LA Galaxy dominate Real Salt Lake 3-0

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a brace off a pair of headers as the Galaxy celebrated 15 years at the StubHub Center with a 3-0 victory over Real Salt Lake Saturday night.

LA Galaxy

Sigi Schmid’s side did not look good to start the match, with LA struggling once again to generate anything in attack with Zlatan up top and Ola Kamara on the wing. Notably the Galaxy back line dodged a number of bullets, with RSL either lacking the final touch or individual brilliance saving LA’s bacon.

At some point the Galaxy switched to a 3-5-2 formation, and the team began to click offensively. LA carried that momentum into the second half, and after a series of agonizing near misses the breakthrough came in the 61st minute: Chris Pontius sliced a hopeful cross to the far post and Nick Rimando made a hash of the clearance, gifting Ibra the easiest of headers to nod home.

Six minutes later, Zlatan had his brace when Servando Carrasco was given time and space to float a cross from the left flank to the 6’5” target forward, and Ibra outmuscled center back Justen Glad before re-directing a header past a helpless Nick Rimando.

The hard working Ola Kamara put the game out of reach in the 76th minute, accepting a square ball from the excellent Bradford Jamieson IV and sliding a low shot past Rimando to secure all three points for LA heading into the World Cup break.