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Jonathan de Guzman reflected on his goalscoring start to life at Swansea City, and feels his new team-mates are getting stronger by the day.
The midfielder came off the bench in the second half of Tuesday night’s defeat to MLS side Colorado Rapids and scored a stunning free-kick in the 79th minute to mark his arrival as a Swan.
Although the Swans went down 2-1 in the first friendly of the club’s American tour, Canadian-born de Guzman’s performance was among the positives taken by boss Michael Laudrup.
The 24-year-old, on loan from Spanish club Villarreal, said: “I was talking with (Andrea) Orlandi over who would take it. I took it and went for the corner and I was delighted I beat the keeper.
“Who will take the next one? Well, Orlandi has a good shot too though, so we’ll see how it goes.”
The Swans found themselves 2-0 down within 13 minutes at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, but they came into the game after that with Laudrup making ten changes at the break in order to give the entire squad – minus Michel Vorm and Gwion Edwards – some game time.
After the interval, the hosts found themselves under pressure as Leroy Lita twice went close while new arrival Chico fired over from Wayne Routledge’s corner.
When de Guzman pulled one back with his 25-yard free-kick, the Swans pushed hard for an equaliser but were just kept out by the Rapids backline.
Next up for the Swans is a trip to California to take on Ventura County Fusion before facing MLS outfit San Jose Earthquakes.
And de Guzman feels the squad is getting stronger by the day as the new arrivals continue to settle into their new surroundings.
“It was difficult (against the Rapids) as it was our first game as a group,” he added. “It can be tough for new players to adapt, while it was difficult in those conditions. We were at very high altitude.
“But we did well. We did well on the ball and defended well, while we kept possession pretty well too.
“It went well in the second half. We played the ball a bit faster and played well as a team.
“We’ve got a few number of new players, and we’re all gelling well.