Photo courtesy of the LA Galaxy.
Dejan Joveljic had his coming out part with two goals and two assists against Austin FC on Sunday afternoon.
A busy May ended on a bright note for the Los Angeles Galaxy.
A stretch of playing a match every two days this month finally ended this past Sunday with a home match against Austin FC. With a two-week international break coming up and with it the chance to get its legs underneath them, the Galaxy surely wanted to go into the break on a high note, and that they did on Sunday. Led by a goal and assist brace from Dejan Joveljic, the Galaxy responded to being down a goal with four unanswered goal of its own, and the Galaxy emerged with the 4-1 win at Dignity Health Sports Park.
“Keep going, keep going man,” Javier Chicharito Hernandez said. “The next play is the most important one. There’s no other way. If you score, it’s done, next one should be the most important one. If it’s a penalty, it doesn’t matter, the next one should be the most important. So, it’s just that, keep going until the last whistle.”
Given how the match turned out, it would have been hard to believe the Galaxy were actually trailing in the match. Austin’s Diego Fagundez put the Galaxy in that predicament in the 53rd minute, as he received a ball inside the penalty area, held for a while, then fired a volley that beat keeper Jonathan Bond to the upper left corner that staked Austin to the 1-0 lead.
However, from that point on it was all Galaxy. The Galaxy equalized in the 61st minute, as Julian Araujo crossed into the penalty area, Joveljic back-heeled a ball to a trailing Chicharito, and Chicharito did not waste time, as he fired off his right foot, and the shot beat keeper Brad Stuver to the back post.
Then it was Joveljic’s turn to impose his will on the match. Joveljic put the Galaxy ahead in the 68th minute, as Kevin Cabral dribbled down the right side of the field, Cabral played a ball into the six, intended for Efrain Alvarez, Austin’s Julio Cascante cut off the pass, but inadvertently sent a ball to an unmarked Joveljic inside the six, Joveljic chested the ball, then fired the ball past Stuver far post to edge the Galaxy ahead. Joveljic got his brace in the 87th minute, as Rayan Raveloson found Álvarez streaking down the right side of the field, Álvarez slipped a pass behind the Austin defense to Joveljić, who chipped Stuver just outside the six. Alvarez put the bow on the match in stoppage time, as Joveljoc bycicled a ball to Alvarez, who had slipped past the Austin defense, Alvarez dribbled into the penalty area, then fired the left-footed shot past Stuver at the upper right corner.
“When I’m on the field, I want to use every chance,” Joveljic said. “[Today] I got like 25 to 30 minutes, I managed to score two goals and two assists. I’m very happy and very proud of my team. We showed great effort, great mentality and I’m sure that we deserved to win. Also, Austin is a very good team with very good players. But today, we were the better team.”
The Galaxy won’t play another match until June 18, when they welcome the Portland Timbers to Dignity Health Sports Park.
