Could things finally be looking up for the LA Galaxy.
Playing perhaps the trickiest of matches; a midweek game on the road against one of you biggest rivals, the Galaxy had to fight through some adversity on Wednesday night. Yet still, at the end of the night, the Galaxy will gladly settle for three points. Galaxy goals from Tyler Boyd, Riqui Puig and Dejan Joveljic carried the Galaxy to a come-from-behind 3-2 win over the San Jose Earthquakes at PayPal Park.
“It’s a huge win for us,” Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney said. “Again, I thought the game had its ebbs and flows for sure, but I thought we played fantastic early. We went through a tough stretch. We had to come back from it on the road, and we did. And then we grinded and saw some things through there on the end.”
The win was an important one for the Galaxy (7-10-7, 28 points), as they get to within five points of FC Dallas for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Galaxy are also not far behind the Quakes (9-9-8, 35 points), who are currently sitting in the seventh spot.
Trailing 2-1 heading into the second half, it was Puig who tied the game for LA in the 49th minute. Puig received a ball from Edwin Cerillo and dribbled up the field virtually untouched. Puig reached near the top of the penalty area, the fired the right-footed volley that got past keeper Daniel, hit off the inside of the post before going into the back net for the equalizer.
The Galaxy were then gifted a chance to retake the lead in the 58th minute. Edwards passed to Dejan Joveljic, which quickly tried to make it a one-two scenario with Edwards, but Edwards ended up getting tripped by Marco Trauco inside the penalty area, and referee Lukasz Szpala signaled the Galaxy to the penalty spot. Joveljic converted from the penalty spot, sending the penalty straight into the upper back net. San Jose came dangerously close to an equalizer as stoppage time began, as Cristian Espinoza sent a right-footed cross into the penalty area, only to see the ball hit off the crossbar. Galaxy keeper Jonathan Bond’s heroics were still needed in the sequence, as he had to parry away a ball that took a dangerous deflection towards his goal.
“I think since I got here, everyone has a mentality that we had 12 finals, and now we have 10 more;” Cerillo said. “I think we have games in hand from the other teams. We’re clicking, just like Raheem [Edwards] just said, and we’re playing comfortable. At times, like today, we get punished, just trying to play pointless passes. But, I think the team is clicking and we’re going to keep going.”
The Galaxy got things going in the 16th minute. Raheem Edwards sprung Boyd down the left side with a long ball, Boyd fought off a challenge from Jonathan Mensah to get inside the penalty area, took a quick touch, then blasted a right-footed volley that beat Daniel far post to give the Galaxy the early lead.
“First 20 minutes I thought that was probably the best football I think I played with the LA Galaxy since I’ve been here honestly,” Edwards said. “To go up 1-nil in the beginning, that’s something that you want.”
The Galaxy however literally gifted the Quakes the equalizer. It happened in the 29th minute, as Espinoza sent a ball for the penalty area, defender Lucas Calegari tried to head the ball away, but it took a wrong deflection, and the ball got past Bond into the back net for an own goal that leveled matters. San Jose then took the lead two minutes later, as Espinoza pounced on a poorly played ball at the halfway line, then led a Quakes break. Espinoza played a ball to Jamiro Monteiro, who then crossed into the penalty area and Jeremy Ebobisse touched a ball inside the six-yard box past Bond to give San Jose the lead.
