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Steven Gerrard’s LA Galaxy debut against Club América ends in win | Steven Gerrard’s LA Galaxy debut against Club América ends in win |
(about 1 hour later) | |
After 114 appearances for England, 17 seasons with Liverpool and a Champions League title, Steven Gerrard added an odd experience to his resume Saturday night. | |
Gerrard made his debut with Los Angeles Galaxy in a home friendly in which most of the local fans treated the Galaxy as if they were the visitors. | |
Mexico City’s Club America provided the opposition and attracted the majority of fans from a packed out crowd of 27,934 at the StubHub Center during the Galaxy’s 2-1 victory in the International Champions Cup. Some fans sat on a grassy knoll underneath the stadium’s huge video screen. | |
Several hundred others, clad in Club America’s yellow home jerseys, packed the northeast corner of the stands behind a sign that read, “La Que Manda En 2 Paises.” English colloquial translation: “We rule in two countries.” | |
Those fans – part of California’s vast population of Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans – overwhelmed the Galaxy’s support. They loudly cheered, chanted and sang in Spanish, and even ignited a couple of smoky flares in Club America’s colors. | |
Into this atmosphere stepped Gerrard, who started to the left of Juninho in the center of the Galaxy’s midfield and played only the first half. | |
On some occasions, the former Liverpool captain decision-making looked a little slow after a break from competitive football. In the 11th and 42nd minutes, Gerrard reacted late when receiving simple passes. In the 18th minute, he failed to secure a clearance from a team-mate near the Galaxy’s goal. Instead, one of Club America’s players pounced on the loose ball. | |
“Physically, it was tough,” Gerrard said. “I haven’t played a competitive match for six or seven weeks so it was very important that I got out there and got 45 minutes.” | |
Yet at other times, Gerrard demonstrated the quality that made him one of the world’s best players. | |
In the sixth minute, he delivered a well-weighted diagonal ball to defender Dan Gargan on the right flank. A minute later, Gerrard Club America goalkeeper Hugo Gonzalez had to punch away a lofted ball. | |
“He’s a very dangerous passer, as you can see,” Galaxy defender AJ De La Garza said. “A few times, we kind of stuck him in bad positions. But he got out of most of them.” | |
Then in the 22nd minute, Liverpool’s all-time leading scorer received Jose Villareal’s back-heel and fired off a shot that was blocked by a Club American defender. | |
“Steven played well,” Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said. “His passing was very good. His partnership with Juninho was good. He won some tackles, helped create some opportunities. He could’ve had a goal. | |
“His first time out was very encouraging. He looked like he belonged.” | |
Nevertheless, Gerrard would need “probably a month,” Arena said, to reach match fitness. | |
“We’ll try to build him into that slowly,” Arena said. “But from what I could see, it was a good 45 minutes from him.” | |
For Gerrard, progress is just a matter of time. | |
“I’ll keep getting better and better,” he said. “The more I get used to my team-mates, I’ll improve.” | |
As the Galaxy players were finishing their interviews, the yellow-clad denizens of the StubHub Center’s northeast corner continued singing and chanting to a drumbeat. For them, Steven Gerrard might just as well have been an apparition. |