Participating in the inagural Leagues Cup tournament, the Los Angeles Galaxy made the most of the opportunity on Tuesday night.
Opening the tournament against Tijuana, the Galaxy and Tijuana went back and forth with each other at Dignity Health Sports Park, and apparently, 90 minutes were not enough to settle matters, necessitating a shootout. The Galaxy showed their mettle, and in the end, some clutch goalkeeping from Matt Lampson and Giancarlo’s penalty sealed the Galaxy’s advancement.
“We fought really hard. It was definitely a sloppy game,” Galaxy defender Dave Romney said. “We had a lot of turnovers everywhere on the field. They did too. We defended a majority of the game. We defended a majority of the game. But we battled really hard.”
This is the first year of the Leagues Cup tournament, which features four MLS teams and four teams from Liga MX. The Galaxy will next face Cruz Azul, who defeated the Chicago Fire earlier in the day, in the semifinals on August 20, with the winner advancing to the final in Las Vegas on September 18.
The Galaxy jumped ahead in the 28th minute. Efrain Alvarez played a ball forward, Tijuana’s Omar Mendoza cut off the pass, but Boateng recovered the ball, passed to Kei Koreniuk in the penalty area, Koreniuk made a cutting move inside, then sent a ball forward that deflected off Boateng and into the back net. The play was initially ruled offside, but the call was overturned.
Tijuana though took control of the match from that point on. Tijuana got the equalizer in the 33rd minute, as Miller Bolanos played Camilo Sanvezzo into the penalty area, Sanvezzo crossed to Ariel Nahuelpan just outside the six-yard box and Nahuelpan guided the ball into the back net to level the match. Tijuana took the lead right before halftime, as Omar Mendoza received a ball inside the penalty area, passed to Washington Camacho, who unleashed a one-timer that beat Lampson to the upper left corner.
The Galaxy leveled the match in the 53rd minute, as Alvarez sent a corner into the box and Dave Romney headed the ball in near post. Tijuana had their chances to re-take the lead, but a potential second go-ahead goal was called back due to offside.
“I don’t know who was marking me because they weren’t,” Romney said of his goal. “It was one of the easier goals you’ll score. I didn’t really do much. It was just a great goal by Efrain [Alvarez] and just a lapse of defending. It’s not like a did anything spectacular. Just right place, right time.”
After 90 minutes, the match went straight to the shootout. The Galaxy’s Servando Carrasco got things going by converting his penalty, and Lampson improved the Galaxy position by stopping Erick Cubo Torres. Things however got bleak for the Galaxy, first when Alvarez sent his penalty off the post, then after Nahuelpan converted to level the shootout, Tijuana keeper Griban Lajud saved Emil Cuello’s penalty. Lampson however grabbed the momentum back for the Galaxy by denying Diego Brahieri, Boateng converted to put the Galaxy back in front, Lampson made another save and Giancarlo Gonzalez converted his penalty to see the Galaxy on through.
“I just get paid to make saves and keep the ball out of the back of the net,” Lampson said. When I do that, that’s just part of the job. I don’t need to celebrate. It’s up to the rest of the guys on the team to put the ball in the back of the net. I only do half the job and the rest of the team puts it away.”
The Galaxy will next head to Portland to face the Timbers.
