Pavon’s Stellar home Debut leads Galaxy past Dallas
The Los Angeles Galaxy came back home to Carson, Ca on a three game losing streak, with their last season win coming in at the expense of MLS best LAFC. Los Galacticos hit the road where they conceded 9 goals while scoring just one. This made Galaxy’s skipper Guillermo try some new things at the Starting XI having Antuna come off the bench. Their newly recruited, Argentine Cristian Pavon who had an impressive debut in their loss at the nations capital would make his home debut as they hosted FC Dallas Wednesday night.
Los Angeles started off the pressing from the get-go. From the start we could see the young Pavon’s brilliance on display. In the 12th minute Pavon gets a nice ball, rainbows it over a defender to create his own chance but defense recovers fast enough to keep the game leveled.
Even with their few opportunities, Dallas would make their presence felt just a few minutes later. In the 14th minute, a Dallas corner leads to an opportunity. The Los Angeles defense struggles to clear the corner that leaves Santiago Mosquera with an opportunity to take a shot on goal. The attempt defects off the keeper then the cross bar alerting David Bingham but Los Angeles clears it out of Danger.
The Los Angeles Galaxy outplayed their counterparts for the most part of the first half yet struggled to get anything going. In the 24th minute Pavon takes shot on goal that the keeper keeps with ease. At the half, FC Dallas owned 53% of possession with one more shot than Los Galacticos.
Looking for some results Guillermo would go into his bench early in the second half. Julian Araujo would be replaced by Uriel Antuna in the 53rd minute with Favio Alvarez replacing Efrain Alvarez just a few minutes later. For the most part the second half began pretty equally with both teams creating opportunities to open up the scoring.
Los Galacticos wouldn’t have to wait much longer. In the 68th minute Cristian Pavon would engage in a beatiful give and go with Jørgen Skjelvik finding him getting behind his defender. He filters him a beautiful through ball on the left side of the field which leaves him with plenty of space and time to find an open Ibrahimovic. Zatlan doesn’t hesitate to place it on the bottom left of the net giving him his 17th goal of the year.
In the 80th minute Pavon would get a ball inside the 18 year box where he would be fouled by an FC Dallas defender. With out hesitation the referee would point at the penalty spot. Just a few minutes later Zatlan would convert giving him his second of the night and the 18th of the year.
Tonight’s victory for Los Galacticos is crucial determining playoffs standings, thus far. The three points at home move Los Angeles up to third in the standings, respectively. Zatlan and company will host Seattle Sounders this Saturday before the along awaited matchup at LAFC. For their part, Dallas will get set to visit Montreal before hosting the Houston Dynamo.
