Steven Gerrard threw himself right into the fire for the LA Galaxy on Saturday night.
By Ivan Yeo
The moment Galaxy fans had waited for since January finally arrived on a warm July night.
Steven Gerrard finally stepped onto the pitch at the StubHub Center in a Los Angeles Galaxy shirt on Saturday night. Gerrard was in the Galaxy’s starting 11 for their friendly match against Club America in the International Champions Cup. Gerrard was active for the 45 minutes he played on the field, making plays, runs, creating scoring chances, and making some tackles as well.
“It was a great feeling,” Gerrard said of his LA Galaxy debut. “It was a difficult game and I thought (Club América) were very good. I thought after 15 or 20 minutes that the team settled really well (and) we played some good football.”
Gerrard got the start at his usual spot in the central midfield and as expected, Juninho was his partner in the central midfield. Despite playing his first ever game with his new Galaxy teammates, Gerrard acquitted himself quite well on the pitch, spraying balls up the field and linking passes with several teammates. One session, where Dan Gargan played a ball to Jose Villarreal and Gerrard timed his run into the penalty area perfectly as Villarreal played the pass sent him into the box with a chance on goal, but his shot attempt was denied by America keeper Hugo Gonzalez. Gerrard even showed a willingness to mix it up once in a while, tangling with several America players on a few occasions while battling for balls.
“Obviously it took us a little bit of time to get used to the way he moves and the way he plays,” Galaxy defender A.J. DeLaGarza said of playing with Gerrard. “I think he’s a very dangerous passer and it is only going to get better game by game.”
Despite the encouraging signs on Saturday night, Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena was quick to caution that it will still take time for Gerrard to fully get used to playing with his new teammates, especially since two of them, Omar Gonzalez and Gyasi Zardes, are still away on CONCACAF Gold Cup duty. Zardes return is sure to benefit him and Gerrard once the two start playing together.
He is probably about a month away from being fit enough to play a full match, it will take some games,” Arena said. “It doesn’t come from training, he will have to play some matches and we will try to slowly build him into that, but what I could see tonight it was a good 45 minutes from him.”
Still, there was lot for the Galaxy and their fans to be excited about. Their man is finally here, they got a taste of what’s to come, and if Saturday’s match is any indication, that feeling that the Galaxy got off their tongues afterward will leave them wanting more and more as the season progresses.
