Uriel Antuna had a breakout performance against Minnesota United on Saturday.
By Ivan Yeo
It wasn’t a matter of redemption but a matter of needing to get back on the right foot.
The Los Angeles Galaxy, coming off a loss to FC Dallas last Saturday, facing a Minnesota United team that appears to be shaking off its expansion team label, and facing them without two of its stars, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Romain Alessandrini, felt a win against Minnesota, while not crucial this early in the season, was certainly needed to keep the train on track. That was what unfolded at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday night, as three different Galaxy players scored and LA held off a late surge by the visitors to defeated Minnesota 3-2.
“I think after the game in Dallas, we felt a little bugged,” Galaxy head coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto said. “I think during this week we worked on paying attention on every training; even every word I gave to them in the field this week, because we feel like we had to win against Minnesota United because it’s very important for the team to keep on growing.”
Jonathan Dos Santos, Chris Pontius and Sebastian Lletget scored for the Galaxy, who also welcomed Joe Corona, the former Liga MX player signed by the team last week, into the starting 11 and also got a standout performance from Uriel Antuna.
“It was an unforgettable night, this win was a credit to everyone, I think everyone did a great game,” Antuna said. “There was good pressure, good finishes, everyone fought throughout the whole game so this game was credit to the team as a whole.”
The Galaxy got its first break in the 34th minute. Emmanuel Boateng played a ball to Pontius in the penalty area. Pontius chested the ball down, took a touch before leaving a ball and poitential shot attempt for Uriel Antuna. Minnesota’s Osvaldo Alonso made one last ditch effort to prevent the scoring opportunity, but ended up fouling Antuna from behind and referee Jair Marrufo blew his whistle and immediately signaled for the penalty spot. Jonathan Dos Santos buried the penalty, going left while Vito Mannone went right.
The Galaxy relied on some pinpoint passing for its next goal in the 42nd minute. Boateng took a ball from Dos Santos, passed to Pontius, who took a quick touch before passing it back to Boateng, who then played a ball perfectly in between two Minnesota defenders to the right side for right back Rolf Feltscher on the overpal. Feltscher crossed into the penalty area and Pontius chested the ball past Mannone into the back net for a two-goal Galaxy lead.
“Certainly I felt more comfortable out there, but as a team our ball movement was better,” Pontius said. “When you have that as a team and you have the ball there’s a certain confidence that gets built amongst the guys.”
Minnesota started to show some life late in the second half. Jan Gregus took a ball from Romain Metanire and dribbled towards the penalty area. Gregus took a shot outside the box from about 23 yards out and the shot appears to have taken a deflection, but it was where the shot ended up that Minnesota enjoyed, as it went into the back net for Minnesota’s first goal of the game, which cut the Galaxy lead to a goal. LA however had a response of its own in the 81st minute. Lletget headed a ball down and sprinted for the penalty area. Lleget played a ball to Antuna, who hesitated a few times before rushing towards the end line and crossing for Lletget, who snuck in a shot near post that beat Mannone. Minnesota gave themselves one last shot at stealing points in the 87th minute, as Abu Danladi headed a Metanire cross on goal, the shot hit off the far post, but Angelo Rodriguez scored on the rebound attempt to cut LA’s lead back to a goal. The Galaxy however were able to salt away the remainder of the match.
“We said we were going to make the mistake of being over-aggressive if anything,” Pontius said. “We put them in some tough spots that they didn’t want to play out of, we picked up second balls in good spots and when you do that you have 90 yards to get to their goal. We were picking the ball up 40 yards from their goal and it made it a lot easier on our legs tonight.”
The Galaxy will have the next two weeks off before a crucial matchup with the Portland Timbers on March 31.
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