"I Just Need to Keep Going"; Joseph Paintsil Returns From Injury to Rescue a Point in Dallas
LA's Ghanian winger was key to coming away from Dallas with a point after going down by two goals
Joseph Paintsil had emptied the tank when he fell to the floor in the 70th minute of the LA Galaxy’s road match.
The 28-year-old was instrumental to the LA Galaxy’s 2-2 draw against FC Dallas. It looked like LA was going to deal with a heavy road beating, but the Ghanaian winger helped the G’s fight back with a goal and an assist on the night. The only thing that stopped him on the night was fatigue.
Paintsil’s last appearance in MLS was back on March 8th in Colorado. He has felt something in his hamstring early in the second half and requested to be subbed out. Hamstring injuries are no joke, especially for speedy wingers like Paintsil.
“The rehab process was really smooth. I was feeling OK in the fourth week, but there was a little thing that was still annoying me, so I just gave it a little bit, one more week and a few days. Because the most important thing is for me to be healthy and to have no pain so that I can come in and give what I need to give,” said Paintsil to reporters.
Taking that approach was key to getting him back to his normal self when he returned to the pitch. Paintsil is one of the fastest players in the league, and it helps add bite to LA’s counterattacking moments.
“Even though I was injured, I came back and I just kept running. It’s just part of me and I just need to keep going because I think they also need that type of energy in the team…we have the three DP’s now, I think it’s a whole lot of options now,” said Paintsil.
For Head Coach Greg Vanney, Paintsil’s return gives him reliability on the left wing. Harbor Miller is a raw player, and Erik Thommy had filled in before his injury midweek.
“Joe makes a huge difference. I mean, the chances that Joe gets just with his quality and velocity. All those kinds of things it changes the group,” said Vanney.
“It’s great to have Joe back. It’s not easy for him to come back and play 60 or 70 minutes, however long he played tonight. I’m sure he was pushing through it,” said defender John Nelson.
“I love playing with him. Obviously, he provides a different element to the game with his speed, beating guys one-on-one. It was good for him to get a goal and be confident. Really good for me on the left side and really good for the team to have him back,” added Nelson.
Paintsil’s goal came in combination with Gabriel Pec. The Ghanaian made a stellar run through the back line and put quite a bit of power on his shot to beat Michael Collodi.
His goals and assist on Lucas Sanabria’s goal are Paintsil’s first goal contributions this season. It's key for him to keep this good form to stay on the radar of the new Ghana head coach, Carlos Queiroz. Paintsil had regularly been involved under Otto Addo’s tenure.
“It’s amazing that we have a new coach, a new coach who can bring more energy to the team, a new coach who does everything possible for us to also get into whatever we want to get into in the World Cup,” said Paintsil.
“I just think I just need to keep going and just focus on the team and whatever will happen in the future, only God knows. I’ll just need to do my part.”
The LA Galaxy’s focus is purely on MLS following elimination from Concacaf Champions Cup earlier in the week. Paintsil reiterated that he feels confident in the group bouncing back and climbing the MLS table. When most are doom and gloom about the LA Galaxy, his perspective is quite different.
“I think now there is no pressure. Now we just need to take one game at each time and just keep going. Because now we don’t need to change anything. We just need to take one game at a time and try to win most of the game so that we can be in the playoff, and then we can, we can do whatever that we have to do in the playoff.”
The next match on this road trip is in Columbus on Wednesday night. It’s a key point in the season where the LA Galaxy will decide what kind of team it wants to be.