The storyline heading into the first match of the 2024 edition of El Trafico; momentum.
The LA Galaxy certainly had all of it going into Saturday’s meeting with LAFC at BMO Stadium, as they were undefeated with a 3-0-3 record and 12 points. Meanwhile LAFC’s start has been inconsistent at best, as they came into Saturday’s match with a 2-3-1 record, and were smarting after allowing the Colorado Rapids to come from behind to defeat them last weekend.
However, as is the case with rivalry matches, you always throw out the records. LAFC certainly did that on Saturday, as goals from Timothy Tillman and Denis Bouanga, the latter being aided by a debatable foul call, enabled LAFC to knock its crosstown rivals from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 2-1 win.
“Frustrating to give up a goal early like that, super frustrating. Something we talked about already,” LAFC Keeper John McCarthy, playing his first game back at BMO Stadium as a member of the Galaxy said. “And then it was an unfortunate PK, just part of the game. It’s frustrating. But that’s how it goes, and a lot of possession, a lot of good looks… This I can we can take away from the game as well. They did really well defensively.”
It took LAFC just four minutes to put its stamp on the match. Mateusz Bogusz sent a corner kick into the six-yard box of the penalty area, Ilie Sanchez flicked a ball to the far post and Tillman tapped a ball into the open net for the opening goal.
“We knew we had to suffer, that helped us win tonight,” Tillman said.
The Galaxy eventually had its say, and it came in the 28th minute on a rather chaotic sequence. Dejan Joveljic played Julian Aude forward, Adue then shot a ball just inside the penalty area, the shot got past keeper Hugo Lloris, but bounced off the far post. Aude however chased down the rebound and sent a shot back towards the LAFC net, but was blocked by defender Jesus David Murillo, Gabriel Pec then came in and attempted a shot that was also blocked by Murillo, the ball fell back to Aude, and the third time was the charm for Aude, as he shot a ball past Lloris to the far post to level the match.
However, soon came the talking point in the match. It started in the 31st minute, as Bouanga was inside the penalty area and made his move towards goal. Miki Yamane marked him and attempted a tackle to dispossess him of the ball, but he didn’t get the ball, and his right foot appeared to trip Bouanga, bringing him to ground, and that was enough for referee Jon Freemon to award LAFC the penalty. Even after VAR was initiated, Freemon stuck to his call.
“The standard of the penalty foul was not the standard of the foul for the whole game,” Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney said of the penalty call.
Bouanga stepped up to the spot, stared down his former teammate who just 15 months ago singlehandedly won the MLS Cup for LAFC at that very goal, and sent the penalty straight past McCarthy into the back net to put LAFC back in front. The second half did not feature much action, as LAFC contained the Galaxy attack.
