CARSON, Calif. – Romain Alessandrini introduced himself to Galaxy fans on Saturday with an impressive appearance in the Galaxy’s 2-1 preseason defeat to the Portland Timbers on Sunday.
Alessandrini played a full half in the Galaxy’s final preseason match, his second appearance in a week since arriving from France on Monday. In his first match at StubHub Center, the Frenchman was dynamic as he helped set up the club’s lone goal with a free kick that led to Daniel Steres’ finish.
Despite the flashes of brilliance, Alessandrini believes that he still has some ways to go before he’s playing at his best.
“It’s a very physical league. I need to come back step by step. It was good for me to play 45 minutes. We need to win the next game,” Alessandrini told reporters. “It’s the preseason, and it’s good for us to prepare for the season. The result isn’t good for us tonight, but we need to be ready for next week. For me, it was very difficult physically. I just have trained for one week, so I think I need to train more, I need to know my partner more. After that, I think I will be good.”
Throughout his debut appearance, Alessandrini showed his quality as he repeatedly drifted inside to cause trouble for the Portland defense. With the team down by two in the early stages of the second half, the Frenchman willed his team forward, creating several dangerous scoring opportunities.
Only seconds after Portland doubled their lead; the Frenchman nearly pulled one right back with an impressive individual effort that forced Timbers goalkeeper Jake Gleeson to make a diving save. Alessandrini finally helped the Galaxy breakthrough in the 81st minute when he curled in a free kick that was headed across goal by Dave Romney\ to a waiting Steres for the easy finish.
Following the match, head coach Curt Onalfo was highly complimentary of his new Designated Player’s performance.
“We’ve only had him a couple of days in training, and the signs were very good today. He came in and really made an impact and was dangerous literally every time he had the ball. We’ll have to bring him along intelligently,” Onalfo said. “All eyes are on the first game of the year, and you want to start out of the gate right. But you also need to make sure that you do right by the players. So we’re going to see how the week plays out and then make a determination by the player.”
Onalfo wasn’t the only one pleased with his performance.
“He’s great. He brings a lot of energy,” said midfielder Sebastian Lletget. “We’re going to dominate a lot of games with him. We’re going to utilize him, Gio and create as many chances as we can.”
With one week before the regular season opener, the Galaxy’s new Frenchman admits that it will be up to Onalfo to decide if he’s fit enough to start against Dallas next Saturday. Regardless of whether he plays, however, Alessandrini is simply eager to get on the right page with his teammates ahead of the start of the campaign.
“ I need to know my teammates. It’s really important for me,” he said. “I’m here to be one of the best, so I need to know every team. For the moment, I feel good, and we have a good team, so we need to play together, to attack together, and after that, we will be a good team for this season.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog atLAGalaxy.com/Insiderand contact him atLAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com
