Romain Alessandrini notches a brace in the win over Columbus. (Photo by Duane Barker)
By Tim Peterson
(Carson) – Romain Alessandrini’s brace sparked a big second half as the Galaxy shut out Columbus Crew SC 4-0 Saturday night before 21,211 at StubHub Center.
Alessandrini came off of the bench to score both goals and didn’t enter the game until the 60th minute replacing Ola Kamara. Seven minutes later, with the Galaxy already leading 2-0, Alessandrini made a nifty move going through three Columbus defenders and booting one into the left corner of the net to make it 3-0.
Three minutes of additional time were added and Alessandrini made the most of them. With less than a minute left he let one rip and blasted it by Crew goal keeper Zack Steffen for the final goal.
It was only the second time all year that the Galaxy had scored four goals in a game.
Despite some good opportunities for the Galaxy, the match was scoreless until the 40th minute when Kamara took a cross from Ashley Cole and guided it in for a 1-0 lead.
Zlatan Ibrohimovic applies the pressure and earns a penalty kick! (Photo by Duane Barker)
LA took that advantage into the break.
Zlatan Irahimovic appeared to put the Galaxy on the board just four minutes in when he scored from close range but Giovani dos Santos was ruled offside and the goal was disallowed.
In the 10th minute Eduardo Sosa fired a shot on goal for Columbus but it was wide left.
Dos Santos was wide right in the 18th minute missing a chance.
Just one minute after Kamara’s goal it looked like Columbus got even. Former Galaxy forward Gyasi Zardes dribbled down near the baseline and when he flipped the ball back it caromed off of Galaxy defenseman Dave Romney and by goal keeper David Bingham for an own goal to tie it. But after a review it was ruled that Zardes had stepped out of bounds.
In the second half after dos Santos had a shot blocked and Chris Pontius was knocked down without a call the Galaxy broke through to make it 2-0. Ibrahimovic was taken to the ground in the box to set up a penalty kick. In the 57th minute Ibrahimovic buried the PK, his first of the year, for a two goal advantage.
Three minutes later Alessandrini came on for dos Santos and finished it off.
Columbus had more total shots than the Galaxy, 20-14, and were even in shots on target 5-5, but LA made its shots count.
Schmid was happy with the way the defense responded, which gave up a two goal lead against DC United on July 4th,and also happy to have Gio and Jonthan dos Santos back after being away for international play
“Jonathan from the midfield helps us as we bring the ball out a little and Gio did well because he led the counter for us on two or three occasions,” Schmid said. “I thought our defense was better due to more of a concerted effort. We need to continue that.”
With the win the Galaxy gets back to .500 at 7-7-4 while Columbus falls to 8-6-6.
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