Ola Kamara got the Galaxy going with a goal late in the first half.
By Ivan Yeo
It was a reunion of sorts at the StubHub Center on Saturday night.
Two strikers who were traded for each other, the Galaxy’s Ola Kamara and the Columbus Crew’s Gyasi Zardes faced off against each other and against their formers teams since the blockbuster trade in January that saw the two strikers swap cities. Zardes’ reunion was a little more emotional, as it was his first trip back to the stadium where he called home for five seasons, one of which included an MLS Cup title.
In the end however, it was Kamara that got the last laugh, as his opening goal set the Galaxy’s night en route to a 4-0 win over the Crew.
“We kept going after 1-0,” Zlatan Ibrahimovic said. “We got two, we got three. We kept playing with confidence, we played more direct. We took care of the chances we had and defensive wise we did good.”
Kamara got the Galaxy going late in the first half. It started when Ashley Cole and Jonathan Dos Santos worked a one-two which ended with Cole receiving a perfectly weighted ball from Dos Santos inside the 18-yard box. Cole crossed into the six and Kamara charged in and beat Lalas Abukabar to the ball and one-timed a shot past keeper Zack Steffen far post in the 41st minute.
Zardes however nearly had a response of its own. Pedro Santos sprung Zardes for the penalty area, Zardes played a cross at the endline, the cross was intended for Luis Ardugo, Galaxy defender Dave Romney attempted to make a play on the ball, but he instead sent the ball forward and across the goal line for what sure was to be an equalizing own goal. However, the play went to video review, and what was discovered was that the ball crossed the endline out of bounds before Zardes got the cross in, meaning instead of a tie game, the Galaxy breathed a sigh of relief, as they held the lead into halftime.
The Galaxy then blew the match wide open in the second half. Goal number two developed starting in the 55th minute, when Abukabar attempted to impede Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s pat to goal by bumping him in the penalty area. Referee Hilario Grajeda judged the play harsh enough to award the Galaxy the penalty and a minute later, Ibrahimovic converted the penalty to double LA’s lead. Romain Alessandrini provided the finishing touches on the match, as he replaced Kamara in the 60th minute and pretty much stole the show with two goals, with the second goal off a beautiful left-footed volley in stoppage time, which was icing on the cake.
“We’ve played him, the way we play now is a little bit different, so it’s finding him a different position on the field which he has to get used to, but he also contributed when he came in, not just on the goal,” Galaxy head coach Sigi Schmid said. “He was disciplined about helping us out as well defensively, and I was equally as pleased by that as I was by his offensive display. But, certainly, he gave a really really good spark off of the bench.”
The Galaxy will be on the road the next two weeks with two east coast trips, first to New England next Saturday, then to Philadelphia two weeks later.
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