David Junior Lopes spurs Galaxy to 1-1 tie
Landon Donovan and David Beckham were nowhere to be found. Captain Robbie Keane sat for the entire second half.
But to the delight of the crowd at the packed Home Depot Center, David Junior Lopes showed up at the most opportune time.
Lopes scored the tying goal for the Galaxy in an exhibition match Tuesday, securing a 1-1 tie against Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League before 25,676.
It took a near-perfect play in the 29th minute for the Galaxy to get on the scoreboard. Midfielder Hector Jimenez got ahead of the Tottenham defense before booting the ball laterally in front of the goal to Lopes, who fired it into the net.
It was the first goal for Lopes since he was traded from Chivas USA in April.
“The finish wasn’t as hard as the play,” Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena said. “[Michael] Stephens did well to flip the ball to [Marcelo] Sarvas and Sarvas’ pass to Jimenez behind their line was an outstanding ball.”
Playing without two stars who are in New York to face Champions League titlist Chelsea as part of the MLS All-Star team, the Galaxy didn’t appear to have a chance against a team from arguably the top soccer league in the world.
And after two MLS matches in the last seven days, it was fair to wonder how much motivation the Galaxy would have.
But Tottenham also played without three starters. Luka Modric stayed home in a contract dispute, and Giovani Dos Santos (Mexico) and Sandro Raniere (Brazil) will play in the Olympics in London.
In the 17th minute, it appeared none of that mattered. Spurs midfielder Gareth Bale put a header in the back of the net to give Tottenham the lead.
Initially, the Galaxy had a tough time responding. Despite several open looks, it was unable to put one past keeper Carlo Cudicini.
Finally, Jimenez’s pass to Lopes eased the near-capacity crowd’s anxiety.
Backup keeper Brian Rowe barely avoided giving up a goal in the 84th minute. Tottenham midfielder Aaron Lennon fired a shot from 20 yards in front of the goal, but it was wide right.
Playing primarily with its reserves in the second half to avoid fatigue before Saturday’s match at FC Dallas, L.A. held tight. Several scoring opportunities came up empty, but the defense didn’t have a lapse.
Arena said the result should serve the team well the season’s second half.
“It was positive,” he said. “It serves as a pretty good training session. Can’t argue with the result, but I don’t think the result is that critical in an exhibition like this.”
andrew.john@latimes.com
