By Tim Peterson
(Los Angeles) – The Galaxy’s Kevin Cabaral scored in the 86th minute to salvage a 3-3 tie with LAFC Saturday in El Trafico at Banc of California Stadium. 22, 032 fans were on hand to see the LA rivals battle to a draw.
Brian Rodriguez scored in the 66th minute to give LAFC a 3-2 lead which held up for the next 20 minutes. But it was four minutes short as Cabral tied it.
The Galaxy scored first in the 20th minute when Dejan Joveljic beat Tomas Romero, who came out of the net in an attempt to knock the ball away. Joveljic got to it first and then got it by Romero. Two LAFC players fell into the net trying to prevent the goal.
Cristian Arango was fouled in the box and scored on a penalty Kick for LAFC in the 44th minute to tie it at 1-1. Four minutes of stoppage time were added in the first half but the teams went into the half tied.
LAFC outshot the Galaxy 12-4 in the first half including 6 on target compared to 2 for the Galaxy.
LAFC put heavy pressure on the Galaxy in the second half. Jonathan Bond made a couple nice saves for the Galaxy including one in the 55th minute.
Rodriguez broke the tie in the 58th as he dribbled through several defenders and slammed it by Bond.
The Galaxy tied it six minutes later as Joveljic scored his second of the night from the left flank.
That only lasted two minutes as Rodriguez matched Joveljic with his second of the day as he booted a rebound shot by Bond to give LAFC a 3-2 lead in the 66th minute.
It appeared that that would be enough for LAFC as the clock ticked closer to the end of regulation. But the Galaxy responded again as Cabral scored took a perfect cross pass in the middle from Julian Araujo and slipped it by Romero to tie it at 3 in the 86th minute.
Four minutes of stoppage time were added but neither team came up with the game winner and had to settle for the draw.
On paper LAFC had the big advantage. They had 25 total shots to 10 for the Galaxy. LAFC also had 11 shots on target compared to 5 for the Galaxy. However the Galaxy did lead in time of possession 53 percent to 46 percent.
The Galaxy is now 11-8-3 with the draw which is good enough for fourth place in the Western Conference. LAFC is 6-9-6, ninth in the West.
Leave a Reply