MINNEAPOLIS—After their 2-1 road victory against Minnesota United FC on Sunday, there was a sense of relief among the LA Galaxy. The locker room was blasting Compton’s own Kendrick Lamar, an act of bringing SoCal to Minnesota not dissimilar to the Galaxy’s on-field win.
At the center of it all, though, was Mexico international Giovani Dos Santos.
As Gio goes, so go the Galaxy. After stumbling out the gates in March and April, LA have seven points in their three May fixtures, including two wins in a row. Not coincidentally, the El Tri attacker has scored in each of the three matches.
“It was [the same] last year, took him a while to get going,” said head coach Curt Onalfo. “When he’s on form, he’s very, very good.”
Dos Santos faced a tough run of form after scoring in the season opener, failing to find the back of the net again until May 6 against Chicago. Now, dos Santos seems to be finding his stride.
“I feel good,” dos Santos said. “I think all of our forwards are doing a great job. I know what I’ve been doing, I’ve been working very hard. We have to keep playing the same way.”
This week’s goal was at another level of class. Fellow DP Romain Alessandrini laid in a perfect cross, and dos Santos stuck his left foot out, getting his toe to the ball and flicking it past a diving Bobby Shuttleworth to give LA a 1-0 lead in the 38th minute.
“I think the play was great,” dos Santos said. “The only thing that came to mind was to try to hit it the other way. [Alessandrini and I] have a good relationship off the field and on. It’s easy for me to understand what he’s going through. On the pitch, I know where he’s going to be. Every time we connect, we create a lot of chances.”
The positive results have also come with Jelle Van Damme back in the starting lineup after he was removed in the first half with LA trailing 2-0 in their eventual 2-2 draw against Chicago on May 7. For the captain, Sunday’s win showed a solid road mentality, a good omen ahead of Saturday’s tough California Clasico matchup at San Jose.
“It’s all about mentality on the road,” Van Damme said. “They had a rough start, but we knew they’d be tough to play against. I think we showed character.”
