L.A.Galaxy 4 - 1 Yankees (394150653)

889 punters turned up at The Home Depot Center, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Hampus Stjärngren was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Grégory Denis and Danny Mønsted. L.A.Galaxy started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Starters: Monjia - Borgianini, Nanni, Di Nicola - Titirişcă, Jagódka, Schweighofer, Catón, Dickhaupt - van der Steege, Agapito.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Yankees. Lineup: Pop - Szczoczarz, Van Woensel, Farr - Capecchi, Giacomello, Vilmos, Reichenau, Borz - Vaca, Dordea.

Today, L.A.Galaxy's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. It was an obvious ambition of Yankees to use their ability at attacking on the flanks. Yankees's D. Reichenau could have put the guests one up after 6 minutes after chasing a through ball from the right, but R. Monjia was as fast as a snake, grabbing the ball from under his nose. L.A.Galaxy's D. van der Steege refused to leave the field after injuring his achilles tendon after 12 minutes. L.A.Galaxy took the lead 14 minutes into the match after a magnificent free kick by T. Di Nicola that made the score 1 - 0. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. G. Nanni squirmed through their central defence after 19 minutes, increasing the lead to 2 - 0. 24 minutes into the game, the referee ruled a penalty for Yankees. Unfortunately, I. Borz shot wide of the mark. With 30 minutes played, K. Szczoczarz of Yankees fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. L.A.Galaxy's N. Titirişcă increased the lead to 3 - 0, after he saw his shot go between the legs of the advancing goalkeeper following some good play down the right wing after 32 minutes. At this point, it was obvious that the players of L.A.Galaxy lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. Almost all the way down to the corner flag, L.A.Galaxy's N. Titirişcă somehow managed to get a perfect pass into the middle, impossible to miss for M. Agapito, who struck for 4 - 0. Attacking on the wings was the choice for Yankees, and they were successfully passing the ball from the middle to the wings to attack. Yankees kept trying to force their way through on the right side and T. Giacomello got his chance after 36 minutes, but the home side's defence held their position and stopped the attack. 4 - 0 was the score after the first half. Yankees enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 55 percent of possession.

Yankees needed a fresh pair of legs on the field, and after 46 minutes D. Farr made way for S. Porzio. D. van der Steege wanted to play on, but the L.A.Galaxy coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 46 minutes into the game by O. Friesen. With 59 minutes played, seemingly due to lack of experience, T. Giacomello needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. V. Schweighofer left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 60 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. N. Tolengo was the replacement. The coach of L.A.Galaxy was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 60 minutes, J. Ramos came on for N. Titirişcă. P. Dordea of Yankees seemed to be floating in the air as he elegantly headed in to make the score 4 - 1 after a corner kick that was nicely executed by I. Borz. Yankees breathed new life into the game with an opportunity to reduce the score after 72 minutes, but the home side's defenders cleared the ball on the line, after a long shot coming in from the left rebounded off the crossbar. With 75 minutes played, the Yankees coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. D. Lemiech came on, L. Vilmos had to leave the fray. Yankees's D. Lemiech was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 76 minutes. L.A.Galaxy were determined to attack on the wing and their central attempts were constantly abandoned in favour of the wings. A. Jagódka unleashed a swerving effort from the right that the visitors' keeper did well to tip wide. Although the whole team were struggling to impress, Yankees's C. Vaca was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 80 minutes. A. Iturregi was given a chance to change things around. K. Szczoczarz became the new Yankees captain. D. Lemiech remonstrated furiously with the referee after Yankees had another decision go against them. The referee had no alternative but to show him another yellow card and send him from the pitch. This part of the game was a standoff between the teams in terms of possession.

L.A.Galaxy's best player was O. Friesen. T. Di Nicola on the other hand, had a terrible day. A. Iturregi performed admirably for Yankees. S. Porzio turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 4 - 1.