Goivani Dos Santos found the back net in his LA Galaxy debut on Thursday night.
By Ivan Yeo
It didn’t have quite the atmosphere, but the result was just the same for the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Just weeks after Steven Gerrard made his LA Galaxy debut in front of a raucous atmosphere against Club America, Giovani Dos Santos finally stepped out onto the StubHub Center pitch in a Galaxy shirt on Thursday evening.
Dos Santos’ debut was a little different from Gerrard’s debut. First off, the Mexican fans at Gerrard’s first game last month were clearly rooting against the Galaxy that night, but the Mexican fans at Thursday’s match were clearly on the Galaxy’s side. Dos Santos’ first game was also of more importance, as he debut’ed in a CONCACAF Champions League match as opposed to Gerrard playing his first game in a friendly.
And the one thing Dos Santos did that Gerrard didn’t do in his first Galaxy game; score a goal. That happened late in the second half, and while the rust was clearly evident in Dos Santos’ play on Thursday night, he still did enough with his time on the pitch to help the Galaxy defeat Trinidadian side Central FC 5-1 in its CCL opener.
“Well I feel good. I think we had a great win,” Dos Santos said. “I am happy to score my first goal for the club and I’m looking forward to keep that going.”
With the Galaxy leading comfortably early in the second half, and Zardes just having added to the lead with a goal from the penalty spot in the 55th minute, Arena finally saw the chance to get Dos Santos in the game. That moment came in the 57th minute, as Dos Santos came in for Alan Gordon.
It took a while, but Dos Santos started to establish some combinations with his teammates and his first scoring chance came moments later, as he attempted a diving header off a cross by Ignacio Maganto into the penalty area, but he didn’t get enough of the ball and it was easily saved by keeper Jan-Michel Williams.
Dos Santos however would not have to wait long for his moment. It started when Rafa Garcia played Sebastian Lletget forward, Lletget made a cutting move inside, held the ball, made a brief juke move before playing a ball to Garcia on the overlap. Dos Santos had made his move to get behind the back line when Garcia crossed into the penalty area and touched a ball that got past Williams into the far post for his first ever Galaxy goal.
“I think it was easy,” Dos Santos said of playing with his teammates. “[My teammates] are top players it’s easy to play with good players. I think everything was perfect for my first game. My team won and I scored a goal so everything is going good.”
The Galaxy did the dirty work in the first half. LA got its first goal in the fourth minute when Maganto played a perfectly weighted ball to Zardes, who then sprinted for goal on the right flank. Zardes then crossed a ball into the six-yard box and Alan Gordon headed a ball past Williams into the far post netting to open the scoring.
However, just a few minutes later, LA found themselves on the wrong side of a controversial call. It started when Willis Plaza ran down a ball played from the back line, Galaxy keeper Brian Rowe came out for the challenge, got the ball and while he did make contact with Plaza, the play appeared to be 50-50. That however did not stop referee Christopher Reid from awarding Central the penalty despite the Galaxy’s protest. Ataulla Guerra stepped up and buried the penalty to the right post for the equalizer.
“The ref said I grabbed the forward’s leg I think, so I am not quite sure what he saw, but it is one of those that I thought was a clean play,” Rowe said of the play. “I ended up with the ball after the play. It is frustrating, but the guys did a great job fighting back after that to score a bunch of goals and keep going at them.”
The controversial penalty however did not stop the Galaxy from asserting themselves in the match. LA regained the lead in the 32nd minute, as Zardes played a ball forward, both Gordon and Raul Mendiola chased the ball down, Mendiola won the chase and sprinted for goal, Williams came off his line, but Mendiola rounded him and fired the ball into the back net to put the Galaxy back in front. Mendiola however came up injured moments after the goal, as he collided with Williams while trying to win another loose ball and eventually had to leave the game.
Still, the Galaxy prospered and eventually put the match out of reach. Zardes and Giovani’s goal widened the lead and Maganto capped the scoring in the 84th minute, Dan Gargan started things off by playing a ball to Lletget, who touched a ball to Maganto, he dribbled past the Central defense and shot a ball past Williams to the back post.
