Oscar Sorto despite a late and harsh red card, made his presence felt at left back against the Dynamo on Friday night.
Oscar Sorto the latest to emerge from Galaxy youth academy
By Ivan Yeo
The Los Angeles Galaxy have certainly been producing quality players, for both the Galaxy and other teams.
The best one so far has been Gyasi Zardes, whose 16 goals in 2014 as well as a goal in the 2014 MLS Cup final has definitely benefitted the LA and could possibly benefit the U.S. National team in the immediate future. There is also Bradford Jaimeson IV, who filled admirably at striker in the absence of Robbie Keane and his play during that time has him being branded as the next great player to come out of the academy.
There are other players that came through the Galaxy academy, that didn’t quite make an impact that Zardes and Jamieson have made, but they put in their fair share of contributions for the team.
Jose Villarreal has scored some pretty important goals since being signed in 2012 and has become a flexible player who can fill in at either forward or the midfield, Jack McBean was the youngest to sign from the academy, signing as a 16-year old in 2011 and while he hasn’t made his mark the same way that Zardes and Jamieson have on the team, LA still believes in his potential, as he is currently with the Galaxy’s USL side, LA Galaxy II.
Other players like Mario Rodriguez and Paul Arriola parlayed their stints at the Galaxy academy into overseas opportunities in Europe and Mexico respectively.
On Friday night against the Houston Dynamo, the impact of the Galaxy academy was felt once again, as defender Oscar Sorto made his first career start, and while his night didn’t end the way he had hoped, as he was red-carded in stoppage time for what his teammates considered a questionable foul, his play in the match certainly earned him some positive reviews from his teammate and head coach Bruce Arena.
“Oscar played well. He had a really good game,” Arena said. Right from the start, he showed a lot of confidence. He played really well.”
Sorto has featured in matches for the Galaxy before, as he made his debut with the first team back on September 25, 2013 in a CONCACAF Champions League match against Cartagines. Sorto has also been on the bench for Los Angeles in numerous other matches, but Friday night was the first significant time Sorto saw for the first team.
“To be honest, I was very emotional before the game,” Sorto said. “I’ve been waiting two years to start for Bruce, and I was just happy to start in that game. I just tried my best because obviously left back is not my actual position, and I was just trying to make the game simple on the field and it came out good.”
Sorto, normally a right back, got the start at the left side in place of Robbie Rogers, who is out with an ankle injury and acquitted himself well on the left side, against a very talented midfielder in Oscar Boniek Garcia no less.
Sorto’s night however ended on a down side, which occurred in stoppage time with the Galaxy holding onto a 1-0 lead. LA was defending a corner and Sorto chased down the ball for a clearance attempt. Houston’s David Horst came in with Sort, trying to keep the play alive, Sorto went to the ground in order to beat Horst to the ball, Horst kept running and the end result was Sorto clipping Horst from behind.
“I felt like I touched the ball first and then the guy just crossed into me,” Sorto said of the play. “I didn’t see [the yellow card pulled out first]because I had a cramp. He [referee]told me that it was a foul from the back, and I didn’t want to get mad about it so I just walked away. I didn’t want to keep adding minutes to the game, so I left.”
Referee Ismail Elfath at first pulled out a yellow card, but for whatever reason, decided to give out a red card instead, a decision that raised eyebrows as far as the Galaxy were concerned.
“It was very strange,” Robbie Keane said of the red card. “For Oscar, it was his [first]start, he had a great game, the referee was standing right beside him and could clearly see that it was a yellow card, it wasn’t from behind, it was from the side. The guy came from in front of him, so it wasn’t like he was trying to [injure]him.”
Despite the red card, it was clearly a big night for Sorto, whose presence in the match is another clear indication that MLS’ future will depend further and further on its youth academies. Yes MLS teams will continue to find talent overseas and NCAA soccer will produce its fair share of late bloomers, but look for the bulk of talent for MLS teams to be produced from its academies, and right now, the Los Angeles Galaxy youth academy appears to be the best of the bunch.
