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Going into Sunday, the LA Galaxy were in desperate need of points to bolster their confidence, however a tough Seattle Sounders squad stood in their way. Worse yet, the team's captain and MVP, Robbie Keane, and Jose Villarreal, arguably the Galaxy's best offensive players this year, were sitting with injuries. Sensing blood in the water, the Sounders went for the jugular, but they could not score, for on the twelfth of April, San Penedo graced us all with a divine 10 save performance that this fair city of angels will never forget—and neither will the Sounders.
If you missed the game, here are the highlights.
"Jaime! Penedo! Ese es mi portero," was the chant from the crowd, and it would only get louder throughout the evening as the Panamanian keeper stood on his head to make save after save to deny the Sounders a goal and help will the Galaxy to a result.
"Whatever save I was able to make to help the team was the most important for me," he told reporters through a translator after the game.
There was one save in particular that stands out. It came in the second half against Andy Rose.
"I honestly don't know how I saved it. It was during the second half where the player was right in front of me and he shot it and it just bounced off me" he recounted. "It all happens so fast. What you try to do is just be there next to the first post, and I remember the ball just came and I happened to be standing there to stop it."
Some may call this luck, and others will call this good positioning, but its impact on the game was immense as the Galaxy would only score one goal on the night.
Ten saves is a lot, but going beyond that mammoth number, the performance gets even more impressive when you consider the positioning and likelihood of conversion on the Sounders' shots. This is how the expected goals stat is calculated, and on the night, the Sounders had shots from such good positions that they were expected to score not one but two goals.
xG map for Galaxy-Sounders. Usually when you create that much chasing the game, you get some sort of result. pic.twitter.com/oU6zrhrMna
— Michael Caley (@MC_of_A) April 13, 2015
A two goal swing in a game where the Galaxy only scored one— that's the difference between a win and a loss. Soccer is a team sport, but Jaime Pendedo almost single handedly won LA the game yesterday.
Gracias San Penedo.