For seven seasons, the Galaxy and LAFC have shared Southern California. But till Thursday, that they had by no means confronted one another whereas sharing first place within the Western Conference standings.
They did not finish the evening that approach, with first-half objectives from Kei Kamara and Denis Bouanga lifting LAFC to a 2-1 victory in entrance of a crowd of 70,076 on the Rose Bowl. Gabriel Pec scored for the Galaxy early within the second half.
For a lot of the bitter cross-town rivalry, the Galaxy have been nearer to the underside of the standings than the highest. LAFC, in the meantime, has the league’s finest report since becoming a member of MLS.
This has usually left one crew taking part in for a title and the opposite taking part in spoiler. This time, that wasn’t the case.
“I felt just like the Galaxy gamers had one thing to lose in the present day,” LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo mentioned. “They weren’t the underdogs in the present day. And that’s a unique burden.”
LAFC Defender Aaron Long I wasn’t so certain about this, since nobody carries a replica of the leaderboard once they play.
“It’s at all times going to be the identical, to be sincere,” he mentioned. “If you lose to them whenever you’re first and so they’re final, it hurts simply as a lot as in the event you lose to them whenever you’re each tied for first place.”
But whenever you win and break that tie? Well, it means a little bit extra.
“Maybe that made him a little bit completely different,” the defender mentioned. Sergio Palencia he mentioned in Spanish. “Tied for first place, it was a vital match for us. We approached this match as if it have been a closing.”
A closing, maybe, nevertheless it will not be their final assembly. The groups will meet in September, and given the way in which each groups are taking part in, a playoff rematch within the fall appears possible.
Consider that LAFC (13-4-4), with its third win in as many video games, prolonged the crew’s report unbeaten streak to 10 video games and pushed them nearer to Inter Miami within the Supporters’ Shield race. They have additionally received their final three video games in opposition to the Galaxy. They are the league’s most in-form crew.
For the Galaxy (11-4-7), the loss, their second in 12 video games, ended a four-game profitable streak, the crew’s longest since 2020, and dropped them to a tie for second place with Real Salt Lake.
Since April, the Galaxy have been the third-best crew within the Western Conference.
The two groups, which usually play in stadiums simply 11 miles aside, moved their Fourth of July recreation to the Rose Bowl for the second straight yr and have been rewarded with the second-largest crowd in MLS this season and the 14th-largest in league historical past. And the 70,000-plus who confirmed up have been rewarded with an entertaining recreation.
LAFC was the higher participant for a lot of the primary half, outscoring the Galaxy 13-6, however they could not break goalkeeper John McCarthy till simply earlier than halftime. After making two powerful saves inside seconds of one another, first parrying Mateusz Bogusz’s right-footed shot from the highest of the field after which lifting Ilie Sánchez’s head over the crossbar, McCarthy was overwhelmed by a Kamara header, ending the keeper’s clear sheet streak within the 319th minute.
It was Kamara’s 147th objective of his MLS profession, extending his lead over Landon Donovan into second place on the all-time scoring record.
“When the serve is correct, he is sort of unstoppable,” Long mentioned. “When he has that operating and leaping benefit, no person’s going to have the ability to bounce with him. Everyone is aware of how good he’s within the air. But when the ball is correct and he occasions it proper, he is nearly unattainable to cease.”
A minute later, Galaxy defender Julián Aude tripped midfielder Eduard Atuesta on the prime of the field, incomes a penalty that Bouanga transformed for his 14th objective of the season. The Galaxy had not conceded two objectives within the first half since April’s loss in Austin.
But if LAFC dominated the primary half, the Galaxy proved extra harmful for a lot of the subsequent 45 minutes.
Pec halved the deficit within the 56th minute, weaving his approach by way of two defenders earlier than firing a left-footed shot from shut vary for his seventh objective of the season. The rating additionally gave him a objective or help in 5 consecutive video games.
Joseph Paintsil almost tied the sport a minute later, turning and unleashing a right-footed shot from the middle of the field, however the ball went harmlessly over the crossbar. LAFC responded by filling the penalty space with seven gamers within the closing 10 minutes, lastly respiratory a sigh of aid when the ultimate whistle blew.
“These derby video games, there’s a lot you need to put together for, mentally and emotionally,” Long mentioned. “So it feels the identical, even when it doesn’t really feel the identical within the standings.”
