the Galaxy did well and future improvements. In the past, I have mentioned many defensive shortcomings, but on Sunday, I saw very few and the midfielders and forwards played exceptionally well too. With a match like Sunday’s, it’s difficult to point out what went wrong.

The Galaxy defense played excellently, although I hardly heard Taylor Twellman and Adrian Healey say Omar Gonzalez’s name. He still contributed highly to the match, though. One of the few defensive mistakes this game is attributed to Dan Gargan. He awkwardly tackled Patrick Mullins and the referee gave NYCFC a penalty kick. David Villa scored, extending his number to 15 for the season.

In addition to their roles as defenders, Robbie Rogers and A.J. DeLaGarza made many runs up their respective sides of the field. Rogers has connected quite well with Sebastian Lletget on the left side and created numerous chances for him and Robbie Keane. DeLaGarza also contributed some chances for the forwards.

Keane, who scored twice, took eight total shots with three on target, three off target, and two blocked. He’s one hell of a player and could be on his way to a second consecutive MLS MVP award. Yet, he missed a few shots that he should have finished. Of course, that’s with any forward so it’s not much of an issue, especially considering the number of goals he has in the last six games.

Giovani dos Santos, what to say about him…well he’s playing fantastically! In every match so far, he has either scored or assisted on a goal. I have no complaints regarding his performances—in fact, I’m continually highly impressed. Keep up the awesome work!

The other player I want to mention is Sebastian Lletget because the media often fails to mention him. Ever since he joined the squad, Lletget has contributed so much to the team. He has scored, assisted, and helped to create many goal-scoring opportunities. In Sunday’s game, he executed an excellent play that allowed Rogers to sprint down the field and assist Keane’s second goal. Lletget knew exactly what he wanted to do as Donovan Ricketts served him the ball. The young midfielder is the player the LA Galaxy needed after Landon Donovan’s departure last year.

As for NYCFC, well after this match, I think we can stop calling the LA Galaxy Retirement F.C. and give that nickname to New York because Andrea Pirlo failed to support the team against the Galaxy and Frank Lampard with his injury and the Manchester City controversy appears to be following in David Beckham’s footsteps (although Becks was younger). Pirlo and Lampard are also 36 and 37 (respectively)—two of the oldest players in MLS. How much longer will they be playing? Who knows, but my guess is no more than two more years.

The LA Galaxy will play the San Jose Earthquakes on Friday, August 28, at 8 P.M. Pacific Time. It’s the last meeting between the two teams for the rest of the 2015 MLS Regular Season—and it’s away at Avaya Stadium. Will the Galaxy be able to continue their four-game winning streak?

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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