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LA Galaxy Earn 3-0 Shutout Road Win over Houston Dynamo FC at PNC Stadium on Wednesday Night

October 21, 2021 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
LA Galaxy News Release


LOS ANGELES - Playing the second of three games in the span of eight days, the LA Galaxy earned their second consecutive win with a 3-0 shutout victory on the road over Houston Dynamo FC at PNC Stadium on Wednesday night. Sacha Kljestan registered the game-winning goal and Kévin Cabral notched his fifth goal of the season, while Jonathan Bond registered seven saves in the shutout.

Greg Vanney Earns 100th MLS Regular-Season Win

With the Galaxy's win over Houston, LA Galaxy Head Coach Greg Vanney became the 12th manager in MLS history to win 100 regular-season matches. Dating back to the beginning of the 2015 MLS regular season, Vanney ranks first amongst all MLS head coaches in wins (98). Sporting KC's Peter Vermes ranks second (94), while Philadelphia's Jim Curtain ranks third (89). Orlando's Oscar Pareja (85) ranks fourth, while Seattle's Brian Schmetzer (84) rounds out the top five.

Goal-Scoring Plays

LA - Sacha Kljestan (Penalty Kick), 38th minute: After Cabral was fouled inside the penalty area, Kljestan stepped up to the spot and buried his shot into the bottom right corner of the net.

LA - Own Goal (Zarek Valentin), 45+1st minute: Attacking down the right flank, Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez played a ball in behind the Houston defense that found Efrain Álvarez, whose centering pass was redirected into the goal by Houston defender Zarek Valentin.

LA - Kévin Cabral (Chicharito), 47th minute: Chicharito slipped a pass behind the Houston backline that released Cabral into space. Cutting in on his right foot, Cabral dribbled past one defender before rolling his shot toward the left corner of the goal.

Postgame Notes

The LA Galaxy improved to 13-11-6 (45 pts) this season, jumping up to fifth place in the Western Conference standings.

With the Galaxy's win over Houston, LA Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney became the 12th manager in MLS history to win 100 regular-season matches.

Dating back to the beginning of the 2015 MLS regular season, Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney ranks first amongst all MLS head coaches in wins (98). Sporting KC's Peter Vermes ranks second (94), while Philadelphia's Jim Curtain ranks third (89). Orlando's Oscar Pareja (85) ranks fourth, while Seattle's Brian Schmetzer (84) rounds out the top five.

Wednesday's match marked the 34th MLS Regular Season meeting between LA and Houston Dynamo FC, with the series tied 12-12-10.

In 18 matches on the road at Houston, the Galaxy hold a 6-8-4 record.

Prior to the 3-0 win over Houston, the last time the Galaxy won on the road against the Dynamo was a 1-0 win at PNC Stadium on Oct. 16, 2016.

In 15 games played on the road during the 2021 campaign, the Galaxy hold a 5-7-3 record.

In two appearances against Houston in 2021, Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez has tallied one goal and one assist.

Hernandez notched his third assist of the season in the win against Houston.

Jonathan dos Santos appeared in his 99th regular-season appearance for LA.

Kévin Cabral tallied his fifth goal of the season in the win over Houston.

The Galaxy registered their fifth shutout of the season as a team in the victory over Dynamo FC.

Jonathan Bond registered seven saves and his fourth shutout of the season in the win against Houston.

The goal against Houston marked Sacha Kljestan's fourth penalty-kick goal of the year and his fifth goal overall this season.

Kljestan has tallied three game-winning goals during the 2021 campaign.

Samuel Grandsir is the only player to appear in every match this season (30) for the Galaxy.

Julian Araujo will miss Saturday's match against FC Dallas due to yellow-card accumulation.

Next Game

Next up, the Galaxy play host to FC Dallas at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday, Oct. 23. The Oct. 23 match kicks off at 7:00 p.m. PT and features a national television broadcast on UniMás and TUDN and will be streamed on Twitter.

