Eskandarian Enjoys Dream Debut As L.A. Downs New England
POSTED: 1:10 am EDT July 5,
2009
Carson, CA -- (Sports Network) - Alecko Eskandarian scored the lone goal of the match on Saturday in his Los Angeles Galaxy debut as the club downed the New England Revolution, 1-0 at The Home Depot Center.Eskandarian was acquired on Wednesday from Chivas USA, and he made quite a first impression, scoring eight minutes into the game and helping the Galaxy (4-3-9) hold off New England for its third win in five games. The Revolution (4-5-4) applied plenty of pressure down the stretch, but they failed to crack a tough Galaxy defense and have now lost two straight. Eskandarian couldn't have asked for a better start to his Galaxy career as he found the back of the net just eight minutes into the match. Todd Dunivant delivered a pinpoint cross from the left wing into the middle of the box for Eskandarian, and he shook free from his defender and placed the ball inside the left post with his right foot. The lead could have grown to two goals in the 30th minute when Jovan Kirovski's cross was turned on goal by the head of Omar Gonzalez, but the ball was hit right at goalkeeper Matt Reis. Galaxy goalkeeper Josh Saunders was called into action right before the break when Michael Videira dropped a pass off to Sainey Nyassi at the top of the box. Nyassi drove a hard first-time shot towards goal, but Saunders did well to get down and make the save. The two teams traded half-chances early in the second half, but the Revs came close to equalizing in the 73rd minute from a free kick. Kenny Mansally floated the ball into the area from midfield, and Videira got up and turned a header towards goal. The ball appeared to be headed for the bottom corner, but Saunders reacted well and tipped it around the post. Reis came up with two huge stops to keep the Revs within a goal in the last 10 minutes as Chris Klein's header from six yards was kept out by the keeper, while Reis was forced to tip Dunivant's headed effort over the crossbar. Saunders was then called upon to make an acrobatic stop on Videira in the 87th minute to preserve the win.
Copyright 2009 Courtesy of The Sports Network.








