Photo courtesy of the LA Galaxy.
Sebastian Lletget, center, was all smiles following his equalizing goal against FC Dallas.
It was a tale of two halves for the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night.
The first half was brutal for the Galaxy, as they allowed visiting FC Dallas to jump out to a two-goal lead, on the foot of Jesus Ferreira, while the Galaxy offense showed very little signs of life. The second half however was a far different story, as they showed some fight, and goals from Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez and Sebastian Lletget enabled the Galaxy to salvage the 2-2 draw at Dignity Health Sports Park.
“We take pride in how we play and how we want to play, but you can’t come out there without having that fight in you first,” Lletget said. “We have to earn it, we have to earn the right to play sometimes.”
The point was crucial for the Galaxy. The draw against FC Dallas, combined with the Portland Timbers losing at Colorado now leaves the Galaxy (13-11-7, 46 points) tied with the Timbers for fourth place in the Western Conference, leaving the Galaxy still with a chance to end up hosting a playoff game.
Trailing by two goals well into the second half, the Galaxy caught a much-needed break in the 64th minute. Oneil Fisher crossed a ball to Chicharito, who sent the ball upwards, the ball went off the hand of Franco Jara and referee Baldomero Toledo signaled for the penalty spot. A minute later, Chicharito stepped up to the penalty spot and buried the shot to cut into Dallas’ lead.
The Galaxy thought they had an equalizer in the 75th minute. Sebastian Lletget played Dejan Joveljic into the penalty area, Chicharito joined in from the middle lane, Joveljic played the pass for Chicharito, and while the pass was a little off, Chicharito managed to track down the ball and took the sliding shot that somehow beat Maurer into the back net. The goal however was waived off, as Chichartio was ruled offside when Lletget sent the initial pass. However, the Galaxy were not demoralized, and pushed across the equalizer in the 81st minute. Samuel Grandsir played a ball into the penalty area and Lletget leaped and one-timed a ball past Maurer far post to tie the game.
“Samuel was having a lot of joy and he is just so good one versus one, so I just thought, instead of staying out wide I just have to get in the box,” LLetget said of the goal.
Tensions between the two teams boiled over as the match headed into stoppage time. Following a stoppage of play, Chicharito held the ball, Ema Twumasi confronted Chicharito as did Jaden Obrian and Twumasi ended up hitting Chicharito in the face, and a full-blown scuffle broke out. At first, Toledo had the red card out, but later changed it to just a yellow card for Twumasi.
The Galaxy’s second half performance in the second half was a far contrast to what unfolded in the first half. FC Dallas grabbed the lead on the 30th minute, as Edwin Cerillo intercepted a ball from Nick DePuy, played a ball forward to Jara, whose touch set up Ferreira, and he took a couple of touches and fired a shot that caught keeper Jonathan Bond flat-footed, and the ball went in at the far post. Dallas doubled its lead in the 42nd minute, as Obrian dribbled into the ball, crossed to Jara, who fired a one-timer, Bond made the save, but Ferreira came in and buried the rebound chance.
“We competed in the second half, we didn’t compete in the first half, we were second to everything. We were slow to closing people down,” LA Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney said of the Galaxy’s first half. “The ball was moving too slow. The first half lacked anything that looked like a team that was supposed to be fighting for a Playoff spot and a real opportunity tonight to jump a couple of more points ahead. So that’s what the first half looked like.”
The Galaxy now brace for perhaps its toughest two-game stretch. First a midweek trip to face Sporting Kansas City, followed by a trip to Seattle for a Monday night matchup with the Sounders on November 1.
