Galaxy’s Coach Schelotto: “We Played the Perfect 45 Minutes”

The LA Galaxy defeated Minnesota United 3-2, in the MLS’ closing game of the day.

It was an interesting match in which the hosts had everything in their hands for some 75 minutes, but allowed for the guests to have a chance to go home with one point from this contest.

The fact that they were without Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Romain Alessandrini was something that scared LA’s fans a little bit. After all, the Swedish legend is one of the best if not the best striker in the league.

But it turned out to be unduly, because Galaxy’s attack was perfect in this game.

They scored three goals, and had a ton of chances to add more.

The home team had a 2-0 lead after the first 45 minutes, and their coach, the famous Guillermo Barros Schelotto, was thrilled with the way his team performed.

The Argentinian coach praised that sequence as the role model for the future performances, saying that his team played perfectly.

“At halftime, I talked with the players saying ‘this 45 (minutes) was perfect’ because we scored twice and we kept the ball, we played offense and Minnesota couldn’t do something with the game,” commented Schelotto.

Jonathan Dos Santos broke the ice after the penalty in the 36th minute. Previously Osvaldo Alonso brought down Carlos Antuna in the box.

But what happened in the 41st minute could only be described as magical. The Galaxy players provided a memorable play which will be the subject of talks for a long time.

Chris Pontius executed after a perfect team play, and 25 straight passes exchanged between Galaxy players.

📕 Textbook.

The 25 passes that led to @ChrisPontius13’s goal, with final assists from @EmaBoateng and Rolf Feltscher. pic.twitter.com/0h9Mbil0sk

— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) March 17, 2019

The left midfielder used Rolf Fletcher’s assist from the right side and hit the ball with his chest, sending it into the net of the stunned visitors.

“When you have the ball as a team, there’s a certain confidence that gets built with amongst the guys,” said the scorer of the best goal of the season so far. “You saw that confidence, people moving off the ball, showing for it at good spots, and we created a lot of problems because of it.”

The guests were dazzled afterward, but there wasn’t time for something more because the halftime came really fast.

Galaxy didn’t continue to play in the same manner when the second half started. Thought they had the initiative, hosts couldn’t score.

An then right out of nowhere, in the 75th minute, guests scored.

Jan Gregus sent a shot from some 25 yards a little bit to the right and Galaxy’s goalkeeper David Bigham made a bad reaction allowing the ball to cross the goal line.

Fortunately, the host’s response came almost instantly. It was the 81st minute, when Antuna sent a cross from the right and it fell right on Sebastian Lletget’s foot. The 27-year old put the ball besides Vito Mannone who didn’t have the chance to deny that shot.

Lletget played the whole match with a broken nose, and he deserved the man of the match award without any question.

Still, the guests didn’t want to back down, and they netted once more until the end of the game.

Angelo Rodriguez who came off the bench reacted fast after Abu Dalandi’s header which deflected off the post. The Colombian reached the ball first and smashed it into the empty net.

Despite pressuring the opponent who was defending with all of its power, the Loons couldn’t find that third goal and make a huge upset at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson.

At the moment, both sides have the same record, two wins, and one defeat, with the note that LA has a goal difference of 5-5, while Minnesota stands at 8-5.

Up next Galaxy plays at home against Portland Timbers on March 31st, while Minnesota travels to Massachusetts to face the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium.

The MLS championship has just begun, and we expect more thrilling matches from both sides. Stay tuned with WagerBop.com and keep in touch with the most interesting news from the American soccer.