Ola Kamara made his presence felt for the LA Galaxy on Sunday night
By Ivan Yeo
A season that the LA Galaxy hopes will be a season of redemption got off to a good start on Sunday night.
Looking to put a forgettable 2017 season behind them. LA relied on a magical two-minute stretch in the first half to carry them on to victory. All the Galaxy’s off-season acquisitions saw the field in its season opener, and one of them, Ola Kamara, got on the score sheet alongside Romain Alessandrini as the Galaxy opened the season with a 2-1 win over the Portland Timbers at StubHub Center.
“It was great. It’s a great feeling,” midfielder Emmanuel Boateng said. “For what it’s worth, we probably didn’t play as well in the second half, but a win is a win and we’re happy to get that. We’re going to build and get ready for the next one.”
After a sluggish start to the match, the Galaxy settled down and soon began to control the match. It started in the 32nd minute when Emmanuel Boateng dribbled from the left side into the penalty area, crossed into the six-yard box for Kamara, but the cross was cut off and cleared, though the Galaxy recovered and quickly built back up its attack. Jonathan Dos Santos crossed a ball to Rolf Feltscher, who headed a ball into the six and this time, Kamara chested a ball past Gleeson and Larrys Mabiala into the back net.
Two minutes later, LA struck again. Kamara, already inside the box, headed a ball down, the ball carried forward, Alessandrini fought off Liam Ridgewell for the ball, fired a ball that hit off the far post, but the rebound went to Alessandrini and he flicked a ball past Gleeson into the back net to make a two-goal Galaxy lead. Sebastian Blanco pulled a goal back for Portland as he beat David Bingham near post in the 66th minute, but the Galaxy eventually hung on.
“We wanted to get a victory, so getting three points is the most important thing,” Galaxy head coach Sigi Schmid said. “I know sometimes it looked a little parlous in the back there, but that doesn’t matter to me. We also had enough opportunity at the other end to score another four or five. So, It’s still about finishing those chances, making good use of them.”
While its just the start of the season, three points is definitely a welcome sight for a Galaxy team that saw very little of those last season. Schmid was hard at work during the offseason, re-tooling most of the defensive positions while also tinkering with the offense with the acquisition of Kamara. Perry Kitchen started as the holding midfielder, Feltscher and Jorgen Skjelvik started in the backline and Servando Carrasco came in as a sub in the 82nd minute. Cole and Michael Ciani, who came in the middle of last season, are the Galaxy’s two holdovers on the back line and Cole wore the captain’s armband for the match.
“We played well in the first half, in the second half we were a little bit sloppy. But we fought, we gave everything and we came away with a win,” Cole said. “We’re not going to get too carried away, it’s the first game of the season, but it’s three points on the board.”
The new-look Galaxy will certainly be tested this next month. The Galaxy will be on the road the next two weeks, first to the Bronx to face New York City FC next Sunday afternoon, then a March 24th match against Vancouver. Then comes the big showdown on March 31, as the first ever showdown with LAFC beckons.
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