CARSON – The idea of a “statement game” is a cliché in a lot of cases. But Saturday night’s edition of El Tráfico indeed may have been one for the Galaxy, both to themselves and to LAFC, which had beaten them twice already this year.
And maybe even to all of Major League Soccer.
The statement: “When you get these guys down, don’t let them back into the game. Especially at home.”
The Galaxy has not lost this season on its home turf at Dignity Health Sports Park. The one “home” loss they incurred was to LAFC at the Rose Bowl July 4, technically but not actually a home game.
Saturday night they had the crowd of 25,174 on their side, save for a pocket of LAFC supporters tucked in a corner of the second deck. They had the noise, and the energy, and the motivation to stay in first place in the Western Conference and, just maybe, take a run at Eastern leader Miami for the Supporters Shield.
And they had Ricqui Puig, Dejan Joveljic, Edwin Cerrillo and Marco Reus. Joveljic scored twice, Cerrillo had his first MLS goal, Puig added two assists and a goal and was all over the field, and newcomer Reus assisted on Puig’s goal, a nice getting-to-know-you moment.
All of that came after halftime. Down 2-0 and ready to be swept in the season series to their rivals from up the 110, the Galaxy reversed course dramatically and came away with a 4-2 win that put them seven points ahead of second-place LAFC. The Galaxy has five regular season games left and LAFC eight, so strange things could still happen.
But this wasn’t the first such comeback of the Galaxy’s season; they pulled off a similar Houdini act against Sporting KC March 23 in Kansas City, scoring three times in 10 minutes to wipe out a 2-0 deficit and win 3-2.
The noise and energy that lifted the Galaxy Saturday night are not to be discounted, either, not on a night where if you were in the stadium your ears might have been ringing for a half-hour after the final whistle. It’s not an isolated case, although there’s certainly more vigor in the cheering (and jeering) against the blood rival. But the Galaxy is 11-0-3 in Carson and has won nine in a row on its turf.
“I think what we saw tonight for us, and the message in (the locker room) was, the win tonight shows exactly why it’s so important to win the West and be able to play this game or this type of game in the playoffs in this building,” coach Greg Vanney said.
“When we started going and the energy started to get going and the momentum started to go, the fans got behind us because we finally brought them into the game. And that’s what you want on a playoff night or a big night when you’ve got to get a result. And credit to everybody and the energy in the stadium, too, because that gets the guys going too.”
For a good portion of the night, Galaxy fans had reason to grumble, and those thousand or so fans in the upper corner of the stadium wearing black and gold had reason to savor the evening and anticipate yet another victory over the rival.
Mateusz Bogusz gave LAFC a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute, and Denis Bouanga beat former LAFC goalkeeper John McCarthy in the 15th minute. Those signs held up by members of the Galaxy’s Riot Squad supporters group, saying things like, “We Don’t Want To Hear You Claim L.A. No More,” seemed hollow.
Then LAFC bogged down, and the Galaxy made some structural adjustments and came out in the second half with a burst of energy.
And while it sounds like an alibi, LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo noted that his team’s workload has been heavier than most in the last two months. Some was because of international duty (and travel) for six of their players. A good bit of it was because of the Leagues Cup monstrosity that MLS and Apple TV+ have foisted on the league’s teams and their fans.
LAFC played seven times in reaching that tournament’s final, plus a U.S. Open Cup match, plus three MLS games – one of which, last Saturday against Houston, was rescheduled because of a hurricane earlier in the season and was ultimately played during an international break.
The Galaxy hadn’t played since Sept. 1, a loss in St. Louis.
“It was always going to be to their advantage tonight due to the weeks we’ve had prior to this,” Cherundolo said. “And also a lot of our guys had some long travels (because of the international window) and just got back late Thursday night, which is hard to turn around.
“But I think for us, it’s important to focus on the first half, how good we were and how really perfect our game plan worked out. And I think if you can hold off a little longer and if, you know, we make earlier changes in the second half, then maybe this is a different night. But it wasn’t. So we’ll accept it, move on and try to turn it around as fast as possible to get some points Wednesday night (at home against Austin).”
Bottom line: The Galaxy is in the playoffs. LAFC should clinch its spot soon. They may start on disparate paths in the postseason, but the odds seem good that ultimately they’ll have to deal with each other.
And Saturday night may have provided a bit of confidence, the Galaxy’s Puig said.
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“I think that this year we have the pieces that maybe two years before we don’t have,” he said. “And that’s really good for me because we have players (who are) really fast with the speed and that’s difficult for other teams to defend.”
And, he added, winning Saturday night enabled his team to “see the level that we are at … For sure, to win this one is really important for us.”
Go ahead. Call it a statement.
jalexander@scng.com
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