CARSON, Calif. – The numbers might not be overly impressive, but don’t think Gyasi Zardes hasn’t been doing his part for the resurgent LA Galaxy.
The 24-year-old former homegrown player, now in his fourth season, hasn’t scored since the 19th minute of a 5-2 victory over Real Salt Lake on April 23, but he does have five assists, tied with Giovani Dos Santos for second on the team behind Steven Gerrard’s seven, and continues to do the dirty work that might not get much attention from casual observers.
That effort was on display in Friday’s 1-0 victory over the Houston Dynamo in front of 25,667 at StubHub Center, and Zardes’ work ethic definitely has not gone unnoticed by his teammates.
“We all appreciate what he does,” midfielder Baggio Husidic said. “A regular fan might not know how much he works and how hard he works, but we appreciate that.
“He’ll get rewarded for all of his efforts.”
Zardes came close Friday. The game was 30 minutes in when he had a good chance right in front of the Houston goal, but his header on a cross by Dos Santos sailed over the crossbar.
Zardes, who made contact with the Dynamo’s David Horst and Sheanon Williams on the play, said he would have liked to have that one back.
“Yeah,” he said. “He (Williams) got a good hit on me before I made contact with the ball, but I should have been prepared for it.”
Zardes nearly combined with Dos Santos and Robbie Keane on a nice combination only two minutes later, but Keane barely missed the redirect on Zardes’ one-time cross into the goal area.
The forwards best chance arguably came in the 83rd minute, with the Galaxy looking for an insurance goal. Zardes sent in what appeared to be a perfect cross to Keane right in front of the Houston goal, but Horst got in the way to knock the ball out of trouble and avert an almost certain Galaxy goal.
“Gyasi did very well,” Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena said. “He came close to pulling off a couple of plays that could have been converted into goals, but he played real hard.
“He works real hard for our team.”
Zardes, who recently missed five games because of duties with the U.S. national team, said he’s gaining more confidence “every game and every training session.”
He also said the same for the Galaxy, who have turned in three consecutive shutouts over Western Conference foes (Vancouver, Seattle and Houston) and four in a row counting a U.S. Open Cup victory in Portland.
Friday’s hard-earned decision was the perfect reflection of the team’s solid play of late. It might not be particularly impressive, but it’s been good enough.
“It was a tough game,” Zardes said of the win over the Dynamo. “To be honest we could have been better, but you gotta win ugly sometimes.
“I thought it was an ugly game and we won.”
