SAN JOSE, Calif. – Call them the road warriors.
The LA Galaxy won their third straight match on the road and extended their unbeaten streak to five games with a 4-2 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday. Giovani dos Santos tallied twice, João Pedro opened his Galaxy account, and Bradley Diallo forced an own goal to seal the third win on the bounce.
As the Galaxy surged up the Western Conference table, head coach Curt Onalfo believed his team passed yet another test on Saturday.
“We learned that even when you don't score the first goal, you can win the game, even on the road,” head coach Curt Onalfo said. “We've dealt with a lot of adversity early on, and that's made us a better group and a better team. I like how we grew as the game progressed because obviously,
“I was a little concerned that we conceded twice in the first half and I think we just locked it up and had a very good second half. We possessed the ball, we moved the ball, we created chances, we defended well, and we deserved three points on the night.”
Despite falling behind thanks to a Chris Wondolowski goal in the opening minutes, Onalfo’s squad kept fighting. First, Pedro notched his opened his Galaxy account in the 19th minute, and minutes later, Dos Santos bagged a go-ahead goal off a penalty kick won by Bradley Diallo.
The Quakes clawed their way back into the match as Danny Hoesen leveled the scoring, but from there, it was all Los Angeles. A Diallo cross deflected off of Victor Bernardez to give the Galaxy the lead right before the break. Then in the 64th minute, a brilliant pass from Romain Alessandrini found the head of Dos Santos to seal the three points.
LA’s victory is their league-leading fourth road win of 2017, tying the team’s total from the 2016 campaign and double the number of victories won in 2015.
“[The win] speaks to how hard we're training, how hard we're playing. Since I've been here, I know how hard it is to take points on away games, and now we're in a good line, and we have to keep working in the same way,” Dos Santos said. “I think that we've been working really well. We have players with a lot of hunger to win important things.
“We knew it was three important points in a Clasico and against a conference rival, so we leave happy.”
Los Angeles will look to cap off their road trip in unprecedented fashion next Saturday when they take on D.C. United.
The Galaxy last won three consecutive road games away from StubHub Center in 2010, but never in the Galaxy’s 21-year history has the club won four consecutive matches.
“We had a bad beginning, after that, we kept working as a team. We won three games in a row on the road,” Alessandrini said. “After D.C. United, we have to make sure to take points at home because it's really important. But we are a team, and we have to keep like that and win every game to come back to the top.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at www.LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com.