Giovani dos Santos had a goal and an assist in an impressive Major League Soccer debut, leading the LA Galaxy to a 3-1 victory over the Seattle Sounders on Sunday.
Dos Santos set up captain Robbie Keane’s goal in the 47th minute before the Mexico playmaker scored his first goal in the 64th minute, taking a beautiful pass from Keane and burying his shot past Stefan Frei.
Dos Santos started up front alongside Keane and took corners as the Galaxy (11-7-7) officially unveiled the newest acquisition in their star-studded lineup.
Photo: AFP
Dos Santos even lived up to the standard set by Steven Gerrard, who also had a goal and an assist in his winning MLS debut last month.
The sellout crowd gave a standing ovation when Dos Santos left in the 69th minute.
With David Beckham watching from a luxury suite, Gyasi Zardes also scored as the Galaxy unleashed the full might of their reloaded roster for the first time.
The defending MLS champions have scored 22 goals in their last five MLS home games, staying in the Western Conference race despite a slow start to the season and continued struggles on the road.
Chad Barrett scored in the opening minute for the Sounders (10-12-2), who competed without any designated players after leaving Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins at home from the rivalry game. Dempsey strained his hamstring in training on Friday, and Martins still is not quite ready to return from a groin injury.
Barrett also left the game with an injured right hamstring immediately after his stunning opening-minute goal. Zardes equalized in the 13th minute with his 25th career MLS goal.
However, the sellout crowd was most eager to see Dos Santos, who wears the No. 10 Galaxy shirt most recently occupied by the retired Landon Donovan.
Dos Santos is likely to play in midfield while coach Bruce Arena figures out the best distribution of his wealth of talent.
The 26-year-old Dos Santos began training with the Galaxy a week ago after arriving from Mexico’s Gold Cup title run.
The two-time World Cup performer spent the past two seasons with Villareal in La Liga after a career that began at Barcelona.
While Dos Santos’ European career was inconsistent, the Galaxy have been chasing him for years, believing his combination of offensive flair and Mexican heritage would be an enormous boost on the field and among Southern California’s enormous Mexican-American population.
When MLS altered its designated player rules to allow a fourth big-ticket addition this summer, the Galaxy swiftly closed a deal to add even more talent to their side — and Dos Santos immediately showed the flair they expect.
Donovan Ricketts made his first home start in three years for the Galaxy, who reacquired the goalkeeper from Orlando City after Jaime Penedo left the club.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
A man fell from the 6.4m-high Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh during Wednesday night’s game between the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. Right after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put the Pirates ahead 4-3, players began waving frantically for medical personnel and pointing to the man, who had fallen onto the warning track. The fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Pirates and Cubs training staffs as well as PNC personnel before being removed from the field on a cart. The team issued a statement shortly
PAINFUL VICTORY: Ruud said that felt pain in his rib during the warmup and was put on painkillers so that he could finish the match against Argentine Francisco Cerundolo With the help of painkillers, Casper Ruud overcame a rib ailment to defeat Francisco Cerundolo in straight sets and reach the Madrid Open final on Friday. Ruud is to face Jack Draper, who beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the other semi-final to make his third final of the year. Ruud received treatment on his rib three games into the match and went on to win 6-4, 7-5 on the Caja Magica center court. The 15th-ranked Norwegian saved 15 of the 18 break points he faced against the 21st-ranked Argentine. Ruud said he felt something in his rib during the warmup, just before
RSS