CARSON, Calif – It’s still early, but Curt Onalfo hasn’t exactly gotten many breaks at the start of his tenure as head coach of the LA Galaxy.
Still dealing with the injury absences of Gyasi Zardes, Ashley Cole and Robbie Rogers, Onalfo and the Galaxy were dealt a couple more blows earlier this week, when the MLS Disciplinary Committee suspended Jermaine Jones and Dave Romney for Sunday’s match against Portland(7 pm ET; FS1 in the US | MLS LIVE in Canada).
When asked about the suspensions, which were the only two handed down by MLS this week, Onalfo said simply, “it’s ridiculous.
“We have two players suspended by the league both from one team. I watched every game in the league from last weekend and there were far worse offenses,” he said.
“I’m not happy about it. I don’t think any coach in the league would be going into your second game of the season with two players suspended.”
Romney was already playing as a replacement for Cole. His absence will put the Galaxy down to their third-string left back for Sunday’s match against a Timbers team that scored five goals against Minnesota United FC in last Friday’s opener. Onalfo wouldn’t comment specifically on who might step into that spot, but acknowledged the difficulty in having to reach that far down on the depth chart.
“Anytime you have to go with the third person in a position,” said Onalfo, “you’re usually looking at somebody who doesn’t have lots of MLS experience. Having said that, they’re all well-schooled and they’re ready to play.”
Galaxy captain and defender Jelle Van Damme, who will be tasked with helping to integrate the replacement left back, echoed Onalfo when talking about who will step in for Cole and Romney.
“It’s opportunities for young guys to step up,” he said. “I’m confident about them. They know the way we play and how we play. It’s just a matter of having confidence in them.”
Replacing Jones could be a bit more straightforward for LA. One option for Onalfo would be to slide Sebastian Lletget, who played out wide in last week’s 2-1 loss to Dallas, into the middle and move Emmanuel Boateng, a reserve last week, into the starting XI. Lletget has experience playing centrally, lining up there for the Galaxy down the stretch last year and for the US men’
While the plan isn’t finalized, Lletget is confident LA will rise to the occasion.
“We don’t know who’s going to fill in there yet, but I think we’re going to just keep pushing on the way we have,” he said. “Trying to build that chemistry still, it’s a little bit of a hiccup with the two players missing.”
