Things did not go exactly go as planned for the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night.

Playing its first home match of the 2020 season in a stadium that underwent some renovations over the offseason, such as a mainly standing section for the Angel City Brigade, and the return of the grass berm on the Stadium’s west side, and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez making his home debut, the Galaxy looked to give the sellout crowd of 26,382 something to get excited about.

Unfortunately, the Galaxy chose the wrong time to lay an egg. The Vancouver Whitecaps crashed the party, looking like the agressors for most of the night, which paid off with Tosaint Ricketts’ goal in the 74th minute, and the Whitecaps left Dignity Health Sports Park with a 1-0 win.

“I am disappointed with the result today,” Galaxy head coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto said. “I don’t think we deserve to lose today but sometimes in soccer it’s not about who deserves to win, it’s about who scores. They got just one shot and they scored on their first shot. We had some plays in the first half, but we couldn’t.”

The moment came for Vancouver in the 74th minute. Ryan Raposo played a ball forward to Adi Adnan, who beat Nicholas DePuy’s challenge to touch the ball into the penalty area, Adnan then played a ball back to Ricketts near the penalty spot and Ricketts fired a one-timer that beat Dave Bingham far post to give the Whitecaps the lead. Compounding matters for the Galaxy, they were forced to chase the game a man down Joe Corona picked up his second yellow card of the match a minute later.

The only saving grace for the Galaxy in the match was a save, which Bingham got in the 89th minute. The drama started in the 86th minute, as Raposo played to Ricketts in the box, then Giancarlo Gonzalez appeared to clip Ricketts from behind and referee Ismail Elfath awarded Vancouver the penalty. Lucas Cavellini stepped up to the spot with the chance to basically seal the three points for the Whitecaps, but while Cavellini sent the penalty straight, Bingham stayed in that spot and as a result, made the kick save, sending the ball back out into play to keep the Galaxy alive. LA however could capitalize on the opportunity, as Vancouver eventually held on for the three points.

“Yeah, I think if you asked ten people you would probably get three different things on that one,” Bingham said of the foul. “So obviously, we’re going to be on the side that it wasn’t a penalty but at the end of the day, once it’s called it’ll probably never get over turned through VAR. From my angle, it looks like he came in front of him and slows down looking for the penalty. You can tell he’s not looking to turn; he’s not looking for anything else besides a flop on the ground. But once it’s given, it’s given.”

Things won’t be getting any easier for the Galaxy, as they prepare for its first look at Inter Miami, who will be looking to feed off what is sure to be in intense atmosphere in Miami’s first home match.