LA Galaxy Draw 3-3 in Thriller vs. St. Louis CITY SC at Energizer Park

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MLS LA Galaxy

LA Galaxy Draw 3-3 in Thriller vs. St. Louis CITY SC at Energizer Park

June 14, 2025 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
LA Galaxy News Release


ST. LOUIS, MO - Coming off their first MLS victory, the LA Galaxy tied 3-3 in a high-scoring thriller against St. Louis CITY SC on Saturday. Gabriel Pec scored two goals, his first match of the 2025 season with a brace while Matheus Nascimento scored his first MLS goal. Marco Reus recorded two assists on the day, bringing him to three goals and four assists this season.

LA Galaxy Against St. Louis CITY SC

Saturday's match against St. Louis follows a 2-0 shutout win over Real Salt Lake at Dignity Health Sports Park on May 31. Today's match marked the sixth all-time MLS Regular Season meeting between LA and St. Louis CITY SC, with the Galaxy trailing the series 0-2-4 (10 GF, 14 GA). In the first meeting between the two teams during the 2025 campaign, the LA Galaxy fell 3-0 to St. Louis at Dignity Health Sports Park on March 9. In the first-ever meeting between LA and St. Louis, the Galaxy earned a 1-1 draw at Energizer Park on June 11, 2023.

Goal-Scoring Plays

STL - João Klauss (Marcel Hartel), 35th minute: Klauss took a left footed shot from the center of the box to the center of the goal.

LA - Gabriel Pec (Marco Reus), 41st minute: Reus drove towards goal on the right side before playing it back across to the penalty spot where Gabriel Pec finished the ball into the left side of the net.

STL - João Klauss (Célio Pompeu), 47th minute: With a pass over the top, Klauss had a fast break and buried it near post.

LA - Matheus Nascimento (Marco Reus), 51st minute: John Nelson passed to Reus at the top of the box, Reus flicked it through to Nascimento, who scored his first MLS goal from the center of the box with his left foot to the bottom left corner.

LA - Gabriel Pec, 87th minute: St. Louis defender slipped and left the ball for Pec, who had a 1v1 opportunity with the goalkeeper and scored a left footed shot from the center of the box to the center of the goal.

STL - João Klauss (Timo Baumgartl), 90+4th minute: Klauss took a right-footed shot from a difficult angle on the right to the top left corner.

Postgame Notes

Today's match marked the sixth all-time MLS Regular Season meeting between LA and St. Louis CITY SC, with the Galaxy trailing the series 0-2-4 (10 GF, 14 GA).

LA held 52.4% possession with 15 shots and 6 shots on goal, besting CITY SC in each of the three categories.

In two meetings between the two teams during the 2025 campaign, St. Louis took the season series against the Galaxy, 1-0-1.

In 356 career MLS Regular Season matches managed, Greg Vanney holds a 141-126-89 record.

Matheus Nascimento tallied his first career MLS goal for the LA Galaxy in his third consecutive start in the draw against CITY SC, following his first career assist in LA's victory over RSL.

Novak Mićović earned two saves in his fourth consecutive start in goal on Saturday.

Edwin Cerrillo was suspended for the match against St. Louis CITY SC on June 14 due to yellow-card accumulation.

Next Game

Following the international break, the LA Galaxy return to league action by traveling to face the Colorado Rapids at Dignity Health Sports Park on Wednesday, June 25 (5:30 p.m. PT; MLS Season Pass).

2025 MLS Regular Season

LA Galaxy (1-12-5; 8 pts) vs. St. Louis CITY SC (3-9-6; 15 pts)

Saturday - Energizer Park (St. Louis)

Goals by Half12F

LA Galaxy1 23

St. Louis CITY SC 1 2 3

Scoring Summary:

STL: Klauss (Hartel), 35

LA: Pec (Reus), 41

STL: Klauss (Pompeu), 47

LA: Nascimento (Reus), 51

LA: Pec, 87

STL: Klauss (Baumgartl), 90+4

Misconduct Summary:

LA: Sanabria (caution), 59

LA: Lepley (caution), 90+4

Lineups:

LA: GK Novak Mićović; D Miki Yamane, D Zanka, D Maya Yoshida (C), D John Nelson; M Isaiah Parente, M Lucas Sanabria (Emiro Garces, 77), M Marco Reus (Tucker Lepley, 67), F Gabriel Pec (Mauricio Cuevas, 90+1), F Joseph Paintsil, F Matheus Nascimento (Christian Ramirez, 77)

Substitutes Not Used: GK John McCarthy; D Julián Aude, D Eriq Zavaleta, M Elijah Wynder, F Ruben Ramos Jr.

