While you were probably busy pounding beers and watching fireworks, Zlatan Ibrahimovic had one of his busiest days of the year.
The Galaxy striker had to carry his team to its 11th win, scoring two goals to secure that win. He then joined the internet in the #BottleCapChallenge trend.
And he did all of this, with his name misspelled on his jersey.
Fresh off helping Mexico to the CONCACAF U-17 Championship title last month, 16-year-old Californian Efraín Álvarez has registered his first goals for the LA Galaxy, notching a brace in the club’s 3-0 U.S. Open Cup victory over Orange County FC on Wednesday night.
The Designated Player Rule, also known as the Beckham Rule, remains in effect as the league enters its 24th season. The rule allows teams to sign up to three players that are considered outside the team’s salary cap ($4.035M in 2018).
In essence, this allows teams to compete for star players in the international market (like how the LA Galaxy started this whole rigamarole by signing David Beckham to a five-year contract worth $6.5M annually back in 2007).
After winning two straight away matches, the Los Angeles Galaxy slipped to a surprise 2-1 defeat to the lowly New England Revolution on Sunday night at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
Goals from Cristian Penilla and Teal Bunbury in the opening hour of play set the stage for New England’s first road win of the season. The Galaxy managed only two shots on target throughout the match, but one was an absolute stunner from Zlatan Ibrahimović in the 84th minute.
Since Major League soccer began play in 1996, the United States and Canada has been home to some of the world’s finest attacking talent. The likes of David Villa and Sebastian Giovinco have been scoring at an unprecedented rate over the last few years, but there are those from the league’s humble beginnings that scored at an even more impressive clip.
This is Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s dark period. Like Francisco Goya before him, he’s probably living in near-solitude outside Lose Angeles in a farmhouse, painting haunting themes concerning his bleak outlook on VAR and retrospective fines from Major League Soccer.
It’s been 227 minutes since his last goal in MLS, a stretch that’s included three straight defeats for the LA Galaxy. When considering his exploits so far this season — nine goals and two assists in 10 games — this current run of form is apocalyptic.
The LA Galaxy handed the Houston Dynamo their first loss of the season on Friday night. Zlatan Ibrahimovic converted a penalty kick and Diego Polenta nodded home a late corner kick to give the home side a 2-1 victory at Dignity Health Sports Park.
The victory was a bit of revenge after the Dynamo knocked the Galaxy out of playoff contention on the last day of the regular season last year.
But Zlatan still wasn’t exactly all smiles after the match.
It's been about a year since Zlatan Ibrahimovic debuted in MLS with two dramatic goals to help the LA Galaxy top new cross-town rivals LAFC. Despite the Galaxy's horrid defense, Zlatan kept the team in the playoff race for much of the campaign. He ended the season with 22 goals and 10 assists in just 27 matches. That was with avoiding turf and recovering from the injury he arrived in the U.S. with.
Back in 2001, Major League Soccer almost folded. After six seasons, millions of dollars in operating losses and with two clubs on the verge of contraction (the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion), the league was really only kept afloat by the vision of Lamar Hunt (who owned the Columbus Crew, Kansas City Wizards and Dallas Burn in his lifetime).
After missing two matches due to an Achilles tendon problem, Zlatan Ibrahimovic returned to action on Sunday and scored a brace of penalties in the LA Galaxy’s 2-1 victory over the Portland Timbers at Dignity Health Sports Park.
But the highlight of the night might’ve been an early attempt from Ibrahimovic that struck the base of the post. Using his right leg like the taekwondo expert he is, the 37-year-old flicked this effort on frame in the 14th minute only to be denied by the woodwork.