Omar Gonzalez was one of the bright spots for the LA Galaxy against Real Salt Lake on Wednesday night.
By Ivan Yeo
Jaime Penedo (GK) – 8.5. Was the Galaxy’s man of the match with six saves, bringing back memories of his performance in the first leg of last year’s Western Conference semifinal series. The key save occurred in the 77th minute, as a shot by Alvaro Saborio was deflected, though Penedo still managed to parry the ball away.
AJ DeLaGarza (RB) – 7. Held his own at the right back spot against RSL’s Jordan Allen. Didn’t offer much on the overlap, but defensively, DeLaGarza turned in the sort of performance he has always delivered.
Leonardo (CB) – 7. Had a solid performance in central defense, and while he made his share of mistakes, for the most part, Leonardo turned in a good performance and was able to draw the RSL strikers offsides a few times.
Omar Gonzalez (CB) – 8. Was a rock in central defense all night for LA and offensively, had the key moment in the game as he drew the foul in RSL’s penalty area that gave the Galaxy a chance to get the full three points.
Dan Gargan (LB) – 7. Held his own defensively, but like DeLaGarza, did not offer much on the overlap, as his touch going forward appeared to be a little heavy at times.
Rafa Garcia (MF) – 6. Was inserted into the starting lineup moments before the match as Juninho was unable to go due to illness (though he later came in as a substitute). The suddenness of being inserted late into the starting 11 clearly showed, as he did not offer much in the time he was in.
Baggio Husidic (MF) – 6. Did not do much for the Galaxy in the time he was in the match.
Stefan Ishizaki (MF) – 7.5. Was the only midfielder to create scoring chances for the Galaxy all night.
Alan Gordon (F) – 7. Held up the ball pretty well against the bad weather and of course RSL defense.
Gyasi Zardes (F) – 7. Did not do much in the match. Part of it was the weather and the delays that came of it, part of it was LA’s sub-par play in the midfield, but Zardes did not provide the offensive spark that the Galaxy could’ve used.
Bradford Jaimeson IV (F) – 7. Like Zardes, did not do much for LA in the match. Again, several factors were at play, but Jamieson could not put in the type of performance that he has shown the last few weeks.
Substitutes
Juninho (MF) – 6.5. Had a chance to give LA the win as he stepped in to take the penalty won by Omar Gonzalez in stoppage time. His penalty however was saved by Nick Rimando, the best when it comes to stopping penalties.
Mika Vayrynen (MF) – Came into the match in the 72nd minute, but did not offer much offensively.
Ignacio Maganto (MF) – Came into the match in the 82nd minute, but also did not offer much in the match.
