Steven Gerrard made his long-awaited debut for LA Galaxy in a 2-1 win over Liga MX powerhouse Club América at the StubHub Center on Saturday night.
The former Liverpool captain played the first 45 minutes in a half that saw América pulverise the Galaxy early on, opening the scoring through former Colombian international striker Carlos Darwin Quintero after only seven minutes. A moment of magic from Robbie Keane on the stroke of half time saw both sides enter the break with a goal apiece, before Alan Gordon’s sumptuous header ten minutes from time gave Bruce Arena’s side the win in the opening match of the International Champions Cup.
América show why they are the best team on the continent
Boasting a richly talented team featuring the likes of Ecuadorean winger Michael Arroyo and captain Rubens Sambueza, Las Águilas came racing out of the blocks right from the off. Ignacio Ambríz’s side’s pace and relentless pressing proved far too much for the Galaxy to deal with in the opening exchanges, and they found the net only seven minutes in when former Santos Laguna striker Quintero rounded off a swift counter attacking move. The CONCACAF champions should have extended their lead on numerous occasions, but despite being the better side in the first half they were unable to extend their lead, and it would ultimately cost them as their pressing eased off over the course of the match. Nevertheless, the 2014 Apertura champions are capable of passing teams to death on their day, and Las Águilas treated their audience to some wonderful football at numerous times throughout the evening.
Steven Gerrard enjoys a mixed debut
All of the prematch hype surrounded the former Liverpool captain, despite not playing a competitive match for over six weeks and only beginning training with his new club on Tuesday. Liverpool and Galaxy shirts bearing Stevie G’s name flooded the ground, and despite the Liverpool legend only seeing out the first 45 after evidently lacking in match fitness, the atmosphere barely diminished throughout the game. The former England midfielder’s most notable contribution to the match was a sizzling 35-yard strike that had to be punched away by América keeper Hugo González. Despite being caught flat-footed on more than one occasion and misplacing an awkward back pass from Keane, it was a relatively positive debut for the Galaxy’s new marquee star.
Robbie Keane still has it
Despite Keane leaving Tottenham for the Galaxy in 2011, ‘Keano’ still clearly has not lost any of that deft touch that saw him because a cult hero and goal machine at White Hart Lane. The Irish hitman demonstrated this on the cusp of half-time as he controlled a lovely cross-field ball from Juninho in such exquisite fashion that it took both América’s keeper and centre-half out of the game before prodding the ball home into an empty net and sending the home crowd into raptures. Keane’s moment of magic comfortably upstaged Gerrard’s debut and Alan Gordon’s equally exquisite header to seal the win the 80th minute, and if the goals in the rest of the ICC matches are of the quality that were seen at the StubHub Center, we are in for a real treat.
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