Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Carlos Vela devastated defenders with his quick and close touch of the soccer ball before scoring a beautiful goal during LAFC's shutout win against the San Jose Earthquakes.
Vela scored the stunner in the 41st minute of the 4-0 triumph Wednesday at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles.
"The goal I think was a nice play by me," Vela told reporters. "But Diego had the pass and after that I just saw players and thought 'let's do something' and they kind of stopped.
"So I took the ball and I just ran and kept dribbling and in the end it was a good goal. But for me the most important thing was the victory."
Vela allowed a through ball to go to teammate Diego Rossi by stepping over the pass about 40 yards from the goal. Rossi used his first touch to slide the ball back to Vela as the striker scorched toward the box. Vela stuck the ball on his left foot and juked one defender to the ground before turning another defender around with his quick step.
He finished the sequence by juking out the goalie and another defender, before slipping a shot into the near post netting.
Rossi began the scoring by drawing first blood in the 6th minute. Vela gave LAFC a 2-0 edge with a penalty kick score in the 17th minute before scoring his golazo just before halftime.
Joshua Perez scored the final goal of the game in the 81st minute.
LAFC battles the Los Angeles Galaxy at 10:30 p.m. EDT Sunday in Los Angeles.
