As the match started, you could hear the season ticket holders known as Angel City Brigade chanting and the chanting never stopped for the duration of the match. It was clear that the fans were excited to have their beloved team back on the pitch.
During the sixth minute of playing time FC Dallas forward, Maximiliano Urruti takes a shot at the goal but was defended by LA Galaxy team captain defender Jelle Van Damme. The save was quite beautiful, and the crowd’s reaction seemed to give the Galaxy some extra energy early on. In the eleventh minute of play new acquisition midfielder Romain Alessandrini made an attempt on goal but was slide tackled causing him to go down losing control of the ball. Both the fans and Alessandrini were looking for a penalty called but the referees said to play on. When Alessandrini was asked whether he thought it was a penalty he responded, “Well I thought it was clear but if the referees said play on then it is what it is”. It was around the fifteenth minute that you could see that the seats were almost to capacity and StubHub Center was roaring with cheers for the Galaxy.
By the end of the first half it was scoreless but that does not mean that we didn’t see some exciting ball movement and defense from both sides. Considering that the Galaxy is basically a new team with a few players remaining from past seasons they did a decent job at communicating with each other.Clearly Dallas played better but they are also a team that for the most part are the same number one team that they were last year. Many of their players are returning players and meshing well together has, for the most part, already been established. Galaxy midfielder Jermaine Jones was asked if he thinks that starting the season against 2016’s number one team helped the team mesh better. He responded, ““I think it’s still a work in progress. And if you watch the whole game, we controlled the game pretty good and gave up a dumb goal, we came back and at 1-1 we had a lot of chances, but we don’t put them in.” The Galaxy could be one of the top clubs in the MLS if the team continues to grow together and learn how to play even better with each other.
After half-time ended FC Dallas was relentless when pushing the ball down the pitch but the Galaxy defense was holding it’s own. That was until the forty-sixth minute when FC Dallas’ Urruti was able to get the ball behind the Galaxy defense and take a shot at the goal. Galaxy goalkeeper, Brain Rowe, attempted to make the save but the ball was just out of reach. That gave Dallas the lead one to zero and gave Galaxy momentum. About six minutes later in the fifty-second minute Galaxy’s forward Giovani dos Santos was fouled inside the box and was awarded a penalty kick, which he graciously put the ball in the back of the net tying the game up at one all. This was a big moment for the LA Galaxy because they were able to steal the momentum back from Dallas. Jermaine Jones had a great chance to put the ball past FC Dallas’ goalie Chris Seitz, but missed hitting the woodwork. At that moment you could hear the pain from crowd all at once. The Galaxy fans thought it was going to be good and they would take the lead for the first time. Then moments later in the sixty-eighth minute FC Dallas’ midfielder Kellyn Acosta got around Galaxy’s defense having an open shot at the goal. Rowe tried his best to defend against Acosta’s attack but to no avail the ball sores past him and Dallas takes the lead. Although the LA Galaxy tried their hardest to tie the match up but they came up short and lost to FC Dallas.
The LA Galaxy squad has some time to get into a groove with the new coach and their new teammates. Once they find that rhythm this Galaxy team could be looking at a playoff stretch as well as their sixth title. The Galaxy now have eight days to prepare for the Portland Timbers and will most likely be looking at film from the preseason matchups they had. Galaxy will play the Timbers on Sunday March 12, 2017 at 4:00 PM PST at StubHub Center.
