Central American Heritage Night brought the vibes and three points as the LA Galaxy beat FC Dallas on Saturday, October 11th in their penultimate game of the season.
LA will put an end to their worst regular season in club history by hosting Minnesota United on the 18th.
The LA Galaxy got the better of FC Dallas in their second match in two weeks.
They flipped the 2-1 loss from the previous weekend into a 2-1 win despite not counting on Joseph Paintsil, Harbor Miller, and Ruben Ramos Jr. through international duty.
Both teams had a hot start to the game, with the Galaxy controlling possession and finding some early chances while Dallas pressed bravely, looking to create havoc in the home team’s half.
The heat translated into the duels and pretty quickly came to a head when Mauricio Cuevas and Logan Farrington wrestled each other to the ground as they jostled for possession.
Farrington was the first to get up and decided to put his first step through Cuevas’s crotch, sparking a scuffle. The ever-ready Diego Fagundez pushed Farrington back to the ground but the Dallas player was the only one punished as he received a straight red card in the 16th minute.
The incident put a chip on Cuevas’s shoulder and he nearly replied immediately with an assist, but his square ball was just imprecise enough to miss Gabriel Pec’s outstretched leg. He was later the victim of another harsh stomp which earned Dallas captain Ramiro a booking.
The early red card handed the Galaxy all of the possession and chances for the rest of the first half.
They eventually made the most of the pressure with a classy goal from Elijah Wynder in the 42nd minute. He pounced on a mistake from defender Osaze Urhoghide and got the ball to Pec, who threaded a lovely ball for Wynder to run onto and just about poke past Dallas keeper Michael Collodi.
Dallas recomposed themselves during halftime and looked to be a much more organized 10-man team in the second half. They rediscovered their press and even began to command more of the ball.
They then went on to stun the 18,312 fans at Dignity Health Sports Park by catching out the Galaxy’s high line and finding Anderson Julio completely unmarked at the penalty spot. He easily stroked home the leveler in the 52nd minute.
Both teams went on to exchange blows throughout the match. A nervous feeling began to grow in the stadium as time went on with the scores still level and it looked more and more like the Galaxy were going to throw away a lead against 10 men.
There was even a moment where it seemed the Galaxy might lose the match.
A brilliant pass from deep in Dallas’s own half found second-half substitute Samuel Sarver with a clear path at Novak Micovic in the 78th minute.
Fortunately, the Galaxy can count on the second-fastest player in the world in Emiro Garcés (recorded at 23.54 mph, just under fastest player Kylian Mbappe’s top recorded speed of 23.61 mph and faster than Micky Van de Ven’s 23.23). He closed the distance shockingly quickly and pulled off a brilliant tackle to stop Sarver dead in his tracks and prevent what looked to be a certain winner for Dallas.
Garcés followed that game-saving play with a game-winning one in the 87th minute.
Mauricio Cuevas whipped in one of his trademark curling crosses, which ultimately landed at the Colombian’s feet inside the box. Garcés reacted well to lay it off to Pec who took two touches to get enough space to release a shot and score the winner.
The victory was the Galaxy’s sixth win in league play and eleventh in all competitions.
While it doesn’t really do anything in the grand scheme of things, it does lift the team off of the bottom of the league and keeps the dreaded wooden spoon at bay.
A win in their next match could even see the Galaxy rise up to fifth-from-bottom of the entire league, a relative achievement for a team who went winless in the first 16 games of the season.
Minnesota United will be traveling to The Digs to close out the season on MLS Decision Day.
The Galaxy stole a point from Allianz Field through a late Emiro Garcés goal when the teams first faced each other back in March. That was one of only seven times the Galaxy earned a point on the road from 17 away matches.
Greg Vanney mentioned that Minnesota will likely be using this game as a warm-up for their upcoming playoff run when I asked him about what he expected from the match. Fortunately, the Galaxy just had a warm-up of their own as this performance against Dallas where they had so much of the ball and had to be positionally responsible will likely mirror a lot of what’s to come next Saturday given United’s blitzkrieg-style attack.
There’s now just one game left in an astronomically difficult year for the LA Galaxy. They didn’t manage to truly save their season but they did show resilience to somewhat turn around the worst start to the season by a defending champion in MLS history. A win against one of the league’s best teams would be a fine continuation of this resilience and somewhat of a pleasant nightcap for a season that the entire Galaxy can’t wait to put behind them.
PHOTO: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
The post RECAP: LA Galaxy 2-1 FC Dallas appeared first on Los Angeles Sports Nation.