LA Galaxy vs. Sporting KC Player Ratings

After a string of miserable losses, the Galaxy earned six points on the road. While that is reason for celebration, the Galaxy did not look super coherent while earning those points. After a dragged out win in Orlando, the Galaxy lucked out into another three points in Kansas City.

Against Sporting KC, while LA started with a nice high press, they were undone by SKC’s decent passing through the middle of the pitch. Emergency defending, and frankly SKC’s poor finishing, saved the Galaxy from going down early…and late. David Bingham also came up with a couple of nice saves. Not to mention a culprit I usually pick on had a pretty good game.

Six points on the road is a victory, no matter how you look at it. Let’s see if the Galaxy can keep up this momentum going into the Gold Cup break. Losing Dos Santos is going to be downright painful.

You’re Welcome (aka, Excellent)

· Didn’t think anyone was over the moon in terms of performance.

Happy Lion (aka, Good)

· Perry Kitchen – served in the secondary assist to Zlatan on Alvarez’s goal. Put in some decent clearances in the defensive third. Also put Zlatan through in the 69^th minute. Served the ball to Antuna for LA’s second goal. Didn’t have a lot of distribution in the center of the pitch, but what he did distribute, worked out. I can’t believe I’m typing this: Man of the Match.

· Zlatan Ibrahimovic – after having virtually nothing to do for 35 minutes sent a decent cutback into the box. Headed assist to Favio in the second half. Whiffed after a decent ball over the top from Kitchen. Beautiful goal with great balance in the second half. His passing is a sea of red (rusty?), but hey, 1 goal and an assist!

· David Bingham – decent save to end the half after a through ball beat both Steres and Gonzalez. Punched away Zusi’s free kick and Madranda’s shot in the second half.

· Jonathan Dos Santos – his usual reliable self in midfield. 19 successful defensive actions.

Sleeping Lion (aka, Okay)

· Favio Alvarez – nice high press to start the game, set the right tone. Then faded – needs to have more of a creative impact to find Zlatan and Antuna. I’ll consider this a work in progresws. His good late run generated LA’s first goal in the second half.

· Daniel Steres – headed clearance in the six yard box saved the Galaxy (although so did the SKC player who whiffed the rebound shot). Poor touch seconds later caused problems in the back. This was the first time he played right back in ages…so he’s forgiven for quite a bit.

· Sebastian Lletget – His set pieces were quite good, and he looked more comfortable playing down the left.

· Uriel Antuna – assist to Zlatan in the second half on a breakaway. Has boundless energy – I just want it to be more directed.

· Joe Corona – helped control the midfield to win the game.

· Emmanuel Boateng – late sub.

· Chris Pontius – late sub.

The Lion Roars (aka, Poor)

· Giancarlo Gonzalez – was very lucky after Feilhaber’s cross got by him in the 9^th minute. Stood off Feilhaber about 10 minutes later letting Feilhaber get in a decent shot at goal. Bear hugged Croizet into a yellow card. Bad pass nearly resulted in trouble in the 64^th minute. Has a bunch of defensive actions, but still not a good night.

· Dave Romney – no Diego Polenta, he looked uncomfortable. Then again, he hasn’t really played in a long time. Rough start to the game, repeatedly beat and saved by SKC’s abject finishing. Denied a goal by a decent save from Melia off a corner.

· Jorgen Skjelvik – looked slow against the SKC forwards.