Club Tijuana’s young star couldn’t outshine a killer LA Galaxy.
Goals from each of the front four led Greg Vanney’s side to an important win and into third place in the Leagues Cup MLS standings.
Dignity Health Sports Park came back to life as the LA Galaxy trounced Club Tijuana in a 5-2 victory on July 31st to end a topsy-turvy month with a positive spin.
This win is just the team’s fifth of the year (one in Concacaf Champions Cup back in March and three in the league within the last five weeks) but has much more weight than any of the previous victories thanks to the new Leagues Cup format.
Much has been said about the way this year’s Leagues Cup knockout round is structured, where only four of 18 teams representing each nation will progress past the group stage. Teams essentially have to be perfect throughout their three group stage matches in order to have a chance of qualifying for the quarterfinals.
The LA Galaxy have so far managed to do just that thanks to a brace from Joseph Paintsil and goals from Matheus Nascimento, Gabriel Pec, and Marco Reus. Club Tijuana’s 16-year-old starlet Gilberto Mora threatened to spoil the Galaxy’s night by equalizing twice with two stunning goals from outside the box, but he couldn’t carry his team past an efficient LA Galaxy.
LA did well to score from half of their 10 shots on target, but could have made it a true smackdown had Paintsil scored his penalty in the 27th minute and converted from a lightning-fast breakaway with Gabriel Pec in the 71st.
The Galaxy would have matched the score tally of the Seattle Sounders, who played Cruz Azul off of the pitch in a 7-0 thrashing, had Painstil found the back of the net with those two chances. The missed opportunities would have placed the Galaxy second in the MLS Leagues Cup Standings, but as it stands they are still making qualifying pace with a current third place.
Even with this result they can’t afford to let off the gas and potentially regret their missed chances. Every goal matters when only four of the 18 MLS teams qualify to the next round.
There is a possibility that the Galaxy fall outside of the top four should one of the tiebreakers (including goal differential and goals scored) fall in favor of another MLS team who put away more of their opportunities.
The recently deflated Cruz Azul are their next Leagues Cup opponents. They’ll travel from the heavy defeat in Seattle to Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday, August, 3rd and look to save face. The Galaxy for their part will have to make their best effort at laying on the goals to secure another win and avoid falling out of contention for the next phase of the competition.
Pec and Paintsil won’t be short on confidence after their brilliant performances against Tijuana, but Paintsil especially will be aware that there is room for improvement which can’t be taken lightly.
They may also receive the support of captain Maya Yoshida, who Vanney says is looking likely to recover from muscle tightness in time for Sunday’s game after giving his all to score a heroic late-equalizer against LAFC on July 19th.
Leagues Cup is a massively important tournament for the LA Galaxy.
Besides being able to partially wash away what has been an honestly horrendous season with a trophy, qualification to next year’s Concacaf Champions Cup and subsequently the Club World Cup are necessary to bring back global attention to the MLS’s original marquee club.
Before Inter Miami and Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, and Jordi Alba, the world knew the LA Galaxy and Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane, David Beckham, and Mauricio Cienfuegos.
A Leagues Cup victory would be a massive step for Riqui Puig, Joseph Paintsil, and Gabriel Pec to engrave their names alongside those legends’ in the world’s conception of the MLS.
The current league campaign hasn’t helped, but this new tournament could be a chance for them to restore the prestige that comes with the name “LA Galaxy”.
PHOTO: Kiyoshi Mio/Imagn Images
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