The defending Major League Soccer (MLS) champions LA Galaxy will look to continue their winning ways in the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Champions League or CCL as they take on Comunicaciones FC from Guatemala today, Tuesday, at the StubHub Center.
Galaxy began their campaign with a dominant 5–1 victory over Trinidad and Tobago's Central FC last Aug. 6 and they are looking to have a repeat performance against Comunicaciones.
Forward Alan Gordon opened the scoring as he netted a goal four minutes into the match to hand Galaxy a 1–0 lead but two minutes later, Central FC midfielder Ataullah Guerra answered back with his own goal to even the match at 1–1.
But that was the last time the visitors scored, as Galaxy went on a rampage with Raul Mendiola, Gyasi Zardes, Giovani dos Santos (club debut), and Ignacio Maganto having successful attempts on the goal for a masterful offensive display from the hosts.
Veteran midfielder Steven Gerrard, who joined the club January this year from Liverpool, was unable to participate in the club's CCL opener against Central FC but will be playing when they face Comunicaciones, according to Yibada.com.
"I think they're pretty typical of the teams we see out of Central America, good, hard-working teams," Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena stated, according to the club's website.
Arena added, "I think they'll come on the road with a defensive posture and they'll make it a difficult game for us."
Comunicaciones have achieved numerous feats in the past few years and are regular CCL competitors; but they never made it past the group stage since the 2009–10 edition of the tournament.
The club from Guatemala is just starting their season, although they lost their first three outings in the Liga Nacional because of their players' preseason engagements.
Comunicaciones' 11 players played for their nations in the Gold Cup, which prevented them from having a full preseason to prepare.
But they need to get their team chemistry going or be outplayed when they step on the field at StubHub Center.
The Galaxy are pretty much invincible at StubHub Center, holding an overall record of 31–1–6 at the arena, which means a very tall task for Comunicaciones come their match.
The game between the Galaxy and Comunicaciones is on Aug. 18 at 10 pm EST. It will be shown live on Fox Sports 2 and to watch via live streaming click here.
