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On an emotional day for the club, the LA Galaxy lost Romain Alessandrini to a hamstring pull early before pulling off a come from behind 2-1 victory Saturday night at the newly renamed Dignity Health Sports Park.
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It was a shame to see a player in Romain Alessandrini who clearly cares deeply about the club and the city of LA dejectedly limp off the field, but the Designated Player was forced to exit just 20 minutes in.
After Alessandrini came off LA struggled to recover and were surprisingly flat the rest of the half, unable to muster anything in attack. Things got worse for the Galaxy when Diego Polenta’s miscue on a back pass allowed C.J. Sapong to round David Bingham and put away a simple finish.
However it was the introduction of Efrain Alvarez that would reverse LA’s fortunes. First the East LA born and raised young talent did well to lose a defender in the box and chip the most delicate of passes across the box, and Daniel Steres was happy to smash the ball home. Then with LA pushing for the winner, Chris Pontius smashed a shot off the cross bar and Zlatan managed to bundle home the game winner.