LA Galaxy stun Minnesota United 2-1 on the road

A Giovani dos Santos wonder flick and Christian Ramirez own goal gave the LA Galaxy all three points on the road vs. Minnesota United Sunday afternoon.

LA were unfortunate when Baggio Husidic went down early with a lower leg injury, but Rafael Garcia filled in admirably.

The match was ho-hum until the 25th minute, when the game exploded in end-to-end action. First Brian Rowe did masterfully to dive to his left and stop a close range Miguel Ibarra volley, then on the ensuing corner it was Emmanuel Boateng clearing a header off the line.

Joáo Pedro responded with an absolute rocket from distance that keeper Bobby Shuttlesworth barely got a fingertip on before crashing off the crossbar and over. A minute later, it was Romain Alessandrini’s turn to smash a rocket outside the 18, which again Shuttlesworth tipped over.

Right before the half, LA went ahead on a moment of genius from Giovani dos Santos. The Mexican international met Alessandrini’s outside the boot cross with an clever, unstoppable flick that floated into the corner of the net.

Despite second half heroics from the Galaxy defense including an Ashley Cole goal line clearance and some more Rowe magic, LA were in danger of conceding, and it was no surprise when Christian Ramirez was first to a Sam Cronin redirect inside the box and powered past Rowe to level the match.

The Galaxy appeared satisfied to walk out of TCF Bank Stadium with a point, but Christian Ramirez’ own goal late gave the Galaxy a chance at consecutive road victories. LA managed to withstand MNUTD’s final flurries to take home all three points.