LA Galaxy (13-11-6, 45pts) at Houston Dynamo FC (6-12-13, 30pts)

Oct. 20, 2021 - PNC Stadium (Houston)

Goals by Half 1 2 F

LA Galaxy 2 1 3

Houston Dynamo FC 0 0 0

Scoring Summary:

LA: Klejstan (penalty kick), 39

LA: Own Goal (Valentin), 45+1

LA: Cabral (Chicharito), 47

Misconduct Summary:

LA: Hernandez (caution), 9

LA: Araujo (caution), 11

HOU: Figueroa (caution), 37

LA: DePuy (caution), 84

Lineups:

LA: GK Jonathan Bond; D Julian Araujo (Oniel Fisher, 45), D Nick DePuy, D Derrick Williams (Sega Coulibaly, 68), D Niko Hämäläinen; M Efrain Álvarez, M Jonathan dos Santos © (Adam Saldaña, 71), M Sacha Kljestan, M Sebastian Lletget; F Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez (Dejan Joveljić, 60), F Kévin Cabral (Samuel Grandsir, 60)

Substitutes Not Used: GK Jonathan Klinsmann; M Rayan Raveloson, M Víctor Vázquez; F Ethan Zubak

TOTAL SHOTS: 10 (Efrain Álvarez, 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (Kévin Cabral, 2); FOULS: 11 (Three players tied, 2); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 3; SAVES: 7

HOU: GK Michael Nelson; D Zarek Valentin (Adam Lundkvist, 45), D Maynor Figueroa (Tyler Pasher, 45), D Tim Parker ©; M Darwin Ceren, M Griffin Dorsey, M Sam Junqua, M Adalberto Carrasquilla (Joe Corona, 62); F Fafa Picault, F Maximiliiano Urruti (Memo Rodriguez, 62)

Substitutes Not Used: GK Marko Maric; D Alejandro Fuenmayor, M Boniek Garcia, M Ian Hoffman; F Ariel Lassiter

TOTAL SHOTS: 22 (Darwin Quintero, 7); SHOTS ON GOAL: 7 (Three players tied, 2); FOULS: 11 (Adalberto Carrasquilla, 4); OFFSIDES: 4; CORNER KICKS: 7; SAVES: 3

Referee: Rosendo Mendoza

Assistant Referees: Nick Uranga, Jeremy Kieso

Fourth Official: Ismail Elfath

VAR: Daniel Radford

Weather: Partly cloudy, 81 degrees

Attendance: 13,798

All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial

LA GALAXY POSTGAME QUOTES

LA GALAXY HEAD COACH GREG VANNEY

On the win and shutout and what he takes away from tonight's win:

"Three points. That's what we take. We had we had quite a few chances, I thought, in the first half, still we're struggling a little bit early on to get the lead. But once we got it, then we were able to sustain it, get the second one, get the third one, which was important. This isn't an easy place to play with the humidity. The field is a little bit heavy. The guys were a little bit heavy legged. But we were trying to protect some guys through the course of the game that had little injuries. Get some guys off that had some injuries and some issues. So, there was an opportunity because the game wasn't a tight one until the stretch where maybe we were able to arrest a few guys going into the weekend and still preserve a three zero win. So that's important. Those are key things. So now get on the plane, get home, rest and get our preparation for Dallas and try to do it again."

On building belief within this club and if he feels it more in the locker room after this performance:

"Yeah, I think it's there. I mean, I think even through some of the stretch where we were struggling, it was still there. We just needed to you know, reward ourselves, put the ball in the back of the net, keep a clean sheet, things like that. That helps you. But the guys have believed, and the guys are working hard and have been. And now we're rewarding ourselves in these last two games by putting the ball in the net enough to win the game. And we've defended better. You know, again, I think, a little bit in the second half, just between tired legs and we're jogging a little more than sprinting. At times, we were a little bit vulnerable, but we managed to deal with situations, and we kept the ball out of our net. And so winning is always good. There's always a good emotion that comes out of that. And now we've got to transition that emotion to be at home and to play well and try to do it again."

On Nick DePuy's performance over the last two matches:

"I thought he was he was huge. I mean, he was in the right position almost every single time. He was dealing with crosses, dealing with clearances all over the place, covering things. I mean, I think he's been outstanding. His reading out of the game is getting better and better. And he's a great athlete. His ability to cover things when things break down, his ability to get to spots and deal with things has been have been excellent. I also thought he took a couple of fouls in the right areas of the field just to stop attacks and get everybody behind. So, these little, little details in his game are getting sharper and sharper. And so, yeah, it's a good time for him and a good time for us that he's finding his game. And now we just keep it consistent. And if we keep it consistent, then he's very much headed in the right direction."

