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MLS LA Galaxy

LA Galaxy Fall 2-1 to LAFC at Rose Bowl Stadium on Thursday Night

July 5, 2024 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
LA Galaxy News Release


PASADENA, Calif. - In the second meeting between the two teams this season, the LA Galaxy sustained their first loss at home this season, falling 2-1 to LAFC in the 23rd all-time edition of El Tráfico before 70,076 fans at the Rose Bowl Stadium on the Fourth of July.

Rose Bowl Stadium

The 70,076 fans at Rose Bowl Stadium is the 14th highest standalone regular-season attendance in MLS history. Additionally, the LA Galaxy join Atlanta United FC as the only clubs in league history with multiple 70,000 plus attended matches in regular season play.

Goal-Scoring Plays

LFC - Kei Kamara (Mateusz Bogusz), 39th minute: Mateusz Bogusz's in-swinging corner-kick delivery was headed in from close range by Kei Kamara.

LFC - Denis Bouanga (Penalty Kick), 44th minute: Denis Bouanga's penalty-kick was fired into the bottom right corner of the goal.

LFC - Gabriel Pec (Miki Yamane), 56th minute: After Miki Yamane received the ball on the edge of the penalty area, the Japanese international fended off an LAFC defender and laid the ball off to Gabiel Pec, who drilled his shot into the back of the net.

Postgame Notes

The 70,076 fans at Rose Bowl Stadium is the 14th highest standalone regular-season attendance in MLS history.

Additionally, the LA Galaxy join Atlanta United FC as the only clubs in league history with multiple 70,000 plus attended matches in regular-season play.

Through 22 matches played during the 2024 MLS Regular Season, the LA Galaxy hold a 11-4-7 record (42 GF, 29 GA; 40 points) and sit in third place in the Western Conference standings behind only LAFC (13-4-4; 43 GF, 24 GA, 43 points) and Real Salt Lake (11-3-7, 43 GF, 25 GA; 40 points).

The Fourth of July match between the LA Galaxy and LAFC marked the 23rd edition across all competitions of El Tráfico, with the all-time series 9-9-5 (48 GF, 49 GA). Against LAFC, the LA Galaxy hold a 7-7-5 (38 GF, 40 GA) record in league play, a 0-2-0 (5 GF, 8 GA) record in the MLS Cup Playoffs and a 2-0-0 (5 GF, 1 GA) record in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

In 12 games played dating back to May 5, the LA Galaxy hold a record of 6-2-4 (21 GF, 12 GA), with Gabriel Pec notching five goals and seven assists during that span.

In 10 matches played at home during the 2024 campaign, the LA Galaxy hold a 6-1-3 (23 GF, 14 GA).

Gabriel Pec has nine goal contributions (3 goals, 6 assists) in seven matches played dating back to May 25.

In his first start since June 1, Riqui Puig completed 106 of 121 (87.6%), won six of 11 duels and won two fouls in the match against LAFC.

Mark Delgado completed 110 of 126 passes (94.5%), won seven of 13 duels and six possessions in 90 minutes of action.

Miki Yamane tallied an assist, his fifth of the 2024 campaign, for a second consecutive match against LAFC.

Next Game

Next up, the LA Galaxy play host to Minnesota United FC at Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday, July 7 (7:30 p.m. PT, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV).

2024 MLS Regular Season

LA Galaxy (11-4-7, 40pts) vs. LAFC (13-4-4, 43pts)

Thursday, July 4, 2024 - Rose Bowl Stadium (Pasadena, Calif.)

Goals by Half 1 2 F

LA Galaxy 0 1 1

LAFC 2 0 2

Scoring Summary:

LFC: Kamara (Bogusz), 39

LFC: Bouanga (penalty kick), 44

LA: Pec (Yamane), 56

Misconduct Summary:

LA: Cerrillo (caution), 22

LFC: Tillman (caution), 63

LA: Puig (caution), 90+1

Lineups:

LA: GK John McCarthy; D Miki Yamane (Mauricio Cuevas, 78), D Jalen Neal, D Maya Yoshida ©, D Julián Aude (John Nelson, 63); M Edwin Cerrillo (Diego Fagundez, 78), M Mark Delgado, M Gabriel Pec, M Riqui Puig, M Joseph Paintsil, F Dejan Joveljić (Miguel Berry, 78)

Substitutes Not Used: GK Novak Mićović; D Martin Cáceres, D Emiro Garces, D Eriq Zavaleta; M Tucker Lepley

TOTAL SHOTS: 10 (Riqui Puig, 6); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Riqui Puig, 3); FOULS: 7 (Julián Aude, 3); OFFSIDES: 2; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 5

LFC: GK Hugo Lloris, D Jesus Murillo, D Sergi Palencia, D Ryan Hollingshead, D Aaron Long (Maxime Chanot, 69); M Ilie Sanchez, M Timothy Tillman, M Mateusz Bogusz (Eddie Segura, 86), M Eduard Atuesta, F Kei Kamara, F Denis Bouanga

Substitutes Not Used: GK Abraham Romero; D Omar Campos; M Erik Duenas, M Tommy Musto; F Tomas Angel, F Nathan Ordaz, F David Martinez

TOTAL SHOTS: 22 (Denis Bouanga, 8); SHOTS ON GOAL: 7 (Mateusz Bogusz, 3); FOULS: 14 (Sergi Palencia, 4); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 11; SAVES: 3

