Ibra stars for Galaxy with his 1st hat-trick
Carson, July 30: Zlatan Ibrahimovic had his first MLS hat-trick, scoring the tying and go-ahead goals in a 4-minute span in the second in the LA Galaxy’s 4-3 victory over Orlando City on Sunday night.
The 36-year-old Swedish star tied it at 3 in the 67th minute on a diving header off Ola Kamara’s feed, then put the Galaxy in front in the 71st with a short hard kick after he headed down a rebound. He celebrated by ripping off his jersey.
Ibrahimovic has 15 goals this season, his first with the Galaxy.
LA (10-7-5) is unbeaten in nine games. Orlando City (7-14-1) has lost 12 of its last 13 games.
Ibrahimovic pulled LA even at 2 in the 47th with a leaping header off Giovani dos Santos’ feed.
After dos Santos rang a shot off the crossbar in the 50th, Dominic Dwyer put Orlando back in front in the 54th with a header off Mohamed El-Munir’s cross from the end line.
Orlando City took a 2-1 lead just before halftime on LA defender Michael Ciani’s own goal. Ciani accidentally deflected Sacha Kljestan’s centre pass past goalkeeper David Bingham. Cristian Higuita opened the scoring for Orlando in the 18th minute, and Dos Santos tied it in the 39th.
Sounders beat NYC
At Seatlle, Cristian Roldan, Gustav Svensson and Harry Shipp all scored their second goals of the season, and resurgent Seattle ended New York City’s four-game winning streak.
Seattle completed a busy eight-day stretch with its third straight victory.
It was a crucial nine points for Seattle, which is trying to climb out of a terrible first-half to the season and get back into contention for a playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Seattle (6-9-5) is unbeaten in its past six matches since losing to rival Portland on June 30. Jesus Medina scored for New York City (13-4-4). —AP