Written by Matt Whyte
With this beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon in Carson, the LA Galaxy face off against Real Salt Lake. The Galaxy are trying to increase its position in the Western Conference. They are battling it trying to beat the oncoming rain so the pitch stays perfect for their match.
With the start of the match going to Real Salt Lake, it started off a bit slow. Making short passes right along the center circle but, the LA Galaxy had other plans with multiple shots off before the 5-minute mark. The Galaxy nearly converted on a shot that just went over the cross bar. Real seemed to be favoring the right side of but being stopped each time by the defensive wall that is the Galaxy’s back three. The Galaxy responded with their own right forward has 3 amazing crosses in a row one being just shy of Zlatan Ibrahimovic finishing it off, just was slightly behind him. Real continued to try and make those quick breaks with a quick give and go which nearly resulted in a goal but just was shy left of the upright. By the 15th min of the game, the Galaxy was able to convert on a sweet give and go from Ibrahimovic to Uriel Antuna. After that Real was attempting to get to that equalizer as quick as possible. They continued to try to go drown the right flank but hit a solid wall of the back three Galaxy defenders. The true wall being Diedie Traore. Unfortunately, Diedie got a foul called against which resulted in him receiving an early yellow card in the match. This put the Galaxy in a compromising position, roughly 5 yards from the 18-yard box.
Luckily for the Galaxy, the free kick became void when the player slipped and the ball veered far and wide right. Real continued to put an extreme amount of pressure on the back line and David Bingham.at the 35min marker, There was an amazing cross from the left corner that hit the top of the crossbar and bounced back into play, Real tried to convert with a quick volley at this attempt the solid hands of Bingham saved the Galaxy again right before the half.
When the whistle blows for the second half both sides seemed like they were still figuring out each other’s style playing. Most were short and quick passes through the center of the backfield. Then all of a sudden you see Real pick the pace back up to try and catch the Galaxy on their heels. At this point in the match, the teams started to become more aggressive with each other. Ibrahimovic fouled a Real player an almost started an altercation with some of the other players. The referee made the right choice at this moment to separate the players and show the captain the yellow card. Once that free kick took place it seemed as if that lit an even larger fire for real where they made an amazing play down the flank to tie the game 1-1.
With this match being neck and neck both teams are giving it there all, but of course, fatigue is setting in on both sides so Head Coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto made the call to put some fresh legs. Around the 74th minute, Schelotto chose to put in Emmanuel Boateng in which made a huge difference for the galaxy. Boateng instantly got his first the second he hit the field. He continued to take it up the left flank and made a magnificent cross which unfortunately didn’t find another Galaxy player. The ball barely made it past half field from this point forward. Roughly about 3 to four minutes later Ibrahimovic was carrying the ball down and he looked to his left to see Boateng sprinting down after he was able to send the ball to the corner and set up a perfect cross back to Ibrahimovic for a rocket into the back of the net. From that point forward the galaxy kept Real contained roughly around half field and secured the win.
The Head Coach for the Galaxy said that “We need to improve on our second-half performance but I was satisfied with tonight’s performance.”
With this win, it should give them the confidence for their next match against The New York Red Bull on May 4. Hopefully to continue their fight for the 1st place position in the west with only being a point behind LAFC.