TOTAL SHOTS: 15 (Gabriel Pec, 8); SHOTS ON GOAL: 6 (Gabriel Pec, 3); FOULS: 10 (Three players tied, 2); OFFSIDES: 2; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 2

STL: GK Roman Burki (C); D Tomas Totland (Joseph Zalinsky, 61), D Kyle Hiebert (Xande Silva, 90+1), D Timo Baumgartl, D Jayden Reid, M Simon Becher (Cedric Teuchert, 61), M Celio Pompeu, M Marcel Hartel, M Akil Watts, M Alfredo Morales (Conrad Wallem, HT) (Jake Girdwood-Reich, 66) F João Klauss

Substitutes Not Used: GK Benjamin Lundt, D Jannes Horn, D Joshua Yaro, M Tomas Ostrak

TOTAL SHOTS: 11 (João Klauss, 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (João Klauss, 3); FOULS: 6 (Joseph Zalinsky, 2); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 4; SAVES: 3

Referee: Marcos de Oliveira

Assistant Referees: Jason White, Kevin Lock

Fourth Official: Trevor Wiseman

VAR: Kevin Stott

Weather: Mostly sunny, 80 degrees

Attendance: 22,423

All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial

LA GALAXY POSTGAME QUOTES

LA GALAXY HEAD COACH GREG VANNEY

On how he feels about being close to a win but still walking away with a point.

"I thought it was an interesting start to the game because I feel like there were probably, really, two goals, two pretty clear goals in it for us at the start and then Novak also has to make two saves I think in the first 15 or so minutes. It was an interesting start just a little more open than I kind of suspected it would be at the beginning. I know they like to come out and press.

But given it was a warm day, it was just interesting how it opened up. I thought after that, I feel like, I don't know, the game had just like a weird tempo to it because the day was warm. It was humid, and I feel like any time we got into something that looked like a reasonable structure and where guys were working off of each other I felt like we could move the ball wherever we wanted to whenever we wanted to. I feel like sometimes we get inpatient about our positioning and we try to go moving into places where we think we can get the ball, and I think sometimes we might be better off holding our positions and let the play develop and eventually the ball will get to us but having said that we still got to a lot of good spots. We, having said that, we got ourselves in front of the goal. We probably could have had four or five. Maybe six. But I still go back, the way we concede goals is too easy. At the end of the game, put all things aside, we got some transitions as you said, we had three goals. at the end of the game there's about five or six minutes to go, there's a free kick which we have 30 seconds plus to defend the organizing of that free kick for them to be able to hit just a direct ball and it end up behind us in the back of the net, two touches, it doesn't make sense to me. It doesn't register. We have a lot of experience in that back line to get ourselves organized in 30 seconds to make sure that -- we might lose the first one because they have Klauss or whoever, these guys are decent size, it wasn't Klauss who won it but some big guys; you may lose the first one. But we can't lose track of our marks and we can't let them win the second one and we have to deal with whatever comes off that first header. But, yeah, we manage to lose the first one and we lose the second one, and Klauss bangs two of them home from kind of an odd angle where he makes no mistake about how he hits it, and he finds a good spot. Ultimately the shot -- neither of the shots are on Novak. It's how we deal with things in front of Novak to not allow him to get to those positions. At the moment where we are in a position to take three points on the road, we have to see that game out and we have to manage that situation way better than that."

