LA Galaxy settles for a draw against Sporting Kansas City

It was good news and bad news for the LA Galaxy following its match with Sporting Kansas City on Sunday evening.

The good news for the Galaxy; the Galaxy were able to come out of the match without a loss and are still alive in the Western Conference playoff race. The bad news was that it squandered a golden opportunity to get closer to said playoff line. Chicharito Hernandez was the catalyst for the Galaxy with a brace, but it was his miss from the penalty spot in stoppage time that prevented that forced the Galaxy to settle for the 2-2 draw at Dignity Health Sports Park.

“I mean, we grinded until the end and had an opportunity to wrap the three points at the end,” Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney said. “He (Chicharito) buried one before, he stepped up and he made a decision, it was the wrong decision. He knows that, h knows how I feel, he knows how his teammates feel, it is what it is. We’ve just got to keep moving forward.”

Trailing 2-1 late in the second half, the Galaxy got the penalty spot in the 87th minute. Riqui Puig dribbled past the halfway line, then sprung Kevin Cabral with a ball through the Kansas City defense. Cabral touched into the penalty area, keeper Johnny Pulskamp tried to make a play on the ball, but he instead pulled down Cabral from behind, and referee Ramy Touchan signaled for the penalty spot. Chicharito stepped up the spot and powered the penalty into upper left corner net while Pulskamp dove the other way.

Things were looking even greater late in stoppage time for the Galaxy. It all started when Martin Caceres played Douglas Costa forward, Costa crossed into the penalty area, Samuel Grandsir didn’t get much on a header and the ball was cleared out of the box. Touchan however soon got the call to go to video review, and what he found was that the reason Grandsir didn’t get enough on the header was because he was kneed in the back by Kayden Pierre. Touchan agreed with the assessment, and signaled the Galaxy back to the spot. Again, it was Chicharito who stepped up the spot, this time with the opportunity to get all three points for the Galaxy. This time, Chicharito chose to finesse a chip shot to his right, but not only did Pulskamp guess right on the shot, but he did not flinch, and calmly collected the ball.

“My instinct today was wrong,” Chicharito said regarding the missed penalty. “Sacha [Kljestan] came, because he is a penalty taker too, so he asked me, ‘do you want to take it?’ And I said ‘yes, of course.’ And he said, ‘where are you going to shoot it?’ I think he was thinking about that, like probably a panenka. But I said, ‘same side, don’t worry. I got this. Don’t worry.'”

Chicharito got the Galaxy in front four minutes into the match. Puig played a ball forward to Victor Vasquez, who then sprung Chicharito behind the Sporting back line. Chicharito touched into the penalty area and sent the shot past Pulskamp into the back net to give the Galaxy the early lead. The Galaxy took the lead into halftime, but Kansas City came alive in the second half, first by tying the game on a Johnny Russell penalty in the 67th minute, which was earned when the Galaxy’s Derrick Williams handled a Erik Thommy cross inside the penalty area. Kansas City then took the lead in the 76th minute, as Felipe Hernandez dribbled into the penalty area, then took a shot that snuck past keeper Jonathan Bond near post to put Sporting in front.

The Galaxy staying below the playoff line had already been assured when Portland defeated Atlanta to build a four-point cushion between them and the Galaxy form the seventh and final playoff spot in the West. Sunday’s result however robbed the Galaxy of a chance to pull closer to the Timbers. Now the Galaxy will try to move on next weekend, as they travel to Tennessee to face Nashville SC on September 10.