LOS ANGELES — Frantic. Always frantic.
For nine years, Los Angeles Football Club and the Galaxy have battled for the heart of the city.
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The 28th all-time El Trafico meeting between the two will go down as one of the rivalry’s best draws.
Recovering from a two-goal second-half deficit, LAFC fought back for a 2-2 draw Sunday at BMO Stadium, denying the Galaxy a road victory and clinching an MLS Cup playoff berth for the eighth time in nine seasons.
That looked far from certain for nearly an hour thanks to two goals by Joseph Paintsil, as the Galaxy looked to return the favor after a home defeat to LAFC in July.
However, Denis Bouanga and Leo Walta pounced on second balls to bail out LAFC in front of an announced crowd of 22,323.
Paintsil’s sixth goal of the season was a product of Robert Taylor’s good work down the right wing.
During the week, Galaxy coach Greg Vanney credited Taylor’s contributions since the Finnish forward joined the team in July.
A misplaced pass in the 34th minute by former Galaxy midfielder Mark Delgado, who scored in LAFC’s 3-0 El Tráfico victory coming out of the World Cup break, gave Taylor the chance to sprint down the field and pick out Paintsil arriving at the far post.
The Ghanaian’s seventh goal of the season came in the 51st minute. This time, Erik Thommy, starting in place of German midfielder Marco Reus, who awoke Sunday with flu-like symptoms, busted down the left wing. His shot inside the box was saved, but Paintsil capitalized on the rebound.
Despite going down two goals, LAFC appeared more dangerous to start the second half. Moving Bouanga from striker to the left wing at halftime immediately made him and LAFC tougher to contain.
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Two minutes after Paintsil completed his brace, Bouanga finished a rebound off an Armindo Sieb blast for his 18th goal of the MLS season. It was Bouanga’s eighth consecutive match against the Galaxy with a goal.
LAFC leveled the match in the 62nd minute when a cross into the box by Son Heung-min was deflected, took a funny hop and fell to Walta, who touched the ball past goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski for his second goal in as many weeks.
The rivals are now tied 10-10-8 in the all-time series.
After Matchday 32, LAFC and the Galaxy are the only two teams in the league to have played 32 matches.
This Wednesday, the rest of the league will catch up, giving the El Tráfico rivals nearly a full week to train ahead of their second-to-last games of the regular season.
The Galaxy (10-11-11, 41 points) welcome Austin FC on Saturday afternoon, with kickoff set for 2 p.m. on Halloween.
LAFC (12-9-11, 47 points) hosts Minnesota United FC the following evening.
Both teams then spend Decision Day on the road.
Ninth in the Western Conference, the Galaxy visit a Real Salt Lake side that trails them by two points in the race for the final playoff spot. RSL can move ahead with a win Wednesday, while the Portland Timbers, four points behind the Galaxy, can pull within one with a victory.
LAFC faces the Seattle Sounders at Lumen Field. The Sounders trail LAFC by four points.
Sixth-place LAFC remains one point behind Houston and San Jose in the race for home-field advantage in the playoffs’ best-of-three first-round series.
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