Three unanswered goals.
That was the theme for Wednesday’s match between the Los Angeles Galaxy and Minnesota United. Minnesota erased an early Galaxy advantage with three unanswered goals in the first half to have a seemingly insurmountable two goal lead at halftime. However, the Galaxy got the three unanswered goals that mattered the most, as Billy Sharp’s hat trick followed by Diego Fagundez’s winning goal enabled the Galaxy to erase that two goal deficit and earn a massive spirit lifting three points with the 4-3 win at Dignity Health Sports Park.
“Obviously we knew we had to win the game tonight,” Sharp said. “We are chasing down four or five teams which is quite good for us because it is not just chasing one team were chasing quite a few teams and we have to play all those teams. It was quote disappointing in the changing room because we gave away sloppy goals but we know we got quality in the team that if we got that second goal to get us back in the game we could start to build momentum and you could just feel it on the pitch.”
Sharp got the comeback going in the 64th minute. Tyler Boyd sent a corner into the penalty area, Maya Yoshida headed a ball towards goal, Yoshida’s header went right to Sharp, who was kept onside by Miguel Tapias, and Sharp tapped a ball past keeper Dayne St. Clair near post to cut the Minnesota lead to a goal. Sharp then got the equalizer in the 71st minute, and it started when a misplayed ball allowed Raheem Edwards to dribbled from the right side towards goal, Bongokuhle Hlongwane marked Edwards and Hlongwane’s teammate, defender Michael Boxall, tried to clear the ball out of the penalty area, but Boxall’s clearance attempt instead deflected off Edwards, bounced towards the six-yard box and Sharp fired the one-timer into the back net and suddenly, the Galaxy had leveled the match.
Just coming back from two goals down on its home pitch would’ve been more than enough for any team, but not for the Galaxy, especially since three points were solely needed to stay in the playoff chase. The Galaxy were boosted further in the 74th minute Ethan Bristow picked up his second yellow card of the match and thus was sent off, meaning the Galaxy had the man advantage the rest of the match. It was Fagundez that provided the go-ahead goal in the 82nd minute. Riqui Puig sent a ball to the right side to Boyd, who then crossed into the penalty area, Delgado tried to get on the end of the cross, but got too far ahead, but Fagundez timed his run perfectly to get the shot off, St. Clair got a piece of the ball, but not enough to prevent the ball from going into the back net, and just like that, the Galaxy had a lead to play with, and they held on for the stunning comeback.
“If I remember correctly I remember probably like 10 minutes before I told Ty [Boyd] hey look for the cut back I’m always there and of course in this play ball goes wide, he goes down the line and of course he finds the cut back and I see Mark [Delgado] about to touch the ball and I yell at him leave it! Leave it! And he does and I just had to do my part and try to touch it in,” Fagundez said. “I’m very glad the ball went in and I got my first one for LA so hopefully a lot more come but at the end of the day what matters is that we got three points at home on a Wednesday night and everybody showed up.”
The Galaxy got things going in the 16th minute. A give-and-go between Boyd and Delgado freed up Boyd for a run into the penalty area, Boyd played a short cross to the six, Puig took the shot, Boxall blocked the shot with his chest, but the ball fell to Sharp, and he converted the rebound chance to stake the Galaxy to the lead. Minnesota however soon had its say, equalizing three minutes later, as DJ Taylor crossed into the penalty area, Edwin Cerillo cut of the cross, but the ball went to Teemu Pukki, and he one-timed a shot past keeper Jonathan Bond to tie the match.
Then it was Hlongwane’s turn to impose his will on the match. Hlongwane gave Minnesota the lead in the 41st minute, as he took a shot just outside the penalty area that deflected off Edwards and sailed over Bond into the back net to put Minnesota in front. Hlongwane then doubled the advantage in stoppage time, as Hassani Dotson played Pukki into the penalty area, Pukki crossed and Hlongwane finished just outside the penalty area to give Minnesota a two-goal advantage heading into halftime.
