LA Galaxy rout Comunicaciones 5-0

A 5th minute Mika Vayrynen golazo propelled the LA Galaxy to a comfortable 5-0 win over Guatemalan powerhouse CSD Comunicaciones in CONCACAF Champions League Tuesday night at the StubHub Center. 

With the win, the Galaxy now have six points over two matches, putting LA firmly in the driver's seat to advance to the next round.

#LAGalaxy XI: Rowe; Gargan, Meyer, Romney, Garcia; Vayrynen, Walker; Zardes, Dos Santos, Maganto; Gordon #SCCL pic.twitter.com/mV04ym2duw

— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) August 19, 2015

LA put out a 4-5-1 formation with Alan Gordon up top, Giovani dos Santos in support and several of the big guns including Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard available off the bench.

The Galaxy got on the scoresheet early when Giovani dos Santos lifted a cross into the box with plenty of white shirts available, and it was Mika Vayrynen who met the ball near the penalty circle and brilliantly fired a unstoppable volley into the net for his first goal as a Galaxy player. Then in the 9th minute, Alan Gordon capitalized on a poor first touch from goalkeeper Juan Parades, collecting the ball in space and eluding Parades' outstretched challenge before passing the ball into an empty net.

The Guatemalan side had one of their few chances in the 17th minute when a Comunicaciones attacker managed to get behind Tommy Meyer, but the shot was straight at Brian Rowe, inserted into the lineup in place of Donovan Ricketts.

It was Rowe to the rescue again a minute later, meeting a dangerous in-swinging cross and pawing the ball away before sprinting to the top of the 18-yard box to tackle away the rebound.

The second half was more of the same as the Galaxy were firmly in cruise control while Comunicaciones struggled to create any offense.

The Galaxy put the nail in the coffin in the 54th minute when a Comunicaciones defender mistimed a sliding challenge, giving Robbie Keane time and space to locate Alan Gordon for the simple finish.

In the 87th, LA added a fourth. Rafael Garcia floated a ball over the Comunicaciones defense, and with both dos Santos and Keane running unimpeded versus the keeper, Giovani simply passed to Keane for a tap-in.

Robbie Keane lifted a finish over the keeper in the 89th minute to complete the rout for LA. The Galaxy next play David Villa, Andrea Pirlo, Frank Lampard and co. as LA takes on NYCFC in a nationally televised match noon Sunday at a sold out StubHub Center.