You can’t blame the Los Angeles Galaxy for being distracted.
One day after the dismissal of team president Chris Klein, the Galaxy were on the field against Real Salt Lake. Wednesday’s match turned out to be a reflection of the past few months let alone the last 24 hours, as the Galaxy scored first, lost the lead, then regained the advantage in a span of just two minutes, and the Galaxy earned an emotional 3-2 win over RSL at America First Field.
“I’m incredibly proud of the group,” Galaxy Head Coach Greg Vanney said. “Yeah, I guess there’s been a lot of stuff going on, and yesterday, I would say this group, we care about everybody. Our team and our club, yesterday we lost a guy in Chris [Klein] that we all care about. You know, we all feel some responsibility in that process. It’s hard not to. And so as a group, we came together and we fought today, and we got a break here or there. We did the work that we needed to do. We stuck together as a group. Fought for one another. The spirit in the group was amazing.”
Trailing 2-1 well into the second half, Memo Rodriguez equalized in spectacular fashion in the 72nd minute. Riqui Puig received a pass from Lucas Calegari and led a Galaxy break dribbling down the middle lane, Puig then played a ball to Rodriguez on the left side, Rodriguez juked to evade Jefferson Savarino, then blasted a right-footed volley that sailed past Keeper Gavin Beavers at the far post to level matters for the visitors. The tie lasted just two minutes when the Galaxy retook the lead, as Joveljic sprung Calegari with a ball down the left side, Calegari dribbled into the penalty area, then crossed into the six-yard box, the ball got past RSL defender Brayan Vera and Tyler Boyd, who had started the match on the bench after injuring his right hand, outraced Marcelo Silva to the ball and fired the shot past Beavers into the back net to give the Galaxy a second lead in the match, a lead that eventually held.
“We are all brothers out there,” Boyd said. “I wouldn’t be playing with a broken arm or a broken hand if I didn’t love my brothers in this club. So finally we strung together a few goals and we got a good result, a great result, and it just shows you, we are not giving up. We are continuing to push, and it’s a huge boost for us to show us that we can come back, even if we drop a goal, and we can play in difficult conditions, in altitude. It was a perfect example of what we are capable of.”
The Galaxy caught a break in first half stoppage time. Mark Delgado fired a shot that hit off the hand of Danny Musovski and went out of bounds. However, referee Ismir Pekmic initially signaled for a corner kick, but soon got the call to take a second look via VAR, and it confirmed the ball did deflect of Musovski’s hand, and Pekmic signaled the Galaxy to the penalty spot. It was Gaston Brugman who stepped up o the spot and he converted, sending the shot to the right side as Beavers guessed wrong, and the Galaxy not only grabbed the lead just before halftime, but scored its first road goal since week two of the MLS season.
Real Salt Lake however answered the call in the second half. RSL equalized in the 51st minute, as Musovski headed in a Savarino corner kick to tie the game. RSL took the lead in the 67th minute, as Pablo Ruiz sent a free kick past the Galaxy wall and past Keeper Jonathan Bond near post to put RSL in front.
These same two teams will meet again on the exact same field next Wednesday, this time in the quarterfinals of the US Open Cup.
