L.A. Galaxy's 7 Minutes of Heaven: beating Real Salt Lake 1-0

L.A. Galaxy's Juninho flashes a winning smile after scoring in a penalty against Real Salt Lake. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A chilly breeze rattled the drapes of a room overlooking the entire Stub Hub Stadium, where L.A. Galaxy (LAG) and Real Salt Lake (RSL) of the Major League Soccer (MLS) played their match on Wednesday, May 7, with LAG scoring a fast win seven minutes in of a 1-0 from midfielder Juninho. Although the wind was making the American flag shake and flutter, the yellow and orange hues of the sunset only made the Star-Spangled Banner and the fireworks even more majestic, perfect for the Memorial Day Weekend.

“It certainly is a blessing to be sitting here, watching my team who will definitely win, let me tell ya. I’ve been watching them for a while and I’d put my money on them if I were you, young lady.” One gentleman in a suit did a knowing nod of the head after pointing to the side of the L.A. Galaxy, where their team flag was waving in the sky.

The L.A. Galaxy is currently holding a consecutive five-year championship for the MLS, followed closely by D.C. United, so it’s not surprising when the presence of the fan base for LA Galaxy outnumbers the other team in the stadium. What’s added more to the hype for LAG is that the legendary Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard, supposedly signed an 18-month contract with LAG in the upcoming fall season.

After an hour of waiting, the match finally kicked into action at 7:30, where crowds of spectators and fans chanted and cheered for their team.

“LA!” “Galaxy!” “LA!” “Galaxy!” The chants and the drumrolls got more and more intense as the minutes started to count on the big screen located right beside the soccer field. Teams were shouting at each other across the field as players passed on the first kick of the evening. Both team players looked especially miniature, looking almost like figurines. The view from above looked like being in a four-dimensional big screened TV, with roars and boo’s echoing around.

With seven minutes in and a lot of rising tension with missed shots and close saves, LAG Midfielder Juninho dribbled the black and white ball across the field with some of his teammates’ help and eventually found himself face to face with RSL’s goalkeeper, Nick Rimando, which became an out to the sidelines. However, with only a mere seven minutes into the game, the out was flagged as a penalty kick against RSL. The crowd erupted into a mix of chants, one side aggressively chanting ‘GOAL’ and the other screaming ‘NO!’ Juninho took a few deep breaths and warmed himself up, his eyes staring right into Rimando’s eyes, proving it was all mind games and concentration. Rimando spread out his arms and crouched down with a fierce look on his face, while Juninho took a step back and the second his foot touched the ball…

In a flash, the soccer ball flew from Juninho’s golden foot to the right side of the goal, while Rimando predicted wrong and flew to the left side of the goal, successfully putting the scoreboard to 1-0. The entire L.A. Galaxy team jumped up from their seats and ran to embrace Juninho. LAG fans screamed, drum-rolled, and blasted out fireworks of red, white, and blue onto the still-setting skyline.

For the rest of the first half of the game, RSL tried furiously tried to reclaim upper hand, changing into a new formation of a 4-4-5, which proved to be more of a successful formation than their first one, with forward Olmes Garcia attempting several goals at LAG’s goalkeeper Jaime Penedo at around the 22nd minute.

After halftime, Forward Robbie Keane from Galaxy switched on, and the team have created several opportunities for more goals but missed their chances as well. After assuming a new formation of a 4-2-3-1, RSL became more aggressive, with forwards Javier Morales and Joao Plata running up to catch the soccer ball after Junino scored. Plata put in a lot of effort just seconds away from scoring RSL’s first goal, but they were unable to get past LAG’s defense and goalie. It certainly looked like LAG had the lead most of the time too, because towards the end of the play Galaxy nearly scored another goal, with substitute Edson Buddle making a beautiful loop from a corner kick, but bounced off RSL’s defender Aaron Maund’s foot instead.

The sky had turned from a majestic hue of red, yellow, and orange into a settling shade of black and blue with stadium lights shimmering beside. The match had officially ended with L.A. Galaxy’s win of 1-0 over the Real Salt Lakes. There were a few chants that the fans dedicated to L.A. Galaxy that went something along the lines of: “We all cheer for the LA Galaxy, the LA Glaaxy, the LA Galaxy…” inspired by The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine. Another one the fans were changing repeatedly went, “LA ‘till I die! I know I am, I’m sure I am, I’m LA ‘till I die!” The next two games for them will be this upcoming weekend with RSL playing Vancouver and LAG playing New England.

It was a chilly night, but it was definitely not for the fans and for the love of the game.