MLS Week 6, Mexicans Abroad: What we learned

Jonathan dos Santos continues to shine for the Galaxy, while Carlos Vela bounced back from a penalty miss to put on a show in the nation’s capital. Here’s what we learned from Week 6.

Jonathan dos Santos continues to boss the Galaxy midfield

Understandably, when it comes to the Galaxy, all the headlines will be on Zlatan Ibrahimovic and how efficient he has been in his first few starts of the season. But one Galaxy player that has quietly impressed behind the scenes is Jonathan dos Santos. While his statistics won’t immediately jump out to you, the Mexican international has taken a pivotal role under Guillermo Barros Schelotto. The return of Sebastian Lletget from injury and the arrival of Joe Corona have helped, but Jonathan has taken his play to another level, especially alongside the latter in the midfield. Against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Friday, Jonathan and Corona combined for a 92% completion rate in their passes and absolutely bossed the midfield. Make no mistake about it, Jonathan is every bit as important as the next guy in this team.

Carlos Vela keeps doing Carlos Vela things

Carlos Vela was once again present on the stat sheet, scoring a goal and assisting another in LAFC’s 4-0 thumping of D.C. United. Diego Rossi was the man of the match here with three goals, but Vela continued his superb start to the season. Here, he missed a penalty but was still able to grab the vital breakthrough just three minutes later to put his team on their way to a comfortable victory.

Vela currently leads all goalscorers with seven goals and is also the leader in assists with four. He is without question one of the more exciting players in Major League Soccer, and barring a major injury will continue to play a huge role in Bob Bradley’s side.

If one Mexican player at LAFC wasn’t enough, there was a rumor this week that Giovani dos Santos was training with LAFC. Giovani, of course, was released by the Galaxy at the start of the season, and a possible arrival to LAFC would definitely add an extra layer of spice to the clubs’ growing rivalry. For now, however, it’s only just a rumor.

Marco Fabian bailed out in late win

Carlos Vela wasn’t the only Mexican that missed a penalty over the weekend. On Saturday, Marco Fabian missed his second spot kick of the season, though his team was able to come from a goal down to beat FC Dallas 2-1.

Fabian was bailed out on this one. For starters, he was quite fortunate that his blocked penalty kick landed on teammate Cory Burke, who leveled the score with five minutes to go in the game. Then in injury time, Alejandro Bedoya scored the winner following a great play down the right wing from Ilsinho.

Fabian will have a chance to bounce back next week, as his team faces none other than Jonathan dos Santos and the Galaxy.