It’s been over 40 years since 49,572 curious fans entered the now demolished Metropolitan Stadium (now the site of Mall of America) to watch the ingloriously named Minnesota Kicks take on the San Jose Earthquakes in the NASL Conference Championship. That number has since served as the high water mark for a professional soccer team in Minnesota — until Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s LA Galaxy come to town on Oct. 21.
You hear that?
The Los Angeles Galaxy’s playoff hopes — and perhaps Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s future in LA — received a much-needed boost last night in the form of a 3-0 win over the visiting Vancouver Whitecaps, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic LA Galaxy stats improved to a tally of 20 goals and nine assists in 24 MLS matches.
The LA Galaxy kept their playoff hopes alive by defeating Western Conference rivals Seattle Sounders 3-0 at StubHub Center in California Sunday night, but the true MVP of the game (according to Zlatan Ibrahimovic) was seven-year-old national anthem performer Malea Emma.
Emma belted out “The Star-Spangled Banner” in truly memorable style. This’ll give you the chills.
It’s easy to imagine that when Zlatan Ibrahimovic joined the LA Galaxy back in March, he saw the distinct similarities between joining the MLS side and his previous move to Manchester United. Just like United’s malaise following the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, the Galaxy were struggling despite its standing as the most decorated club in the history of the league.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his 500th goal on Saturday. It was a remarkable goal for a remarkable achievement. But amidst the craziness of Toronto’s 5-3 win over the LA Galaxy on Saturday was a budding Zlatan-Michael Bradley bromance.
And by bromance, we mean they appear to hate each other.
LA Galaxy drew LAFC 1-1 in El Trafico where the almighty Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored goal No. 499 on Saturday. Now, Zlatan is one goal away from the 500 mark. Can the unstoppable Swede hit the 500th against Real Salt Lake on Saturday?
With Ola Kamara’s cross aimed right at Zlatan, the former Red Devil punted it from the right of the box. The clarity of the goal was in question, but luckily, at least this one time, VAR was there for the rescue.
Always looking for new, weird ways to promote, self-promote and promote some more, Major League Soccer and Twitter are joining together to create one crazy marketing ploy for Friday night’s El Trafico between the LA Galaxy and LAFC.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic did not play in the MLS All-Star Game last week. As a consequence, Major League Soccer suspended its biggest star for the LA Galaxy’s 2-1 loss to the lowly Colorado Rapids on Saturday.
Of course, Zlatan could not stay quiet about this suspension. Speaking with reporters on Thursday, the hulking Swede said “no comment” while also making quite a comment.
The Colorado Rapids experienced a season-high crowd of 17,837 for yesterday’s visit of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s LA Galaxy, but the big Swede wasn’t there. Ibra was serving a one-game suspension after electing to skip the MLS All-Star Game in Atlanta, and we now know what the 36-year-old has been doing with his time off.
On June 9, the USMNT drew with France 1-1. On June 13, the United States was awarded the 2026 World Cup. On July 30, LA Galaxy phenom and California native Efrain Alvarez admitted that he’d still be open to representing the U.S. over Mexico. Ladies and gentleman, in the aftermath of missing the world’s greatest event because of a defeat to Trinidad & Tobago, I’m not at all opposed to calling this a new golden era in U.S. soccer.