LOS ANGELES — A current nagging issue popped again for the Galaxy in Saturday’s first El Trafico meeting against Los Angeles Football Club and that just added to a frustrating night.
In the fourth minute, LAFC’s Timothy Tillman found himself alone on the back post on a corner kick and he knocked the ball into the goal for the opening goal.
The Galaxy have allowed five goals off of corner kicks this season.
“It’s frustrating to give up another goal, early like that …guy is wide open, super frustrating, something we have to look at, something we’ve talked about already,” Galaxy goalkeeper John McCarthy said.
That wasn’t the only frustration the Galaxy will take from the evening. Later in the first half, defender Miki Yamane was ruled to have fouled LAFC forward Denis Bouanga in the penalty area. Referee Jon Freemon didn’t hesitate, immediately pointing to the penalty spot. Even after going to the video review, the penalty stood.
“We give up a set piece goal early, which in my opinion, gives them a lot of confidence right from the bat, that they can get something out of this (game),” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “I know they’re a confident team, I know they’re at home, but I also think that they also know the quality and the speed and the pace and the different things that we have, you could see it by the number of fouls all over the field.”
LAFC was credited with committing 20 fouls, compared to just seven for the Galaxy. Four yellow cards were issued, all to LAFC.
“Referee couldn’t find his yellow card for a hell of a long time,” Vanney said. “So it just plays into their hands …In this league, if referees don’t call fouls, the team that wants to have the ball are going to lose a lot of games.
“The standard of the penalty foul was not the standard of the foul for the whole game, that’s the embarrassing part of it all. If that contact was the contact that set the standard for what is a foul in this game ….(defender) Maya (Yoshida) got mugged three or four times on set pieces …it’s just so inconsistent and it’s just hard, but we made mistakes, we didn’t play great, we didn’t find the right shape in the beginning of the game, which then afforded them some opportunities to counter.
“We got back to 1-1 and we immediately …for me I don’t believe it’s a penalty. I believe he kicks out his leg to our guy who slides and then goes down …it’s minimal at best ….my opinion, but we give back the lead instantly, which is a problem.”
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After the Tillman’s fourth-minute goal, the Galaxy scored the equalizer in the 29th minute from Julian Aude. Six minutes later, Bouanga converted the penalty to make it 2-1 and that’s where the game remained.
Galaxy goalkeeper John McCarthy made seven saves, several coming in the second half to keep the deficit at one goal.
“What you saw for the most of the night, is they sat in a relatively low block, they waited to try to turn us over and they broke out,” Vanney said. “If we don’t give the lead and it stays 0-0, or 1-1, then they have to consider coming off of their low block, which then opens the space for us to get after them.
“We also didn’t do ourselves any justice on the night and I think because we’re chasing the game through large stretches, we exposed ourselves sometimes on the counters that gave them opportunities.”
The Galaxy will return to action Saturday on the road against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
