The LA Galaxy put seven goals past Tim Melia and Sporting Kansas City on Sunday, routing the visitors by a final score of 7-2 at Dignity Health Sport Park.
This victory was much needed for Guillermo Barros Schelotto and company as they push for a playoff spot. Their comeback win pushed the Galaxy from eighth to fifth and just one spot behind hosting a playoff match.
The formation switched for the match against Sporting, as GBS opted for the 4-3-3 instead of the 4-2-3-1. Sebastian Lletget and Joe Corona flanked Jonathan Dos Santos in the middle of the pitch. In defense, Dave Romney replaced Jorgen Skjelvik while Diego Polenta started at center back.
But the result did not look like a possible outcome throughout the first half as Sporting took the lead 34 minutes into proceedings.
Eight minutes later, Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored the first of his three goals on the night.
Diego Polenta threaded the SKC defense with an excellent through ball which found Uriel Antuna made a diagonal run to get on the end of it. He flicked up a shot which was blocked by the arm of Matt Besler. Ibrahimovic stepped up to the night and while his initial attempt was saved, his first miss as a member of the Galaxy, he slotted home the rebound easily.
Galaxy score six in the second half
Shortly after the restart, the Galaxy took the lead for good through Joe Corona. A Rolf Feltscher cross found Cristian Pavon at the back post. The Argentinian flipped the ball back towards the top of the six yard box and Corona headed the cross home.
Ibrahimovic scored his second goal of the match three minutes after the Galaxy took the lead.
Feltscher sent another dangerous cross into the box that found the veteran strikers’ feet. He took a couple of touches before beating Melia to give LA a 3-1 advantage.
The young Mexican international was the beneficiary of a lucky deflection in the 70th minute as Antuna netted the home side’s fourth goal of the night.
Pavon did the hard work down the left side of the pitch and had an initial shot which Melia deflected away. However, Antuna was there in the right spot and put the ball into the back of the net.
Sebastian Lletget got in on the fun as he scored two goals in two minutes which put the Galaxy up by a score of 6-1.
The 36 year old striker finished off the goal scoring fest 85 minutes into the match which completed his hat trick.
Next Up
On Saturday, the Galaxy welcome in the Montreal Impact with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 PM.
