San Diego Loyal started the regular season off on the right foot in front of an impassioned crowd of 5,014 fans at Torero Stadium on Saturday night coming out with a dramatic 2-1 win over LA Galaxy II on the last play of the match.
Recently signed forward Thomas Amang was the difference in the game scoring the opening goal in the 78th minute after a beautiful pass inside the box by his teammate Tumi Moshobane, which goalkeeper Richard Sánchez could not stop despite his best efforts.
“When Tumi received the ball I then knew he would hit it to me and then I just did a one-touch and it went in,” said Amang. The 24-year-old Cameroonian came to San Diego via trade with Colorado Springs in February and was also part of the winning goal, which came in the 97th minute after a pass inside the area from midfielder Charlie Adams found Amang’s foot and ended up hitting the crossbar. The ball then deflected back to the box and was inopportunely knocked in by Los Dos defender Jalen Neal ending up as an own goal.
“We created a lot of chances but we couldn’t make it,” he added. “Our team was different in the second half and the most important thing was for us to get the three points in the end.”
San Diego Loyal appeared to have taken the lead in the 19th minute when forward Kyle Vassell scored from close range, but the play was ruled offside. Vassell was substituted for Amang in the 67th minute by head coach Landon Donovan. LA Galaxy II would tie the game with a goal in the minute 84 from forward Preston Judd despite being a man down after midfielder Rémi Cabral was ejected in the 82nd minute.
“That was a real soccer crowd tonight. It felt like a real atmosphere like I was in Europe or playing for the Galaxy,” said Donovan. “It was a great night. I am proud of our guys. Over the course of the game, we just wore them out. On the last play, they were just tired and couldn’t react.”
This was San Diego Loyal’s fifth consecutive victory over LA Galaxy II after defeating their conference rivals all four times they played each other last year. San Diego Loyal is now preparing for their next match against Sacramento Republic Saturday, March 19 at Torero Stadium. San Diego went undefeated against Sacramento in all four matches they played each other last season.
