Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – San Diego FC pulled off a major surprise in their first ever game in Major League Soccer, winning away to defending champions Los Angeles Galaxy 2-0 on Sunday. The Galaxy, the most successful team in MLS history, were unbeaten at home all last season on their way to winning MLS Cup. But San Diego, the 30th club in MLS with a team of players brought together during the off-season, emerged with a deserved victory thanks to a pair of goals from Danish forward Anders Dreyer.
Galaxy’s Serbian keeper Novak Micovic played a heavy pass out to Carlos Emiro Garces who mis-controlled, and San Diego’s Mexican winger Herving Lozano pounced on the loose ball and found Dreyer who provided the finish. Boosted by the goal, San Diego went close to a second, Dreyer taking advantage of defensive confusion before Micovic parried his drive. Micovic came to the rescue again, coming off his line to foil Lozano after the former Napoli winger had been played in by a clever pass from Dreyer.
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The Galaxy were punchless in attack, missing the input of their Spanish midfielder Riqui Puig and their speedy winger Joseph Paintsil who were both out injured. San Diego goalkeeper CJ dos Santos was called into action late in the game when he denied substitute Miguel Berry from close range.
But then in stoppage time, with the Galaxy pushing forward, San Diego made sure of the win with a brilliantly executed counter-attack. Dreyer sent Tomas Angel clear and the Colombian, the son of former international Juan Pablo Angel, showed composure as he fed the ball back to the Dane who produced an emphatic finish to set off celebrations among the hundreds of fans who had travelled up the Californian coast to the game.
Earlier, Phil Neville’s Portland Timbers suffered a miserable start to their season with a 4-1 home loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps. The Timbers had Canadian defender Kamal Miller sent off in the 11th minute of the game.
© 2024 AFP
