DENVER – The LA Galaxy need a playmaker with Giovani dos Santos away with Mexico, and Jose Villarreal may be ready to fill that void in the coming weeks.
Villarreal has impressed in his last two appearances for the first team, scoring a world-class goal in U.S. Open Cup play last week and then assisting on Romain Alessandrini’s equalizer against Houston last weekend. Now with the Galaxy short-handed, head coach Curt Onalfo could be ready to give the keys to the offense to the Inglewood native.
After finding himself behind the likes of Robbie Keane, Landon Donovan, Steven Gerrard, and now dos Santos in the depth chart throughout the years, the 23-year-old is eager for the opportunity to show that he can lead the offense.
“It’s a position where I can showcase different abilities like putting my team in a position to score. I feel like my biggest ability is my passing of the ball,” Villarreal told LA Galaxy Insider. “From the No. 10, I can see the wide players or the forwards making runs, and I can put the ball where they can score. It’s not only me, but Gio can also do the same thing. I can play that position. I haven’t been able to play that role through the years, but I’ll never forget. I just need to be ready.”
Whether Villarreal sees action over a busy week remains to be seen, but Onalfo will need to use his depth once more with the Galaxy still reeling due to injuries to Daniel Steres, Jermaine Jones, Bradley Diallo, Raul Mendiola, and others.
This rotation may lead to some younger lineups, but according to Villarreal, you just have to “trust the process.”
“We’re confident. The younger guys throughout the preseason, we had a different mentality," Villarreal said. T"he starters were always coming along and most of us we’re coming up from the second team. We got to play with each other, and it was fun. Now those guys are getting the chances.
“I just want the people to understand that everyone was once young. Gio was once young, Jelle was once young. As they say, you have to trust the process. Young players are going to make mistakes; it happens at every level. I have the most confidence in my team. If you look at Hugo [Arellano] who got his start and he did a very solid job. He went up against Cubo [Torres] who is a great goal scorer.
“He did a good job and showed that given the opportunity, young people could take advantage of it and show what we’ve been working on over the years. It goes to show the work from the academy to the second team to the first team. We’re doing well as a club.”