On Gabe's game and why he pulled Marco in the 66th minute:

"First with Gabe, I thought, again, as the game opened up and I thought on our right side when we were able to organize some collective movement on that side, I felt like we could get to some really dangerous positions. When Gabe was able to get on the run and not just look for the ball at his feet I felt like he could create some dangerous moments. Those are how he got his goals. Marco, just he hasn't played a ton in the last little bit. It was really hot out there. A little bit, too, miscommunication between him and us. I thought he was signaling that he was running low on gas and he had about six minutes left in him or so at about 60 minutes, roughly 55, 60 minutes. So that was, I felt like that was the indication that he was hitting about his limit. The guys were also a little bit concerned post 60 minutes on the day that it was today and after travelling and him not really training a whole lot in the last two weeks and didn't play a game. A little bit we were trying to be mindful of him. I thought he was having a very good game. He was finding the right spots. He was distributing when we could find him, especially facing forward, he was able to release us into some good attacks. It became a little bit trying to protect him a little bit on a day that was not easy to be out there. Having said that, we still got the goal to go up 3-2, right and we still should have seen the game out. So that's the frustrating part of the day."

On Nascimento's game and how he's helped in the attack:

"Again, I think he's settling into the team and the League, and getting a sense of, you know, his movements. What I have liked about him is he's been pretty reliable in the link up play. He's been able to play into his feet and he'll get it to guys. He's done a good job of winning duels in the air at times and keeping some plays alive, and using some of his athleticism and mobility in certain situations that has helped us. And I do think in some of those moments when we are able to break and create a time edge and get into an attacking moment, whether there's in transition or the speed of the game picks up, Nasci, he shows the physical ability to get to spots, to get to dangerous goal scoring spots, to beat the center back there and to get into positions that sometimes we weren't getting into before. I think helps us to be a little more dangerous in the transition, just, again, his ability to lay off and then still accelerate and beat guys, beat center backs to dangerous positions. He should have had one in the first half as we score one across, right. We just miss him but he out runs the midfielder -- or sorry, the center back to get to the front of the goal and Joe just misses him on the square ball. So he probably could have had a couple more. But I like his mobility up there, and I think he's doing a good job of inserting duels in situations where he's able to keep things -- hold things up or keep things alive for us and connect. Defensively, he's learning some of the things to connect with the group on the defensive plays but it gives us a little more speed and a little bit more athleticism, a little bit more kind of mix of things that I think has been useful for us in the last few games."

On Joseph's recent performances:

"I was hoping at home, he got that goal in the last game and I was hoping that maybe that would ignite a little bit of confidence in him as he's getting into those situations. Because he is finding himself in some good situations by virtue of his qualities and his speed and some of those direct moments. But I feel like sometimes he's still over thinking those moments a little bit, and maybe they are trying to be too precise or -- but just I feel like the play is running through his head too much and it's not just in the flow and in the rhythm and at speed. I feel like he's -- again, he's maybe in his head a little bit on some of these. I feel like when he's trying to come inside and hit shots, I feel like he's trying to set himself up for the perfect thing and really trying to organize the shot and it gets blocked. And then when he gets into that open space, I think, again, he's thinking too much and he needs to trust his instincts and his ability to do the right things."

On if it showed great fight from the team, of if they let it slip in the end:

"I think it shows a little bit of both if I'm being fair, like, to the group. You go down one, you go down 2-1 coming out at halftime, again, and just show the resiliency to fight back and get back on top of the game I think shows some good qualities in terms of the mentality of our group sticking with it, seeing that this was something in this game to take away from it and fighting back. I think, ultimately, because it's the last thing that happens in the game, it feels like you lose two points because it's the last emotion that you have in it, and you are set to take it away, and the way we give it away, just it's too easy. It's a direct ball from a straight position into us. It's something that we have to take -- we have to take care of. So I think we ultimately leave frustrated, even though you take the context of the whole game, we stayed resilient on the road in a tough place to play, tough 3:30 game where it's hot and humid. There's a lot of things there that are challenging, and we still put ourselves in position to win but given what we're trying to do in terms of learning to put results and points on the board and being better in that regard, it definitely feels like two lost at the end. The guys are definitely frustrated from that side of things.

