I recently blogged about the bad and ugly of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, well, the Swede star comes with plenty of goodies too, his latest goal proved so. Whatever side you are, his fan, hater or a neutral, we all disagree to agree that Ibrahimovic will always be a genius. His stunning overhead kick couldn't rescue a point for his Los Angeles Galaxy(LAG) team on Sunday night though but it highlighted the skills the Swedes possess even at age 37.
LAG seems to have turned the corner with a back-to-back league wins after a torrid May in which they lost 4-straight matches. New England Revolution(NER) tie was supposed to be a routine home win for LAG over a team struggling to get a win, with 2 draws and a loss in their past 3 matches, but LAG was brought crashing down to earth by the NER.
If there was one thing that is certain in any LAG-NER tie? It is goals, there is no shortage of goals whenever these 2 clubs meet, the last 5 ties between them had produced 25 goals, an average of 5 goals per match and this latest tie wasn't an exception.
Check his goal out below;
As expected, LAG dominated their visitor from the start, however, they couldn't break down NER defence, LAG were kept at bay by NER, managed just 2 shots on target out of a total of 14 shots compared to NER who managed 16 shots and fired 7 on target. The visitors made their intention known as early as the 7th minute with the 1st attempt of the night, Cristian Penilla tested LAG's goalkeeper, David Bingham, but the goalkeeper was well placed to save Penilla's left-footed shot. It took about half an hour before LAG had their 1st shot at NER's goal, Ibrahimovic saw his effort well saved by NER's goalkeeper, Brad Knighton. It was a personal duel between LAG goalkeeper, Bingham and NER's winger, Penilla, as the latter's efforts in double quick succession in the 43rd minute were saved by Bingham. Penilla had the last laugh though, just before the half time break(45 min), his left-footed shot from a Carles Gil's assist finally beat Bingham as the half ended 1 nil in NER's favour.
Penilla-Bingham duel soon began after the restart, It took another good save from Bingham to deny Penilla in the 57th minute. However, Bingham was beaten again in the 60th minute, as NER doubled their lead, Carles Gil 2nd assist on the night found Teal Bunbury who fired home. Ibrahimovic will not be denied his moment of brilliance in the 84th minute though, a long throw-in was knocked down in the box for the Swedes, who did well to gain control of the ball before scoring a delightful overhead kick. LAG should have gotten their equalizer in the added time of the full regulation period(90+7 min), unfortunately, Diego Polenta's shot hit the crossbar rather than go in. It ended in favour of the away side, 2-1 to New England Revolution and a 3rd-straight home loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
I have a feeling Zlatan Ibrahimovic will always hit the tabloids even after he eventually hangs his boot, the GOOD, the bad and the ugly of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Thank you all for your time.
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