FOXBROUGH, Mass. – Ignacio Maganto has getting closer and closer to his first career MLS goal, and during Sunday’s 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution, the Spanish rookie midfielder finally broke through.
The 23-year-old, who is called “Nacho” by his teammates, found the back of the net in the 18th minute for his first career goal in Major League Soccer. It might be his rookie season but his finish was beyond his years.
With the Galaxy down a goal, Maganto connected with Baggio Husidic’s errant shot at the top of the box, firing a right-footed blast past New England Revolution goalkeeper Bobby Shuttlesworth. After narrowly missing out on opportunities to open his account in recent weeks, Maganto was understandably delighted to tally his first goal for the Galaxy.
“I’m not going to lie, it feels good to get my first goal,” Maganto told LAGalaxy.com. “I nearly scored last week and I knew that I needed to get a goal so today I got it in the first half. It wasn’t enough to get the three points, but it was a good point for us.”
Maganto played a role in the Galaxy’s second goal of the evening as well when he launched a ball toward Jose Villarreal who sent in a brilliant back heel to Gyasi Zardes for the finish.
Maganto was also active on the defensive end as he was constantly tracking back and making several timely clearances and recoveries to keep the score level.
“[He’s] a good young player,” Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena said afterward. “He took his goal well and he was pretty consistent for 90 minutes so it was good to see that.”
Given the Galaxy’s injuries to veteran attacking players such as Robbie Keane, Alan Gordon and Jose Villarreal, and the departure of Gyasi Zardes to international duty, Maganto is primed for more minutes—and more responsibility—as the Galaxy enter the summer months.
And Nacho is ready for that challenge.
“It feels great and I feel more confident every game, and that shows on the field. Hopefully, I can keep it up and score more goals,” said Maganto. “If I’m playing that means that Bruce trusts me to score goals. He’s been giving confidence in me every game, and I just do my best to help the team out.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com.