On Fagundez injury:

"it's the right foot. It's like a second metatarsal area. At the end of the San Jose game, I think it was like the 93rd minute, he went to strike a ball and he actually hit the bottom of one of their players' studs, the bottom of their foot. Was operating more like a contusion because nothing was actually presenting for medical like a fracture. He was able to run. He obviously played the next game. It just was -- he was -- as he was striking balls and doing things, it just was continuing to irritate it. So you know, upon X-ray, they realized that there's two very small fractures in the metatarsal. It's not something that should take a long time, ultimately to get him back. So the reason we shut him down here, he wanted to play through tonight but we shut him down and want to benefit of this next break we have of two weeks. He's booted up and we're all pretty positive that he'll make his way back even for start of the startup of the season again.

It's something but it's not super significant. But it took him out of today."

LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER MARCO REUS

On the positives to take from todays game:

"Honestly, so fast after the game, very disappointed about the result because at the end, we had the lead. It was just, I don't know, five minutes left on the clock and I was on the bench and I had the feel in this situation I was not aware of the situation, it could be dangerous because they put eight in the front and two in the back and we just stayed with five. So then we missed a header and sometimes in football, if you miss one header, and then maybe the other guys have to have a chance and score, and they score. For me, very disappointed about the result, and also disappointed about how we concede goals. We had the chance to create much much much more chances, opportunities, creating chances but we was a little bit slow in the build up sometimes because when there are -- two pivots from them was pushing up and most of the time, the guy was free and it was hard to find him."

On the hot day and what he's found in the combinations with Nasci and Pec being able to open up the offense:

"I feel good. I was out for ten days, 11 days, back to full training week this week. So was not a problem. Of course, here, it's a little bit different than in L.A. or other places but I feel good. For everybody else, the same. Yeah, the combination between us four in front, especially, it could be better. Honestly, for me, it's the second time that we played with Nas in front and with Joe and Pec. Yeah, we can be more dangerous in different situations, especially when we have to defend and then we win the ball and we prior to contact -- it has to be more efficient for news the front. We have to create more chances. We had a few in the beginning in the first half and then I had the feeling, okay, the game is with us, and then for some reason, we concede from nowhere, goals. It breaks us a little bit in this moment but again, we come back but yeah, the goal has to be to, yeah, be dominant, especially in these games, especially away. I would not say that we are far away from this, but it miss maybe a couple more understanding of the situation out there. Now we have a little bit of a break, just try to clear our heads from the first 16 games, and then we're going -- coming back to the second part of the season. That means, for us, if we want to try to come back into a playoff situation, we have to win almost every game. But I've played so long in my career, I know nothing is impossible, so we go for it."

On Pec getting into rhythm this season:

"Me and Pec, we have a special relationship, I would say, because he has much, much talent but sometimes he has to understand that just sprinting and going forward and doing different things is not every time the perfect time to do it. So I know he's young and he can learn really, really much, especially this season, when it's not going that well for him the first part of the season. Now, this week, it was a little bit like -- he was scoring goals and pushing himself hard in the training. This is, at the end, like you train the whole week to prepare for the game and this is the result at the end. This means you have to be aware in training and just be there and try to be better every day. Yeah, I hope he can continue with the goals and also try to work out for the team."

On how teams have been able to solve lack of execution and other problems:

"You said it already, eliminate the list makes, that's the only thing. I know no match in my life will be perfect, so you have always mistakes in your game. It's a part of it. Of course, when these mistakes, it's not going in our way, we concede goals, it makes us -- for the team, I don't know how many mistakes we did in the last weeks or the beginning of the season. It cost us I don't know how many points and to come back every time, it shows the right mentality of the team is still there. But of course it is frustrating when you are going here to St. Louis and you play 95 degrees and it's hot. In the end, yeah, it was our mistake and a little bit unlucky in some situations. Like we all said in the last weeks, we stay together and we have to speak, also, about the bad situations in the game and also about the good situations. It's not like the last 16 or 17 games that we lost them because we are not good enough. It's about we are doing too many mistakes, and if you stop it, you can go on a winning streak."

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