New England Revolution 2-Los Angeles Galaxy 3
Chris Pontius and Dave Romney both scored in stoppage time to give LA Galaxy an improbable 3-2 win over the New England Revolution on Saturday at Gillette Stadium.
Pontius, who also opened the account for the Galaxy in the 38th minute, capped the heroics in the 90+3 minute by seizing a loose ball in the box only moments after Romney dramatically leveled it in the 90+2 minute.
“Our fight’s been there,” Galaxy coach Sigi Schmid told the media after the match. “We haven’t given up on each other even through the tough times at the beginning of the year, and now we’re starting to get rewarded for it.”
Diego Fagundez notched the first goal of the game in the 28th minute after teammate Cristian Penilla was sent off in the 23rd minute. Luis Caicedo countered the first Pontius strike in the 45th minute to give New England the lead going into the break.
Saturday’s match finished 10 v 10 after Ashley Cole was red carded in the 85th minute.
With the loss, the Revolution drop to 7-5-7 (28 points) while the Galaxy, who became only the fifth team to score equalizing and winning goals in stoppage time, improve to 8-7-4 (28 points).
Galaxy superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic did not accompany the Galaxy for the road trip due to the long flight and the artificial surface.
But the absence of Ibrahimovic wasn’t the only early storyline. Midway through the first half, the Revolution went down a man after Penilla was red carded for kicking at Romain Alessandrini.
Even with Penilla in the locker room, the Revolution forged ahead and even found the back of the next five minutes thanks to a wonderful give-and-go between Caicedo and Fagundez, who blasted his shot through in the 28th minute.
Ten minutes later, the Galaxy landed their counterpunch when he volleyed a cross from Cole past a helpless Matt Turner to deadlock it at one in the 38th minute.
Remarkably, New England scored its second short-handed goal of the frame in the 45th minute. With halftime approaching, Andrew Farrell sent a curling ball in the box where Caicedo glanced into the Galaxy goal to restore the advantage.
“I’m very, very proud of my players and the effort that they put in tonight,” Revolution coach Brad Friedel told the media after the match. “Going down a man, and playing the way we did.”
Farrell nearly bagged another assist in the 74th minute when he set up a Teal Bunbury shot that smacked off the far stick. Bunbury got another golden chance six minutes later only to have his chip cleared by Cole.
The Revolution’s lead seemed all but cinched in the 85th minute after Cole’s second yellow for taking out Juan Agudelo leveled the playing field personnel-wise. But the Galaxy were far from finished, as evidenced by the spectacle witnessed after the 90th minute.
Two minutes into stoppage time, Alessandrini whipped a corner kick far post for Romney, who rammed his forehead into it to level the stakes. Second later, Jalil Anibaba was caught out of position on a break led by Giovani dos Santos who steered the ball into the path of Pontius to set up the winner.
“It’s big, it’s big,” Romney told the media after the match. “We kind of just went through a big stretch of games, where we played three games in one week, and then we dropped those two games late where we had those two-goal leads. So it’s nice to kind of have stuff break our way this time.”
NE Revolution