Referee: Drew Fischer

Assistant Referees: Micheal Barwegen, Cory Richardson

Fourth Official: Tim Ford

VAR: Fotis Bazakos

Weather: Clear, 84 degrees

Attendance: 70,079

All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial

LA GALAXY POSTGAME QUOTES

LA GALAXY HEAD COACH GREG VANNEY

On the slow start to begin the match:

"We were purposeless in the first half. It's like we were going to win the game putting together ten thousand passes and going nowhere and that is what we said at half time. We were down 2-0 because we deserved to be down 2-0. We had three shots in the first half, all of them from 25 yards away. I don't know how many touches we had inside of their box, not many, we had 6 or 7 guys in the build and 3-4 guys in the attack I mean that is never going to hurt them they are a good enough team to manage that. It was just so passive, it wasn't going anywhere, you're not going to win, especially against good teams doing that. Possession and our set up to possess is to break lines and to build speed and to attack the opposition with numbers and in the second half we did more. We got more numbers higher when we broke lines, we changed the speed of the game, people were sprinting ahead of the ball, we forced them to have to defend moving backwards instead of being very comfortable and just winning balls between the lines and playing us in the counter which was the first half. In the second half we put them on their heels and when we put them on their heels most teams that defend on their heels aren't as good in transition. Most teams that defend on their heels will make a mistake at some point and if we do the aggressive proactive work in running from the right spots in the right positions in the right time we are also going to create goal scoring chances and for me it was a proactive team with a purpose in the second half and a team that I don't know in the first half with the ball what we were trying to achieve. In the first half also just defensively, we didn't execute upon our responsibilities, so they were able to play wherever they wanted to play. The second half we did a better job of collectively working together to try and make things predictable as possible to try and recover balls and we were more efficient, and they had less strings of longer possession that they had in the first half. When you do that that can also help you to spring a little bit of a counterattack the other way or at least catch the opposition a little bit. I just thought that it was a better collective half in the second with more purpose. In the first half it lacked both collective and purposeful play on both sides of the ball."

On losing the first two matches played against LAFC this season:

"I'm not concerned. They are a good team and you can't have first halves like we had today, you can't because they are team that can capitalize. They can capitalize on set pieces so if we are not going to fulfill our defensive responsibilities, if we are going to lose balls between lines then they are going to have more set pieces. They had more in the first half than they had in the second half I imagine. They still had one really good chance in the second half of which we have to clean up but against a team like them we have to reduce the number of transitions, we have to reduce the number of balls lost between their lines and just purposeless possession or losses of possession unnecessarily. We've got to hurt them and we've got to be able to do that for 90 minutes, we can't do that for 45 minutes when we are down 2-0. The first game for me was a little bit of just and early trial, an early test for us, we were a mish mash a little bit, Edwin [Cerillo] was in the back line, we had two guys that were fresh to the club. This is one that is a little bit of where you at kind of scenario and in the first half we weren't there and in the second half we were there so the question is can we be there for 90 minutes and that is where we need to be when the next one comes and the next one after that."

LA GALAXY DEFENDER JALEN NEAL

On going up against LAFC forward Kei Kamara:

"He got a good leap on that guy and had a good header, but I could have done a much better job guarding, getting more physical with him, not letting him get his run going, and obviously getting up on him before he did that leap. So I could have done a much better job preventing him from getting that goal and even more chances."

On what he saw going up against LAFC forward Denis Bouanga:

"He was a main part of our scouting report. He's the best player, one of the best players in the league. Super fast and technical when going at you, so I just had to keep that in mind, not to try to guess where he was going to go but try to just be reactive, kind of just go off instinct. It worked out for me. I was preparing a lot. I knew he was going to be on the left side and he's a difficulty for a lot of outside backs. I knew I would get caught up to go against him many times this game. I was just mentally ready for it, I would say. And I see highlights from him a lot, so I kind of know some tricks he likes to do. So, just trying to try to force him one way really, but if he goes the other way, it is what it is. Just trying to get back into the play."

On LAFC and playing them again later this season:

"It's super important. This league is super diverse in their attack. There are a lot of different attacks. Some attacks have a whole lot of big guys, a lot of smaller guys, speed, strength. You're going to get something different each game, and especially with these games-high-pressure games, a lot of people watching rivalry against, the other first-place team. It gets you prepared for games that are going to come playoff time. We believe this is going to be the Western Conference Final-the game that gets us to the MLS Cup final. It was good preparation for sure. Next time we obviously have to do better and kind of stick to our game plan from the jump."

LA GALAXY GOALKEEPER JOHN MCCARTHY

On his takeaway from the match:

"I think it's clear to say it was a tale of two halves. We shit the first half away and then the second-half we played how we're supposed to play - we created a lot of chances. We was getting behind them. It's just is one of those tough ones where I think we've done it once or twice this year and we were able bounce back from it early season, you know? But this one, it sucks. It sucks to lose, you know, but it's a tale of two halves and in a big game that we prepare for it. We believe we can win. Just doesn't work in this in this league. You got to you got to put in good shifts for 90 minutes. So it was a tough one to still figure out."

On the play of Jalen Neal:

"Jalen's has been consistent all season and he's a good young player... He's one of those guys. I think ..that when he'll get his minutes, he'll get his games and he'll find a good rhythm and I see Jalen doing big things. He showed tonight he is a good young center back."

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