Carlos Vela leads LAFC to hard-fought win over Galaxy in El Tráfico
The game was billed as the unstoppable force versus the movable object; unbeaten LAFC, the reigning MLS champion, against the winless, punchless Galaxy.
But in a rivalry match as emotional as El Tráfico, records rarely matter and what should have been a walk in the park Sunday came down to a fingertip save in stoppage time that allowed LAFC to escape with a hard-fought 3-2 win.
“Derbies, it doesn’t matter how you come in,” said LAFC captain Carlos Vela, who had a goal in each half and assisted on his team’s third score. “It’s a special game and you have to be ready.”
Being lucky also helps and fortune seemed to smile brightest on LAFC, which was outplayed for long stretches but scored on two quirky plays to win for the first time in nine tries at Dignity Health Sports Park.
“For a lot of the day I was pleased with our performance, I was pleased with our effort and energy,” said coach Greg Vanney, whose Galaxy (0-4-3) are off to the worst start in franchise history. “We punished ourselves. We killed ourselves today.”
Will Kuntz and Will Misselbrook will have to play big roles in turning around a Galaxy team that is winless heading into its El Tráfico showdown with LAFC.
Meanwhile, LAFC (5-0-2), the league’s last unbeaten team, has gone seven games into the season without a loss for the second time in five years. But Sunday’s win was one it had to work for.
“This is probably the worst football we played all season,” said defender Ryan Hollingshead, who scored what proved to be the winning goal on a header in the 70th minute. “We weren’t connecting passes. Guys were kind of all over the place. Tactically, we weren’t our best.
“So with all that being what was true and still being able to get three points, I think shows we can win when it’s scrappy and we need to just grind out three points.”
The Galaxy, who haven’t led a game this season since the first half of the first game, dominated the first 20 minutes, holding LAFC to just a shot. But a giveaway by Gastón Brugman at midfield followed by a mishit header by Mark Delgado in the center of the penalty area saw the ball carom to a wide-open Vela near the right edge of the box and he finished cleanly for LAFC, which hasn’t trailed against an MLS opponent this season.
“We were a little bit lucky,” Vela said. “The rebound came to me. The defender was not ready for that.”
The Galaxy tied the score just before halftime when Tyler Boyd lined a right-footed shot from 35 yards off the hands of LAFC keeper John McCarthy and under the crossbar. The goal was the first in MLS for Boyd and the first LAFC has given up in five games in all competition.
But both the game and the right ankle of Galaxy center back Chris Mavinga took a turn early in the second half, with Mavinga limping off because of an injury. With Martín Cáceres unavailable after drawing a foolish red card last weekend, Sega Coulibaly was forced to come on for his first minutes of the season and the rust was quickly exposed when, nine minutes later, he threw a body block on LAFC’s José Cifuentes on the edge of the penalty area, drawing a penalty.
Vela converted from the spot, giving him 12 goals in as many El Tráficos, the most scores by an MLS player against a single opponent since LAFC entered the league in 2018. Three minutes later, Hollingshead nodded home a Vela corner kick from the edge of the six-yard box to make it 3-1.
Delgado halved the deficit in the 84th minute, lifting a deflection from Javier “Chicharito” Hernández into the center of the goal, marking the first time the Galaxy have scored twice in a game this season. They could have had a third, but McCarthy tipped Lucas Calegari’s shot from the top of the box over the crossbar early in stoppage time, saving the three points.
Barring a turnaround, Everton seems destined to play its final season at historic Goodison Park in the Championship division, and fans aren’t happy.
“It’s one play at a time,” the keeper said. “I’m happy I was able to pull that one out and we were able to close out the game.”
For the Galaxy, the result left them as one of two winless teams in MLS. Their three points are also tied for last while only two teams have scored fewer goals than the Galaxy, who have five.
For LAFC, the win was its first in MLS on the road, although the atmosphere at Dignity Health Sports Park felt more like home. With the Galaxy’s four main supporters’ groups boycotting home matches, the LAFC’s black-and-gold clad fans filled the stadium’s second deck and their loud chanting provided the sound track for the sun-splashed afternoon.
“Away trips, away games always is like a home game for us,” Vela said. “It’s not the first time. We appreciate the support, the love they show for us and that always is extra motivation.”
