Not exactly panic time, but more of a sense of urgency for the Los Angeles Galaxy heading into Sunday night’s match with Atlanta United.
Mired in a three-game losing streak, which has played a major role in them being on the outside looking in in the playoff race, the Galaxy knew that anything short of three points against Atlanta could make things really tough in its quest to return to postseason play.
Thankfully, the Galaxy did what they needed to do to get its season back on track. Goals from Kevin Cabral and Dejan Joveljic paced the Galaxy, who ended its losing streak and got themselves back over the playoff line in the West with a 2-0 win at Dignity Health Sports Park.
“The most important part isn’t the bad stuff, the most important part for this group, is that it’s a win,” Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney said. “(The win) breaks the emotion, emotional moments that were going on in the previous games, and it allows us to build off of this week.”
It didn’t take long for the Galaxy to get on the scoresheet. Rayan Raveloson played Douglas Costa into the penalty area, Costa drew in the Atlanta defense, and Costa alertly played a ball to the penalty spot, where an unmarked Chicharito Hernandez charged in and looked to finish the job, keeper Rocco Ríos Novo however had other ideas, as he made the save on Chicharito’s shot, but left a rebound in the box, and Cabral quickly came in and buried the rebound chance near post.`
The Galaxy had to wait to get its second goal, and during that time, it had to withstand several Atlanta scoring chances. Atlanta’s first chance came in the 17th minute as Luiz de Araujo on a corner kick played a shot pass to Amar Sejdić, who then sent a corner kick into the penalty area, where Marcelino Moreno was wide open inside the box. the unmarked Moreno sent a header for the far post, but it went wide right. Other attempts to level the match came such as a volley by Caleb Wiley outside the penalty area that was saved by keeper Jonathan Bond, a sequence two minutes into the second half, where Thiago Almata played Ronaldo Cisneros forward with only Bond to beat, but Bond got his hands on the ball as Cisneros attempted to maneuver past him, and later in the half, as Araujo forced a turnover, played a ball to Cisneros, who then played Araujo into the penalty area, Araujo took the shot, but Bond made the save.
The Galaxy finally sealed the match in stoppage time. Victor Vasquez dribbled on the left side of the field, then played a ball to an unmarked Dejan Joveljic, and instead of holding the ball to further kill time, Joveljic took the ball into the penalty area, Joveljic went one on one with Greg Campbell, then sent the shot past Rios Novo far post.
“I can say that I have confidence, but that is because the team played good,” Joveljic said. “The team is playing good. Last three games we did not do so well. But finally, we bounce back and are [back to winning ways]. I’m so glad that we won today in front of our amazing fans.”
The Galaxy will look to build off this win, and resume its chase for the playoffs, on Saturday, as they face FC Dallas at Toyota Park.