On winning his hundred regular season win tonight as a coach and what it means achieve this with the LA Galaxy:

"Yeah, I have a lot of a lot of pride and with just all the players that I've coached over the stretch and all the work that that they've put in as a coach, you don't get here without guys who are willing to work and believe in what you do. And the coaching staff that I've worked with through this entire stretch between Dan Calichman and Jason Bent and Nick Theslof. And, you know, the coaches of Robin Frazier and [Jon] Conway and [Kevin] Hartman and all the guys that have been around, not to mention the support staff there, they're the people who keep things together and keep it moving forward. And I appreciate their support in this process. And again, the players work and belief in what we're trying to do and going out there and executing, you know, 100 times in the regular season has been special. And it's as you said, it's nice. And it's a special thing to be able to do it back in LA and in a club that kind of gave me my start, obviously. And to be here doing that is wonderful. If there was the one that clinched the Playoffs and got us into kind of that next phase of things, I would be happier. But we're still we're still grinding away at that. And we're going to we're going to keep building hopefully 101 or 102 will be the one that that seals the deal for us in the Playoffs."

LA GALAXY FORWARD JAVIER "CHICHARITO" HERNANDEZ

On back-to-back wins and what those performances say about this team:

"I mean, I don't know, I don't want to say and sound completely excited. Two weeks ago, before the break, we couldn't even get a win in nine games, you know, and now we got two. So we need to be very calm. We weren't the worst once, even though we know that LA Galaxy always makes that noise. When you don't win, you are the worst and when you are winning it's like your obligation, because that's what all the all the people in MLS are used to, to see LA Galaxy on top of the league and winning and stuff like that. So, we need to be very calm in that matter. We won two games right now, these three points are very important on the road, obviously against a very complicated team in a very nice stadium with difficult weather that is very hot, even though it's fall. But yeah, I mean, it's good to get a clean sheet, to get the three points, to score three goals, to have a lot of chances. So, yeah, we need to take it like it's a very good step for us. But it doesn't say nothing. No, we need to keep fighting to make it to Playoffs."

On Kevin Cabral's play tonight:

"Hopefully he can get confidence because he's been having a lot of chances. And then with today hopefully he can get that confidence back in a way, and he can be more ruthless, because that's going to help us. I mean, every teammate that can help us score a lot of goals, not only myself, is going to be very good for us. And I mean apart from the goal, he had a very good performance and so did the whole team."

On whether he feels like everything is starting to come together for him or if he's feeling like he's inches away from scoring his chances:

"I mean, I could have had three assists today you know. I think people sometimes don't want to give credit to a player like me. I had one assist; I did another one that getting Kevin [Cabral] was close to scoring. In the play of Efrain [Alvarez] and the own goal, I gave him an assist too. Like I have always said it, I just like to play soccer, I just like to play football. Sometimes I'm going to just run like a crazy guy, like in the LAFC match that I didn't score but we took one point, sometimes I'm going to score goals, like against Portland. Sometimes I am going to give assists. I mean, I just love to play soccer and to help my team. And then in any way possible I can help, I'm going to be as happy as they are, you know. And then we gave Greg he's 100 victory, you know. So that's a very important thing for all of us. I think it was a very complete night. But like I said, we need to be very calm. We need to turn the page as quick as possible tomorrow because we are going to play against a tough team like FC Dallas, a team that is improving in each game."

On how he thinks the team will recover ahead of Saturday's match against FC Dallas:

"I mean, that's going to be a something that we need to focus on, obviously, recovery. And then as well, the players that haven't had so many minutes, that they can get their fitness going on as well. So I think today Sega [Coulibaly] came in, Samuel [Grandsir]. You can see that now, Efrain [Alvarez] a Sebastian [Lletget] started. Sacha [Kljestan] played 90 minutes. [Oniel] Fisher as well. We have a pretty complete squad right now. And apart from Jorge [Villafaña] who's injured and recovering, I think we got a pretty good squad. And everyone is getting their momentum. They're getting the opportunities as well that Greg is giving to all of us. So I think we're getting that momentum that we need, of course we want to get to the Playoffs first, but then, you know, have good momentum. So, any team we're going to play against, we're going to be ready and we're going to give a very strong battle."

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