March 31, 2007 GALAXY DEFEAT VICTORY First meeting ever
By Andrea Canales, LASoccerNews.com Associate Editor
Nathan Sturgis scored the lone goal of the match. Linda Cuttone, SportsVue Images
The Los Angeles Galaxy defeated the California Victory of the United Soccer League’s Premier Division in the last preseason game for the Major League Soccer squad on a lone goal by Nathan Sturgis early in the first half.
Landon Donovan, fresh off his stint with the U.S. national team, showed up during the first half to provide his team with moral support from the bench, though he did not play.
The Galaxy had the better of the run of play in the early going. Eventually, one of their attacks paid off.
“It was probably the one good thing I did the whole game,” Sturgis admitted of his goal.
“The ball got played over the top to Robbie, kind of on the left side. He got by his guy on the endline and I make a run into the box. I’m not sure how it went in. I kind of collided with somebody and somehow the ball sent in.”
The defensive midfielder was still recovering from an injury.
“I’ve been having some pain with my groin,” said Sturgis. “I didn’t want to push it.”
It’s a good thing the time Sturgis took off helped him recover, because the match became a battle, with numerous fouls and cards handed out.
“It felt good today,” said Sturgis of his injury.
“It was tough,” acknowledged midfielder Santino Quaranta. “These guys come out flying. There were a lot of factors that made the game tough. There are games that we try to get through with the right attitude, but it was tough.”
In fact, during the second half, what looked like a clear penalty on Kyle Martino drew a yellow on the Galaxy player instead.
“I thought I got pretty wiped out,” related Martino. “It didn’t look like it was up for question and if it was, it it didn’t look like it was anything close to a yellow card for a dive. There was a lot of contact. But these refs sometimes see a different story.”
Though pleased that the team had managed to win all but one time in their preseason contests, the Galaxy players weren't getting carried away by those results.
“The mood is good right now, but we need to be realistic and understand that the competition that we will face in MLS is going to be a lot higher and a lot harder,” said Martino. “It’s good to feel happy and a little bit of satisfaction. But the reality is that even in the games we’ve played, our performance needed to be better even though we got wins out of it.”
Though it has yet to be officially confirmed by the club, a Galaxy source confirmed that Kevin Harmes and Ian Russell are set to be signed by the team.
