Bradford Jamieson IV made an impression in his first MLS start last weekend, then topped it in the opening minutes of the LA Galaxy's 1-1 draw Sunday afternoon against the New York Red Bulls.
The 18-year-old forward scored a phenomenal goal to give the Galaxy a ninth-minute lead that enabled them to take a point on the road against the league's lone unbeaten side, before giving some credit to missing captain Robbie Keane.
Jamieson took a diagonal ball from Stefan Ishizaki, curled to the left just above the New York box, then made two quick cuts, to the right and then to the left, to step easily past Dax McCarty and Chris Duvall before firing sharply inside the far post.
“It was sweet,” Jamieson said. “Obviously, that was kind of like something that I watched when we play with Robbie in practice, a lot of things like that. That cut is kind of identical to what he's doing in training.
“I mean, it was kind of like it was second nature, really. I wasn't really thinking about it. All that I know is I was going to cut [McCarty] and just try to move, and I was watching the way he's moving his hips, and he came pretty hard, so I cut him. And then when I went for the shot, I just tried to put it hard to the far corner.”
Jamieson faltered on a few opportunities he had to score in last weekend's home victory over Sporting Kansas City, but he made sure this one counted.
“He's very good, you know,” said Gyasi Zardes, who was stationed on the left flank so that Jamieson would partner Alan Gordon in Keane's absence with a groin injury. “We saw today he's not afraid to go at the defender, which is phenomenal for us. Just to be a pacey forward is wonderful in this league. You can just run past defenders. He scored an amazing goal today.”
It wasn't enough for LA, who were on their heels most of the way but did a superb job defensively to limit the Red Bulls' chances and might have escaped with all three points if not for an unfortunate bounce on Felipe’s 58th-minute equalizer.
A.J. DeLaGarza blocked Bradley Wright-Phillips' shot from a Sal Zizzo feed, and the ball caromed forward and to the left a couple yards, striking Felipe in the face and ricocheting into the goal.
The Red Bulls had more chances – Jaime Penedo did well to stop two good Wright-Phillips shots – but managed just three shots on goal.
“I thought we had them under control for, I'd say, the majority of the game,” defender Dan Gargan said. “We're happy with a point -- they're undefeated, it's a tough place to play at their house, they came out with a lot of pressure, and they pressed us. I thought for the most part, we handled it well.”
The Galaxy created very few opportunities, so Jamieson's bit of magic was quite valuable. Scoring, he said, “was like euphoria.”
“I didn't know what to do [afterward],” he added, “so I just kind of jumped up.”
Head coach Bruce Arena called it a “great goal” but didn't want to go overboard with praise.
“He's doing well,” Arena said. “Let's wait awhile. Let's not get crazy like everybody does every time a young player does something right. It's a long haul in becoming a player. He's many years away from being where we would like him to be and where he's going to be. So let's just be patient and see what happens down the road.”
Jamieson says he needs to “keep riding” his brimming confidence, but he knows the road ahead has obstacles.
“Obviously, the next game is going to be even harder, because you've got expectations now,” he said. “And every game after that is going to be the same kind of battle, where you're trying to impress fans and impress coaches and keep your confidence up
“And there's going to be games maybe where it's not as good as the other ones have been. The best thing to do there is bounce back and play like I played before.”
