Galaxy Reserves Defeat Seattle Sounders, 1-0: Fan's Reaction

Posted Tuesday, April 17, 2012 by YAHOO Sport

The Los Angeles Galaxy reserves defeated the Seattle Sounders backups, 1-0, in MLS Reserve League play on April 16 at the Home Depot Center.

The best news about this result is that the Galaxy finally got a clean sheet. The first team hasn't been able to do that across competitions so far in 2012. The win was the first of the Reserve League season for the Galaxy which only won one match last season. Our side lost their first Reserve League match to Chivas USA, 4-2, on April 2.

The Galaxy didn't get the winner until the 90th minute of the match. By then, our side had the benefit of playing a man up over the Sounders, who saw Christian Sivebaek sent off after 69 minutes for a tackle on Galaxy rookie defender Bryan Gaul. Rookie Rafael Garcia and Galaxy Academy player Raul Mendiola hooked up on a give and go play on the goal. Garcia caught Mendiola's pass with his head on the game-winner.

The Sounders had a couple of good chances just before the hour mark. Our side's backup keeper Bill Gaudette stopped the first shot by knocking it past the post to force a corner. On the corner, the Galaxy blocked the shot before it got to Gaudette but then had a nervous moment in the penalty area before the ball was cleared.

The only substitute that our side didn't use was Jordan King, who didn't play in the Chivas match either. In addition to Mendiola getting into the match, Galaxy Academy defender Oscar Sorto also played the final three minutes when he replaced Bryan Jordan.

Overall, Monday's match capped a good few days for the Galaxy franchise. The first team got a 3-1 win over the Portland Timbers and saw Landon Donovan, Juninho and David Beckham score their first goals of the season. In the Reserve League match, the Galaxy bench players recovered very well from allowing four goals in their first game loss.

The one bad note is that Marcelo Sarvas left the reserves match after being taken down by Andy Rose. Nothing is yet known about Sarvas' status.