{"id":10612,"date":"2015-07-23T13:15:14","date_gmt":"2015-07-23T13:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=10612"},"modified":"2015-07-23T13:15:14","modified_gmt":"2015-07-23T13:15:14","slug":"suarez-roberto-lift-barca-to-2-1-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=10612","title":{"rendered":"Suarez, Roberto lift Barca to 2-1 win"},"content":{"rendered":"

PASADENA, United States: Goals from Luis Suarez<\/a> and Sergi Roberto lifted Barcelona<\/a> to a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy<\/a> Tuesday that manager Luis Enrique<\/a> called an encouraging start to the European Champions\u2019 North American tour.<\/p>\n

Uruguay international Suarez came out on top in a clash with former Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard<\/a> \u2013 the Galaxy\u2019s latest acquisition from Europe.<\/p>\n

Suarez\u2019s 45th-minute strike and Roberto\u2019s 56th-minute goal ensured that even without such stars as Argentina\u2019s Lionel Messi and Brazilian Neymar \u2013 let off the preseason tour after Copa America duty \u2013 Barcelona got the win their dominant performance deserved in front of 93,226 fans at Pasadena\u2019s Rose Bowl.<\/p>\n

It was the largest crowd ever to watch a match featuring a Major League Soccer<\/a> club.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on what a first game of the preseason looks like, considering we\u2019ve only had about seven days of practice, a lot of traveling, overall I feel very positive,\u201d Luis Enrique said. \u201cOverall, our players look good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barca, preparing to defend their La Liga, Copa Del Rey<\/a> and Champions League treble, effectively neutralized any threat from Gerrard and Galaxy teammate Robbie Keane, while pressing relentlessly themselves.<\/p>\n

They were finally rewarded in the 45th minute when Suarez fired a left-footed shot past Galaxy keeper Brian Rowe<\/a> after Rafinha\u2019s deflected cross was moved on by Marc Bartra.<\/p>\n

Suarez had been off target from the center of the area in the 11th and from long range in the 23rd, while Rowe made a diving save of Roberto\u2019s attempt from outside the box in the 35th.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy with the way the team played, with the level, the intensity,\u201d Luis Enrique said, while stressing that \u201ceverything can be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both teams made wholesale changes at the break, with Suarez among the seven Barcelona players to depart and Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique entering the game.<\/p>\n

Galaxy coach Bruce Arena went even further, but Luis Enrique said such sweeping changes were \u201clogical\u201d for both teams.<\/p>\n

His moves allowed him to give more of his men a chance to get back into the groove, while he felt his opposite number Bruce Arena was wise to avoid excessive wear and tear on key players like Gerrard and Keane with his team in the midst of their MLS title defense.<\/p>\n

Arena was delighted to give his younger players \u2013 many of them second-teamers \u2013 the experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Keane and Gerrard need these games as much as the young kids need the experience,\u201d Arena said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can tell them a lot of things, but until they actually step on the field and experience it against quality players, they don\u2019t fully comprehend. Tonight for our young players it was an invaluable experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

The changes didn\u2019t slow Barca, with Douglas going close in the 47th minute and Pique testing substitute Galaxy keeper Andrew Wolverton<\/a> in the 53rd after a pass from Munir.<\/p>\n

Munir also helped set up Roberto\u2019s 56th-minute strike from the edge of the box \u2013 which brought joyous cheers of \u201cBarca! Barca!\u201d from the crowd.<\/p>\n

The minority of Galaxy fans in the stands, on a balmy night in the foothills northeast of Los Angeles, had few real scoring chances to cheer, although Tommy Meyer<\/a> grabbed a consolation goal in the first minute of injury time, heading in from close range.<\/p>\n

The Galaxy now head back into MLS action, visiting the Dynamo in Houston Sunday.<\/p>\n

Barcelona next travel up the coast to take on Manchester United Saturday at Levi\u2019s Stadium, home of the NFL\u2019s San Francisco 49ers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn three days we\u2019ll have to be better,\u201d said Luis Enrique, whose team complete their U.S. swing against English champions Chelsea on July 28 in suburban Washington before playing Fiorentina in Florence on Aug. 2.<\/p>\n

dailystar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PASADENA, United States: Goals from Luis Suarez and Sergi Roberto lifted Barcelona to a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy Tuesday that manager Luis Enrique called an encouraging start to the European Champions\u2019 North American tour. Uruguay international Suarez came out on top in a clash with former Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard \u2013 the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":10613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}