CARSON, Calif. – Every time that Omar Gonzalez takes on FC Dallas, the spotlight on the LA Galaxy center back shines just a little brighter.
After all, as a Dallas native, he draws considerable attention from the media in Texas for his success with the Galaxy and the U.S. National Team. But on Sunday, he'll have plenty of attention on him for a totally different reason as he's immortalized in a bobblehead that will be given to the first 10,000 fans at StubHub Center.
However, Gonzalez isn’t too worried about the goings-on off the field; he’s simply focused on stopping a strong Dallas team that sits four points ahead of LA in the Western Conference standings.
“Dallas has had a pretty good first half of the season. They’re a team that’s really hard to beat. Their goalkeeper [Raul Fernandez] is playing really great and saving them in a lot of games. They’ve had a couple comeback wins so they have a lot of character and a lot of fight,” said Gonzalez. “This is a game where we have to have a lot of focus for 90 minutes plus. If we do have the lead, we have to keep them from scoring and play good football.”
For LA to keep Dallas off the scoreboard, Gonzalez must stop FCD’s ultra-physical Panamanian forward Blas Perez, who currently leads the club in goals with six.
“Blas Perez is a typical goal scorer. He likes to be in the box waiting for crosses and he’ll do anything to get his head on the ball,” said Gonzalez. “I think he’s very cheeky in box; he likes to make those little smart runs, so you just have to be aware. Make sure that he doesn’t get in behind and attack the ball before he does.”
As for that bobblehead of his, when asked about the figurine on Thursday, Gonzalez said that he had yet to see his own little-mini Omar.
But now that a few days have passed, what are his impressions?
“I’ve seen it maybe once. I didn’t really get a chance to exam it fully to make sure everything is correct,” said Gonzalez with a smirk. “It’s pretty funny to have a bobblehead…maybe I’ll give the guys from Dallas a bobblehead of their own.”
