CARSON — The Galaxy were 10 minutes away from picking up three much-needed points Saturday against one of the hottest teams in the MLS. That was until Mathías Laborda scored an 80th-minute goal for Vancouver to come away with a 1-1 tie against the Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park.
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Joseph Paintsil scored the Galaxy’s lone goal in the 46th minute. It was his second goal of the season.
“It’s a game we should see out,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “I thought we had a real opportunity to grab three points and unfortunately, we didn’t.”
Although Los Angeles came away with a point, Justin Haak said that the Galaxy’s locker room wasn’t happy with the final result.
“Everybody in the locker room feels like we lost today because of how we were winning,” Haak said. “I think that shows the mindset we all have. I don’t think there’s any game where we step on the field and think the other team is better than us. We have a talented locker room and we can play against anybody.”
In a match that was billed as a reunion between Germany national team icons, Los Angeles’ Marco Reus and Vancouver’s Thomas Müller, it never fully materialized.
Müller was a late scratch with an illness, while Reus was subbed off at halftime after sustaining a foot injury early in the first half, according to Vanney.
The Whitecaps were riding a four-match winning streak coming into Saturday. Their confidence showed early as they had double the amount of shot attempts as the Galaxy in the first half.
Emmanuel Sabbi almost got Vancouver on the board in the 18th minute when he took one touch and fired a shot from a few yards away, but JT Marcinkowski made a stellar save to keep the match scoreless.
Searching for their first shot on goal, Paintsil nearly delivered for Los Angeles in the 23rd minute, but his left-footed shot attempt slowly rolled right into the hands of Yohei Takaoka.
The Galaxy’s defense was tested in the waning moments of the first half with Vancouver taking three shot attempts in the final five minutes.
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Less than a minute into the second half, a poor clearance from Takaoka led to Lucas Sanabria finding Paintsil, who was all alone in the final third. Paintsil took one touch and fired away from inside the box to give the Galaxy a one-goal lead 47 seconds into the second half.
“My positioning with Lucas’ pass and the goal was something amazing. Big thanks to Lucas for the assist,” Paintsil said.
The second half saw a much better effort from the Galaxy’s backline. Playing with momentum and swagger thanks to Paintsil’s goal, Los Angeles gave a much more inspired second-half effort.
“I thought that also came from the energy of the tea and the intensity,” Haak said about the Galaxy’s second-half defensive effort. “That put us on the right foot starting off the second half like that.”
Things got a bit chippy late when the Galaxy picked up two yellow cards in the 65th and 67th minutes.
Marcinkowski took a hard blow from Brian White in the 71st minute when they both went up for a cross inside the box. The Galaxy’s goalkeeper was a bit shaken up, but quickly shook it off.
Desperate for an equalizer, Vancouver kicked their offense into overdrive. After multiple runs down the left touchline, the Whitecaps finally pieced together the perfect run when Laborda headed in a free kick in the 80th minute.
Los Angeles nearly had a game-winner in the 85th minute when Paintsil tracked down the ball inside the box and found Elijah Wynder, who missed wide right on his shot attempt.
The Galaxy will kick off their three-game road stand Saturday against Atlanta United, with trips to Seattle and Sporting Kansas City on the horizon, before returning back to the Dignity Health Sports Park on May 23.
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