Jose Villarreal was the man of the match for the LA Galaxy against FC Shirak on Saturday night
By Ivan Yeo
Finally, the Los Angeles Galaxy took the field in 2016.
Granted it was only a friendly, and the season opener is still a little more than a month away. Still, after days of training, workouts and scriplain work, the Galaxy finally got to face some live competition, and even managed to put on a show. Jose Villarreal’s brace was more than enough for the Galaxy to hold off Armenian side FC Shirak 2-1 at the StunHub Center on Saturday night.
“I thought it was a very good exercise for our team tonight” Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena. “Very good for our fitness, good to get back playing together, good for evaluating players.”
The Galaxy opened the scoring in the 54th minute. Right back Oscar Sorto crossed a ball into the penalty area and Villarreal one-timed a shot past Shirak keeper Norayr Abrahamyan near post. Shirak equalized in the 75th minute, as they capitalized off a turnover and Viulen Ayvazywan scored to level the match. The Galaxy however answered right back five minutes later, as Villarreal volleyed home Raul Mendiola’s cross to give LA the lead for good.
“To me they are just goals, great team goals, and nothing but the best out of my teammates and that is what I like to do,” Villarreal said. “We have been training pretty hard this past week and this group in particular, we’ve been working hard and showing Bruce what we can do and it came out pretty well tonight.”
Saturday’s match was what you would come to expect from just about any team in a friendly match. Head coach Arena went with a starting 11 that featured regulars such as Robbie Keane, Steven Gerrard, Giovani Dos Santos and AJ DeLa Garza, the went with an entirely different unit in the second half that featured the likes of Villarreal, Mendiola etc. Contrast that to FC Shirak, who treated it as a regular match, going with a starting 11, but then making three substitutions in the second half.
The Galaxy’s starting 11 is far from a finished product. Keane, Gerrard and Dos Santos were there, but missing was Gyasi Zardes, who is currently training with the U.S. National Team ahead of its two StubHub Center friendlies this week. Also in the starting lineup were Alan Gordon, Emmanuel Boetang Dave Romney and Leonardo, and it’s likely those players will be coming off the bench, especially with Ashley Cole and Jelle Van Damme’s pending arrivals in Los Angeles.
“I thought overall the night was good,” Arena said. “Again, we saw a lot of good things out of the players, and as a group they were attempting to do some of the things we have been working on so that is good.”
Still, Saturday’s friendlies presented numerous opportunities for the Galaxy. Aside from the chances to get their legs under them and establish some sort of chemistry, there were also some new opportunities, such as playing Robbie Rogers at right back and the Galaxy debut of keeper Dan Kennedy. The Galaxy were certainly pleased to get its first match off the books and move along in the process of getting ready for the 2016 season.
“It was formal as it was, you know?” Kennedy said. “Sometimes that helps us move along a little bit quicker when you have some fans in the stands and it’s not up on the track field. It feels a little more real so it should put us in a better frame of mind. But yeah, it was great to get the first one out of the way.”
