The Los Angeles Galaxy have split their first two matches with Samuel, Marcelo Sarvas and Omar Gonzalez all hitting their stride despite a struggling Gyasi Zardes
After their 1-0 victory in the first leg of the CONCACAF quarterfinal against Xolos Tijuana at StubHub Center, the MLS’ L.A Galaxy have bright spots and at the same time, rust.
There are three things that were apparent in the match last night:
1) Samuel Rosa Goncalves is as good as advertised
All it took was one lapse in the Tijuana defense during the 11th minute for Marcelo Sarvas to cross a brilliant ball to Irishman Robbie Keane inside the box. Yet the ball bounced off Keane’s torso and went right to a charging Samuel to the right of the penalty area to bury the lone goal of the match.
That goal displayed not only his terrific pace, but also his reaction to opportunity in the box that will certainly give opposing Managers something to think about when he is lurking towards goal.
With the way he has played since putting on the White, Blue and Gold, Manager Bruce Arena might have finally found the missing weapon for veterans Keane and Donovan to receive much-needed aid on offense.
2) Gyasi Zardes is playing a little over his head
The youngster out of Hawthorne, CA seems to be pushing the envelope a little too much and his fundamentals aren’t up to snuff thus far in the young campaign.
It was apparent in the Tijuana match on Wednesday; his headers were going straight up with no direction, getting easily tackled away from the ball when trying to push the pace himself and his crosses and balls were simply going over his teammates’ heads or out of reach.
Overall Zardes is putting too much pressure on himself to make the simple plays (especially in the second half).
A telling example was when he took a Landon Donovan free kick in the 79th minute and had the goal in sight, but simply didn’t head it cleanly and went awry.
He is still very young and has exceptional talent as we saw last year and in the preseason. A start like this could be labeled as early-season jitters for the 22-year-old.
3) Marcelo Sarvas/Omar Gonzalez are unsung heroes
Gonzalez played like a man possessed on Wednesday night. His pace was the finest on a Galaxy club that looked dogged in the second half when Tijuana had the majority of possession time.
Sarvas had a brilliant cross-in from the right flank that gave Samuel the chance and succession in winning the match in the 11th.
But something that might have gone undetected was Sarvas’ stop in front of goal on a Tijuana corner around the 67th minute. Sarvas was playing the left post and the ball was placed well with no chance for goalkeeper Jaime Penedo to stop. Sarvas got in front of what looked to be Tijuana’s equalizer and preserved the 1-0 advantage.
The Galaxy will now travel to Estadio Caliente on Tuesday March 18 for the second leg quarterfinal against Tijuana at 7 PM PDT.
Copyright 2013 SportSpeak LLC, all rights reserved. For more coverage, follow @SportSpeakLA and @SportSpeakOC on Twitter.