MLS Week 9, Mexicans Abroad: What we learned

Carlos Vela and LAFC failed to make it two wins in a row over the Seattle Sounders. Meanwhile, with Romain Alessandrini potentially out for the rest of the season, Uriel Antuna will have to play a bigger role for the Galaxy. Here’s what we learned from Week 9.

Vela can’t do it all by himself

On Sunday, Carlos Vela and Los Angeles FC had several chances to notch consecutive wins over the Sounders, but at the end, it wasn’t to be as the black and gold failed to take down a Seattle team that played nearly entire the match down a man.

Most of the drama in this one came early in the game, with the Sounders taking an immediate lead in the first minute before Carlos Vela equalized moments later with his eleventh goal of the season. The Sounders then went on have Cristian Roldan sent off in the 18th minute, but despite controlling the bulk of the possession for the rest of the game, LAFC just couldn’t get past a Seattle defense that looked a lot better than they did last week at the Banc of California Stadium.

For LAFC, it was a reminder that the season is long, and although Carlos Vela is a special player, they are sometimes going to need to find a spark from somebody else.

Uriel Antuna says present

The Los Angeles Galaxy received some bad news on Friday when it was determined that star forward Romain Alessandrini would be out through injury until the month of September. Naturally, this means that Uriel Antuna will now have to play a bigger role, at least until the Galaxy decide who they want to add to their team by the end of the MLS transfer window.

For now, Uriel Antuna delivered in the Galaxy’s first game without Alessandrini. The former Mexican youth international scored his first goal with the Galaxy following a superb pass from Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Where is Efrain Alvarez?

Those hoping to catch of glimpse of Efrain Alvarez after impressing in his first professional minutes with the LA Galaxy have been left to wait. The 16-year-old has been out playing for the Mexico U-17s during the last few weeks and hasn’t seen action with the Galaxy since Week 2.

Perhaps Alessandrini’s injury opens up future minutes for the youngster, but odds are that we won’t be seeing him anytime soon, especially considering Mexico are getting ready to compete in World Cup qualifying for the U-17 World Cup.