It took him a little while, but Galaxy forward Giovani dos Santos finally made his mark on the 2016 season on Friday, scoring two goals and registering an assist to lead LA to a 4-1 win at the Houston Dynamo.
Dos Santos was honored for his stellar performance on Tuesday, when it was announced that he was voted MLS Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR).
The Mexican international – who was playing his first full match since returning from an injury that kept him out of three games – got started early, answering Houston’s first-minute tally with a fourth-minute strike of his own. A long ball from defender Ashley Cole deflected off a pair of Houston defenders and fell to a wide open dos Santos in the box, with the Designated Player running onto the chance and firing home past a helpless Joe Willis to make it 1-1 (watch goal).
He added a second goal in the 31st, collecting an excellent diagonal ball from Steven Gerrard and volleying his shot into the far corner to extend the Galaxy’s advantage to 3-1 (watch goal). He assisted on LA’s final tally, providing the helper for Gyasi Zardes’ 49th-minute strike that gave the Galaxy their 4-1 advantage (watch assist).
Dos Santos and the Galaxy will be back in action on Saturday, when they’ll host unbeaten Real Salt Lake at StubHub Center (10:30 pm ET; MLS LIVE).
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists from the NASR. The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media. Dos Santos is the second Galaxy player to win the honor this year, after forward Mike Magee took home the Week 1 award.
