CARSON, Calif. – Gyasi Zardes took plenty of lickings during the LA Galaxy reserves 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Blues on Monday.
The forward was knocked around by the Blues defenders several times towards goal; he endured a hard collision with goalkeeper Steve Gonzalez just before the end of the first half. Not to be outdone, he was kicked square in the neck in the 49th minute leading to a Hector Jimenez penalty kick that resulted in the game-winning-goal.
However, Zardes did not let a little physicality stop him from scoring a goal and two assists in LA’s win.
“It felt so great scoring a goal. I haven’t scored a goal in so long so it feels good to score again,” said Zardes. “It really does well for our confidence [as a team], but we’re steady working together and learning each other like Chandler [Hoffman] up top, our chemistry is just building.”
Without a doubt, Zardes was the most dynamic player on the field as his runs seemed too much for the Blues defense and one he exited the match in the 55th minute, the Galaxy attack lost some dimension as the USL Pro side battled back to within one goal of an equalizer.
Ahead of a massive road trip that will see the Galaxy play three games in nine-days, Zardes’ performance may lead to even greater minutes with LA’s first team.
Gyasi was extremely dangerous in getting in behind [the defense]. He scored a goal, created another goal and was an absolute handful,” Galaxy Assistant coach and Reserve League head coach Curt Onalfo said. “I was pleased with his performance and I was a little worried because it was a physical game and he was taking a lot of knocks and that’s part of the reason that we took him off early because we want to makes sure that he’s in consideration for this weekend.”
