Always nothing wrong with earning points, but for the LA Galaxy, Sunday’s result against the Vancouver Whitecaps had to have felt a little more like a loss for the Galaxy.

With first place Sporting Kansas City and the second-place Seattle Sounders both having played to draws the previous day, the Galaxy came into Sunday’s game three points out of first place in the Western Conference. A win against the last place Whitecaps would’ve pulled the Galaxy into a first place tie with Kansas City. Kevin Cabral put the Galaxy in that position with a goal in the 32nd minute, but Ranko Veselinovic’s second half goal combined with a stingy Vancouver defense kept the Galaxy from rising in the standings, and the Galaxy had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Dignity Health Sports Park.

“We let it slide today, which is disappointing,” Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney said on the missed opportunity. “The message is maybe we weren’t ready to take it today, but we need to be ready to take it the next time we get it and we need to keep getting better and keep improving playing over 90 minutes.”

Cabral got the Galaxy on the board in the 32nd minute. Rayan Raveloson dribbled forward, evading several Vancouver defenders in the process, Raveloson played a ball to Efrain Alvarez, who continued forward before playing a pass to Cabral, who wa unmarked inside the penalty area, Cabral took a quick touch before he calmly took a shot that beat keeper Maxime Crepeau into the back net for his first ever goal in a Galaxy shirt.

“As a striker, confidence comes with the goals and I had a lot of opportunities in the previous games but I did not score. Today I scored, so that is good, but the draw is frustrating,” Cabral said.

The Galaxy took the lead into halftime, but Vancouver came back with a goal just five minutes into the second half. Deiber Caicedo sent a corner kick into the penalty area and Veselinovic headed a ball that went off the far post, but crossed the goal line for the tying goal.

The Galaxy did have two great chances to grab the lead in the second half. The first chance came in the 71st minute, as Sebastian Lletget sent a corner kick into the penalty area, Sacha Kljestan headed a ball down and Samuel Grandsir fired a shot at the near post area, but Crepeau made the save. Three minutes later, Lletget snet a long ball into the penalty area towards Sega Coulibaly, Crepeau came out and parried the ball away, but left a rebound for Grandsir, but Crepeau recovered just in time to deny Grandsir with his left foot on the rebound chance, parrying the ball out of the penalty area.

“There are small details we need to change to really be up there and be a championship winning team and we are not quite there just yet,” Galaxy defender Derrick Williams said. “Some small details change and hopefully we can get it right.”

The Galaxy will hit the road next Saturday, heading to the midwest to face Minnesota United.