For me, the kick-off of LA Galaxy’s season is right up there with my birthday and Christmas. I actually consider it a holiday. And it just makes it that much better when your team comes away with a win. It was good to get a win, because people have been skeptical about this season. Losing Donovan until April and Becks moving to Paris has left some people questioning who would step up and become a leader. Tonight, two people stepped up; Robbie Keane and Mike Magee. Both had one heck of a game. There were also two new names in the LA lineup; keeper Clark Cudicni and midfielder Colin Clark. Both players earned the starting spot by showing their talent in preseason. Both played well in tonight’s opener. Speaking of which, let’s hope right to it.
It took a while for LA to get into the swing of things, which makes sense. Sure you have preseason, but nothing compares to a real match. You could say the first half belonged to Sean Johnson, Chicago’s keeper, because he was the only reason LA didn’t find the back of the net sooner. Juninho was the man to step up to take the free kicks and corners. He did a heck of a job on his first free kick and made Johnson go for the diving save. LA kept knocking, and finally opened the door.
Photo courtesy LA Galaxy’s Facebook page
In the 38th minute of play, after many misplaced chances, Mike Magee showed why he is always on FIRE. With the ball finding Magee’s foot (after three deflections) he took a volley, and found the back of the net. It was a great goal to open the season for LA. The second half started of sloppy, but in the 67th minute, the man himself scored again. Magee came away with the ball in the eighteen, and found the back of the net with another tremendous goal. Then low and behold, in the 73rd minute… guess who scored, again. Yup, MIKE MAGEE. On fire is an understatement.
There’s not a way to describe how remarkable Magee played. He had one heck of a game. Actually, that’s an understatement. He played pretty dang marvelous! A hat trick in the season opener, nothing is better than that. You’d think after a 3-0 lead LA would settle back… Not the case. In the 79th minute Robbie Keane got the chance to show off his famous cartwheel. A well-deserved goal by LA’s newly crowned Captain.
At the end of the 90 minutes, LA came away with a 4-0 win. If this is any indication of how the season is going to play out then I’d say LA is well on their way to another MLS Cup.
Don’t forget to follow along with @AerysSoccer on twitter for the MLS season!
