CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy will not have the services of Sebastian Lletget for the next four to six months, let alone, Saturday’s trip to Vancouver, but head coach Curt Onalfo isn’t sulking about his absence.
Rather, the Galaxy boss is focusing on the solutions that he could potentially craft to keep his offense humming without the talented midfielder.
Lletget suffered a Lisfranc injury in his left foot during last week’s U.S. National Team match that will rule him out for most of the 2017 campaign. Although Lletget’s absence will be a significant loss for Onalfo’s squad, the Galaxy boss has already singled out Ema Boateng to take the bulk of his minutes.
“For us, [Sebastian] played a lot of minutes wide. That would mean there were games that I didn’t start Ema which was a difficult decision because he’s been very good,” Onalfo told LA Galaxy Insider. “I think with Ema, he makes us dangerous and he creates chances. We have all the players to step up.
“Any time that you build a team, you have to have depth. Sebastian also played a lot in the middle but we have Joao [Pedro], [Jermaine] Jones, [Baggio] Husidic, and [Jose] Villarreal, so we’ve got lots of guys that can step in and continue to do a good job. It’s unfortunate, but we can’t dwell on it. We have to keep getting better with the group that we have.”
The injury was the latest setback for a team that has been ravaged by injuries to start the season, but Onalfo believes his experience at the helm of the ever-changing LA Galaxy II steeled him for this project.
“I spent the last three years that I never had the same team twice so if there is any indication, that were two days to handle it, you either feel sorry for yourself and sulk or you make solutions,” said Onalfo. “That’s what we’re going to do.”
