HARRISON, N.J. – The LA Galaxy have been searching for a turning point in their season, and on Sunday, they found it in an impressive 3-1 win over the New York Red Bulls.
Romain Alessandrini scored twice in the opening 10 minutes, and Giovani dos Santos got a goal of his own as Los Angeles helped snap the Red Bulls’ 19-match home unbeaten run. The victory was the team’s first win on the East Coast since May 13, 2013.
On the heels of their two-goal comeback against the Chicago Fire last week, the Galaxy’s performance was more cause for head coach Curt Onalfo to believe that his side had put it together.
“Certainly, the best start we've had all year. I thought our mentality was good. It's tough traveling across the country with everything you deal with, and to be able to... have that kind of energy to start and just capitalize on the chances,” Onalfo said. "We knew we had good chances and it was about finishing them, and that just positioned -- very pleased with the performance and obviously a good result.
“I think it was a lot to do with last week, honestly. And just talking about how I felt like we (inaudible) a team last week, and it was a point of emphasis to be really intelligent, the way they press -- to Red Bull, and credit to our guys for doing a great job.”
Onalfo’s squad was aggressive from minute one and was rewarded in the eighth minute when Alessandrini’s free kick sailed past Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles. Just seconds later, Alessandrini completed his brace with a shot that dribbled past the New York defense to give the Galaxy a commanding two-goal lead.
Up two goals, the Galaxy’s organization on the defensive end helped them stifle a high-pressing Red Bulls attack, shutting down Sacha Kljestan and Bradley Wright-Phillips. The Red Bulls’ attack was stifled until stoppage time when Daniel Royer gave New York a consolation tally after the Galaxy went down to 10-men off Bradley Diallo’s second yellow card.
However, for a Galaxy team that had scored just three times in the first half all season before Sunday, the fast start was the most important.
“The win was very important tonight. Last week, we found a great mentality in the second half, and we worked hard this week and kept that mentality. Tonight, we deserved the result,” Alessandrini said. “We have to keep that same mentality and keep going.”
Los Angeles will head back on the road for their second match of a four-game road swing next week when they take on Minnesota United. After Sunday’s uplifting victory, the Galaxy find themselves eager to show that the Red Bulls win was no fluke.
“An away game on the road is all about mentality. We showed that today,” Van Damme said. “We didn’t do everything perfect. We’ll take the bad stuff out and learn from it. We’ve got three other road games, so we’ll take it game by game. We’ll keep our feet on the ground and work our [butts] off.
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at www.LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com.
