CARSON, Calif. – Advantage: Galaxy.
Giovani dos Santos scored the lone goal as the LA Galaxy earned a 1-0 victory in their Western Conference Semifinal first leg with the Colorado Rapids. Dos Santos’ tally gave the Galaxy a slim advantage into next week’s decisive second leg fixture at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
Although the Rapids remain very much alive in the series, the Galaxy were left pleased with their effort on Sunday.
“It’s an advantage, of course,” midfielder Landon Donovan told reporters after the match. “We said at halftime that 0-0 isn’t the worst thing in the world. We’d rather be 0-0 than 1-1. So we wanted to make sure that we didn’t concede and that we went forward in a smart way. So I thought it was really mature and very professional.”
“We played well,” added head coach Bruce Arena, “Our guys were pretty focused. I think we understood what this game was going to look like today and what it’s going to look like next week. We had a good collective effort as well. Our backline played well.”
The lead didn’t come easily for Los Angeles who had 11 shots on the night but struggled to get past an in-form Tim Howard.
The Rapids ‘keeper put forth a vintage performance making three big saves on the night, including a huge block on Sebastian Lletget in the first half.
Arena’s squad finally hit pay dirt in the 55th minute when a bouncing header by Dos Santos was redirected by Colorado’s Aexl Sjoberg past Howard for the lone goal of the afternoon. The play was set up by some lovely skill from defender Jelle Galaxy defender Jelle Van Damme who nutmegged Michael Azira and played a pinpoint cross to the Mexican forward for his first career MLS postseason goal.
“I think it was a great play by Jelle [Van Damme] then he crossed it to me, and I just tried to put my head, and it went in so I’m happy for that,” Dos Santos said. “It was very difficult. I think they have the best defensive team in the league. We created a lot of chances, and in the end, I think we deserved the win and we take the advantage.
“I think everyone today was patient and we knew that Tim [Howard] is a great keeper and we knew that in every play we have a lot of players that could make a difference and today everyone had a good game.”
Los Angeles will now take their slim lead into Sunday’s second leg at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park where Colorado went undefeated with an 11-0-6 record in 2016. Although the cold temperatures and altitude in Commerce City will be a challenge, the Galaxy are confident that they can persevere and book their ticket to the Conference Finals.
“They have to be pretty aggressive. They were pretty tentative tonight as far as their attacking desires. I would guess that they’ll put more into it to try to push forward and score more goals, which plays into what we do very well,” Donovan said. “They’ll probably have a similar mentality like us, be smart early, try to push the game in the right way and try to get a goal in. For us, first and foremost, we’ve got to make sure we defend well but we have a team full of guys who can make plays and score goals.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog atwww.LAGalaxy.com/Insiderand contact him atLAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com
