CARSON, Calif. – Juninho has created some memorable partnerships in central midfield since joining the LA Galaxy, and now he’ll have the opportunity to form another one with new Designated Player Steven Gerrard.
Since joining the club from Sao Paulo in 2010, Juninho excelled playing alongside English soccer legend David Beckham (2010-12) and Marcelo Sarvas (2013-14) en route to becoming one of the league’s top defensive midfielders. However, after four seasons of continuity, the spot alongside Juninho has been in flux this season with Mika Vayrynen, Baggio Husidic, Rafael Garcia and Kenney Walker playing the position at one point in 2015.
Despite the revolving door in midfield, Juninho has enjoyed one of his most productive seasons to date with four goals and three assists in 21 appearances. For all his success this season, Juninho understands that the transition to playing alongside Gerrard could be a challenging one.
“I’m 26-years-old, I’m still learning so I will surely have to adjust myself to Steven Gerrard’s style of play. I have to train and talk to him a lot to figure out how we’re going to play,” Juninho told LAGalaxy.com. “I hope that we can get chemistry as fast as we can to help our team to win games and win an MLS Cup here in LA.”
To help ease the transition, Juninho and Gerrard have practiced together extensively since the Englishman arrived last week. By all accounts, the two have meshed well, but no matter how tantalizing the prospect of having Gerrard and Juninho lining up together may be, the veteran Englishman understands that more practice time is needed to create a successful midfield tandem.
“Time on the training pitch [is important] to get used to Juninho and all the other players that I’m going to be playing with because they also need time to adjust and adapt to me,” Gerrard said. “But I don’t think that will take too long. We’re already working on partnerships and relationships. I believe that they’ll progress and be very strong.”
Gerrard and Juninho will have their first opportunity to develop their partnership on Saturday when the 35-year-old Englishman makes his debut for the Galaxy against Mexican side Club América in the opening match of the International Champions Cup.
When they do see the field together be it against America or the San Jose Earthquakes next week, what will the partnership look like?
“We’re going to have more possession and you’ll see right away. You could see that during his Liverpool years, his teams had a lot of possession and kept the ball,” Juninho said. “We trust him and we expect a lot from him and, for sure, we’re going to have a lot more possession and create a lot more chances. … His passes are great. He’s very smart. He thinks ahead of other guys, and he’ll be invaluable for Gyasi [Zardes] and Robbie [Keane] to get service and help us be more direct.”
Galaxy boss Bruce Arena agrees that the partnership between the Brazilian and Gerrard will lead to more chances for the Galaxy’s offense.
“[Gerrard] needs to be a little bit closer to goal, but he’ll work hand in hand with Juninho. They’ll get to understand each other,” Arena said. “We don’t necessarily need to define one or other in the midfield area. They’ll share responsibilities. But we would think that Steven would be a little bit further up the field than Juninho.”
No matter how the partnership looks from a tactical standpoint, the Brazilian is eager to get down to business.
“It’s fun to have him as a teammate. You look to the side and you see him as your teammate, and that motivates you. This will definitely boost our team,” said Juninho. “We can see our team playing and training with a lot of energy. We saw that on the first day, and we just hope that we can continue that for the rest of the season.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com
