Giovani Dos Santos was unable to produce a goal for the Galaxy, but came up with a huge save.
The Los Angeles Galaxy had a different look on the pitch Wednesday night, with new kits and a handful of new players, as they took on Santos Laguna in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. But, in terms of performance, it was the same old story – opportunities went unfinished, with the Galaxy unable to put one in the net. Luckily, the defense held strong and the game ended in a scoreless draw.
“For our first time out, I thought we played well,” said Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena. “It is not easy, it’s the first time our team played 90 minutes together this year so I was pleased with that obviously. I think defensively we did a good job. Both teams had a couple of chances.”
Los Angeles nearly got on the scoreboard in the first minute of the match when Jelle van Damme put his head on a Giovani Dos Santos corner kick, forcing Santos goalkeeper Agustin Marchesin to come up with a huge one-handed save.
Dos Santos had a couple of good chances, the best in the second half when Robbie Rogers back-heeled a pass into the box, but Dos Santos’ shot was off the mark. He did manage to make one of the most important defensive saves of the game, however, when he blocked a shot at the post by Jesus Molina in the 78th minute.
“Yeah it was close. I’m not exactly sure where it hit, but I didn’t see it.,” said LA goalkeeper Dan Kennedy, who made five saves in the game. “That’s why we put him there, you know? And he took it like a man. It was huge. It was probably our biggest defensive play.”
Unable to make the most of their home field advantage, the Galaxy offense will have to do better in the next match on Tuesday, when they travel to Torréon, Mexico for the second leg of their CCL quarterfinal series with Santos Laguna.
Galaxy midfielder Steven Gerrard thinks the team just needs a bit of fine-tuning:
“I think if we would have scored a goal it would have been the perfect result,” Gerrard said. “But it’s still a good result. We’ve been banging the drum all preseason about being solid defensively and keeping clean sheets and that’s the base that we can be successful from. I’m very pleased with the defensive side of the game and now we just need to tweak the balance to be a bit more attacking and a bit more adventurous and the goals will come.”
Those goals better come soon because the defense will also be challenged with a tougher task, on Tuesday, as Santos’ two starting strikers will return after missing Wednesday’s match. Andres Renteria sat out due to yellow card accumulation and Djaniny Tavares was injured.
Tuesday’s match begins at 7:00 pm PT
