CARSON >> Last year, Emmanuel Boateng fought his way onto the field for the Galaxy and became an important asset during the second half of the season.
As he prepares for his second year with the club, Boateng might be in the same situation this year, especially once Joao Pedro and Romain Alessandrini join the club.
In Tuesday’s preseason friendly, Boateng came on to start the second half. The starting midfield consisted of Jermaine Jones, Sebastian Lletget, Raul Mendiola and Baggio Husidic.
It didn’t take him long to impact the game Tuesday as he set up Jose Villarreal’s goal in the 52nd minute, using his speed and footwork to get the assist in the 1-1 draw against Club Tijuana at StubHub Center in front of 9,150.
He also had a pair of dangerous runs, one coming in the 82nd minute that led to a free kick.
“I’ve learned more about the game every day,” Boateng said. “Asking the coaches, what I can do to improve and I try to find spaces on the field. I think if I can get a little bit of space, I can create stuff and that helped me out last year.
“I think I’m going to be involved as much as I was last year, helping the team create chances. I’m either going to be on the left or the right. We’re just waiting for the rest of the club to come together.”
That was the case in the second half Tuesday as Boateng beat his defender and sent a low cross that Villarreal slotted for the goal.
Club Tijuana, also known as Xolos, scored the equalizer in the 54th minute when Matias Pizano successfully converted a penalty. Galaxy defender Dave Romney was called for a foul in the box, setting up the penalty.
The first half saw a starting lineup with some familiar faces and a few that new Galaxy coach Curt Onalfo would send out when the regular season opens next month, at least in defense.
The Galaxy had three of their four starting defenders (Ashley Cole, Jetlle Van Damme and Daniel Steres) in the lineup along with starting goalkeeper Brian Rowe.
Giovani dos Santos (Mexican national team) and Gyasi Zardes were two other starters that were unavailable.
The start of the second half brought an entire new 11 players.
“It was exactly what I thought it would be,” Onalfo said. “Two weeks into preseason, some heavy legs, everything not as sharp as it should be, but having said that, some really good things to build on.
“The first half we created some really good chances off of set pieces, a couple of chances out of the run of play. We needed to move better as a group defensively, but I thought we adjusted well.”
The Galaxy will head to Las Vegas this week and will face San Jose on Saturday. Their next home preseason game is Feb. 25.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
