Galaxy turns to Emmanuel Boateng with Gyasi Zardes out
No one on the Galaxy is fleeter of foot than first-year midfielder Emmanuel Boateng. Yet it has taken a broken foot for Boateng to get a chance at demonstrating what that speed can do to heal a struggling team that has scored six goals in its last six games, none of which it won.
The fractured foot wasn’t Boateng’s, of course. It belongs to Gyasi Zardes, who went down in last weekend’s scoreless draw with Vancouver and isn’t expected back until the playoffs.
Whether the Galaxy make it that far could be determined, in large part, by Boateng, who will join Sebastian Lletget and Mike Magee in inheriting some of the playing time Zardes will forfeit.
Boateng, Lletget and Magee were all in the starting lineup against Columbus on Saturday, when the Galaxy were dealing with more than just the absence of Zardes. Also out with injury were defender Jelle Van Damme and midfielder Steven Gerrard while captain Robbie Keane was returning from international duty.
Midfielder Nigel de Jong, meanwhile, is gone for good, signing last Wednesday with Turkish club Galatasaray after the Galaxy agreed to terminate his contract.
“Ema, Seba, those guys who have been coming off the bench are probably going to be in starting roles,” said defender A.J. DeLaGarza, who appeared in his 200th game with the Galaxy, most of any current player. “A lot of them have earned the opportunity. Now it’s there for them. But they’ve got to take it.”
Boateng is primed to do just that. Although he’s started 11 times this season — twice while Zardes was away with the U.S. national team — he’s played only two full games since May 1. Should he get a more complete audition while Zardes is sidelined, he cautioned he won’t be trying to imitate his teammate, he’ll just be taking his spot in the lineup.
“If I try to be Gyasi, it’s not going to work. I’m Ema and he’s Gyasi,” said Boateng, whose speed and wide play challenge opposing defenses in some of the same ways Zardes does.
“It’s still an 11-man game. [You] still rely on your teammates. That’s the thing: Believe in each other and get out there and do it as a group. We all have to come together.”
Lletget agrees. Last season, his first with the Galaxy, he had five goals in his first seven starts. But this year he’s scored just once in 24 games. Now with Zardes and Gerrard out for an extended time, he’s eager to shoulder more of the offensive load.
“I’m looking forward to these games,” he said. “It’s just a case of you have to be that guy. Who else is going to do it? I’m ready for it.”
The team is also ready for a turnaround, DeLaGarza said. Although the Galaxy were winless in August, they went into Saturday’s game leading San Jose by eight points in the race for the Western Conference’s final playoff berth. And they control their own destiny, playing four of their final eight games against teams also in the postseason hunt.
“We’ve got to make sure September is the total opposite of August,” he said. “You want to have it in your hands, not in other people’s hands. But you’ve got to start winning.
“It’s simple to say but you’ve got to put in on the field.”
Follow Kevin Baxter on Twitter @kbaxter11
