Did Galaxy rally to beat LAFC send a message? – Orange County Register

CARSON — The idea of ​​a “decisive game” is often a cliché. But Saturday night’s edition of El Tráfico may have been a decisive game for the Galaxy, both for themselves and for LAFC, which had already beaten them twice this year.

And maybe even all of Major League Soccer.

The motto: “When you have these guys down, don’t let them back in the game. Especially at home.”

The Galaxy have not lost this season on their home turf at Dignity Health Sports Park. Their only “home” loss was to LAFC at the Rose Bowl on July 4, technically but not actually a home game.

On Saturday night, they had a crowd of 25,174, with the exception of a group of LAFC fans holed up in a corner of the second floor, and they had the noise, the energy and the motivation to stay in first place in the Western Conference and, perhaps, to challenge Eastern Conference leader Miami for the Supporters Shield.

And they had Ricqui Puig, Dejan Joveljic, Edwin Cerrillo and Marco Reus. Joveljic scored twice, Cerrillo scored 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 get-to-know-you moment.

This all happened after halftime. Trailing 2-0 and poised to be swept in the season series by their 110th-place rivals, the Galaxy turned things around in spectacular fashion and came away with a 4-2 victory that puts them seven points ahead of second-place LAFC. The Galaxy have five regular-season games remaining and LAFC has eight, so strange things can still happen.

But it wasn’t the Galaxy’s first comeback this season; they pulled off a similar number against Sporting KC on March 23 in Kansas City, scoring three times in 10 minutes to erase a 2-0 deficit and win 3-2.

The noise and energy that lifted the Galaxy Saturday night is also nothing to sneeze at, not on a night where, if you were in the stadium, your ears could have been ringing for a half-hour after the final whistle. It’s not an isolated incident, though there’s certainly more vigor in the cheers (and boos) against the bloodthirsty rival. But the Galaxy are 11-0-3 in Carson and have won nine straight on their home turf.

“I think what we saw tonight for us, and the message in (the locker room) was that tonight’s win shows exactly why it’s so important to win the West and to be able to play this game or this type of playoff game in this building,” coach Greg Vanney said.

“When we started to get going and the energy and momentum started to build, the fans got behind us because we finally got them in the game. And that’s what you want on a playoff night or a big night where you have to get a result. And credit to everybody and the energy in the stadium too, because it gets guys going too.”

For much of the evening, Galaxy fans had reason to grumble, and the roughly 1,000 fans in the upper corner of the stadium, clad in black and gold, had reason to savor the evening and anticipate 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 by members of the Galaxy’s Riot Squad supporters group, which read “We don’t want to hear you say LA doesn’t exist anymore,” seemed hollow.

LAFC then got bogged down, and the Galaxy made some structural adjustments and came back in the second half with renewed energy.

And while it may seem like an alibi, LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo noted that his team’s workload has been heavier than most over the past two months. Part of that was due to international duty (and travel) for six of their players. A good portion of that was due to the Leagues Cup monstrosity that MLS and Apple TV+ have foisted on the league’s teams and their fans.

Heading into Saturday’s game, LAFC has played seven times since July 26 to reach the final of this tournament, plus a U.S. Open Cup game, plus three MLS games — one of which, last Saturday against Houston, was rescheduled earlier in the season due to a hurricane and was ultimately played during an international break.

The Galaxy had not played since September 1, a loss in St. Louis.

“It was always going to be to their advantage tonight because of the weeks we had leading up to this,” Cherundolo said. “And also, a lot of our players had long trips (because of the international window) and didn’t get back until late Thursday night, which is hard to reverse.

“But I think for us it’s important to focus on the first half, our quality and how our game plan worked. And I think if we can wait a little bit longer and make some changes earlier in the second half, then maybe it’ll be a different night. But it wasn’t. So we’ll accept that, move on and try to turn it around as quickly as possible to get some points on Wednesday night (at home to Austin).”

Bottom line: The Galaxy are in the playoffs. LAFC should clinch their spot soon. They could start the playoffs on different paths, but it seems likely they’ll eventually have to face each other.

And Saturday night maybe brought a little confidence, the Galaxy’s Puig said.