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MLS LA Galaxy

LA Galaxy Fight Back to Earn 1-1 Draw at Home against Houston Dynamo FC at Dignity Health Sports Park on Wednesday Night

September 16, 2021 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
LA Galaxy News Release


LOS ANGELES - Playing the first of two games in four days, the LA Galaxy fought back to earn a 1-1 draw against Houston Dynamo FC at Dignity Health Sports Park on Wednesday night. Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez tallied his 11th goal of the season, while Dejan Joveljić notched his second assist for the Galaxy.

LA Galaxy Run of Form

LA is 3-2-4 in its last nine matches played dating back to a 4-1 win over the Portland Timbers on July 30. Notably, Chicharito has tallied six goals in six games played at home in 2021. In his last three appearances for LA, Joveljić has tallied two goals and one assist.

LA Galaxy Against Houston Dynamo FC

Wednesday's match marked the 33rd MLS regular-season meeting between LA and the Houston Dynamo, with the Galaxy trailing the series 11-12-10. In 15 all-time regular-season meetings against Houston at Dignity Health Sports Park, the Galaxy have posted a 6-4-5 record. In the last seven meetings between LA and Houston at Dignity Health Sports Park dating back to March 21, 2015, the Galaxy hold a 3-1-3 record.

Goal-Scoring Plays

HOU - Fafa Picault (Darwin Quintero, Maximiliano Urruti ), 13th minute: Darwin Quintero's pass into the middle of the penalty area found Fafa Picault, who rolled his shot into the lower right corner of the goal.

LA - Chicharito (Dejan Joveljić), 61st minute: Joveljić's floating cross into the six-yard box found the head of Chicharito, who redirected his header into the top right corner of the net.

Postgame Notes

The LA Galaxy are 11-8-5 (38 pts) this season, sitting in fourth place in the Western Conference standings.

Wednesday's match marked the 33rd MLS regular-season meeting between LA and the Houston Dynamo, with the Galaxy trailing the series 11-12-10.

In 15 all-time regular-season meetings against Houston at Dignity Health Sports Park, the Galaxy have posted a 6-4-5 record.

In the last seven meetings between LA and Houston at Dignity Health Sports Park dating back to March 21, 2015, the Galaxy hold a 3-1-3 record.

Dating back to a 4-1 win over the Portland Timbers on July 30, the LA Galaxy hold a 3-2-4 record.

In 12 games played at home during the 2021 campaign, the Galaxy hold a 7-4-2 record.

In six games played at home this season, Chicharito has tallied six goals.

Chicharito has registered 11 goals in 12 games played this season for LA.

The goal marked Chicharito's first headed goal of the season.

Jonathan dos Santos finished the match with a team-high three chances created.

Jonathan Klinsmann made his second start of the season, tallying a save in the draw against Houston.

Dejan Joveljić tallied his second assist of the 2021 campaign.

Samuel Grandsir is the only Galaxy player to appear in every match this season (24).

Next Game

Next up, the Galaxy travel to face Minnesota United FC at Allianz Field on Saturday, Sept. 18. The Sept. 18 match kicks off at 5:00 p.m. PT and features a regional television broadcast on Spectrum SportsNet.

LA Galaxy (11-8-5, 38pts) vs. Houston Dynamo FC (4-10-11, 23 pts)

Sept. 15, 2021 - Dignity Health Sports Park (Los Angeles)

Goals by Half 1 2 F

LA Galaxy 0 1 1

Houston Dynamo FC 1 0 1

Scoring Summary:

HOU: Picault (Quintero, Urruti), 13

LA: Chicharito (Joveljić), 61

Misconduct Summary:

HOU: Vera (caution), 51

HOU: Cerén (caution), 65

LA: Dos Santos (caution), 69

HOU: Valentin (caution), 79

Lineups:

LA: GK Jonathan Klinsmann; D Julian Araujo, D Séga Coulibaly, D Daniel Steres, D Niko Hämäläinen; M Jonathan Dos Santos © (Sacha Klejstan, 83), M Rayan Raveloson, M Victor Vázquez (Sebastian Lletget, 63); M Efrain Álvarez (Dejan Joveljić, 45), M Samuel Grandsir (Kévin Cabral, 69); F Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez

Substitutes Not Used: GK Eric López; D Nick DePuy, D Oniel Fisher, D Jorge Villafaña; M Adam Saldaña

TOTAL SHOTS: 10 (Chicharito, 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Chicharito, 2); FOULS: 9 (Julian Araujo, Chicharito, 2) OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 7; SAVES: 1

HOU: GK Michael Nelson; D Adam Lundkvist, D Zarek Valentin, D Tim Parker ©, D Teenage Hadebe (Maynor Figueroa, 82), D Griffin Dorsey; M Joe Corona (Darwin Cerén, 45), M Matias Vera (Boniek Garcia, 77); F Fafa Picault, F Darwin Quintero (Memo Rodriguez, 86), F Maxi Urruti (Ariel Lassiter, 76)

Substitutes Not Used: GK Kyle Morton; D Ian Hoffmann, D Sam Junqua; M Derrick Jones

TOTAL SHOTS: 8 (Three players tied, 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 2 (Darwin Quintero, Fafa Picault, 1); FOULS: 12 (Three players tied, ) OFFSIDES: 2; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 3

Referee: Kevin Stott

Assistant Referees: Chantal Boudreau, Eduardo Mariscal

Fourth Official: Victor Rivas

VAR: Younes Marrakchi

Weather: Clear, 65 degrees

Attendance: 15,341

All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial

LA GALAXY POSTGAME QUOTES

LA GALAXY HEAD COACH GREG VANNEY

On getting a point at home against Houston Dynamo FC:

"Yeah, it's a missed opportunity, especially in a series of games where we're not having many home games, so this is an important game. Obviously, it's a team that, to be fair to them, they played a nice game the other night and you know they were difficult to break down once we gave them the lead in the first half but it's a home game and it's something we should be getting three points out of these games. And I felt like just the intensity in the first half was just way too low. It was too easy for the opposition. Too many sideways passes, back passes. Everything took too long. The intensity to win balls and recover balls. First ball, second balls. Their goal comes off of a second ball that we don't impose ourselves in the challenge and they get to play the next ball forward through our lines and it ends up in the back of our net so it just, for us, being at home and this being such an important start, the intensity level at the beginning was just too.... didn't have enough urgency, right? And it was like we wanted to play this beautiful passing soccer, but we needed to go impose ourselves on the opposition and set the tone and tempo of the game and we certainly didn't do that in the first half. I thought it was it was more so in the second half, and we pushed the game. Obviously, they were in a position where they were protecting a lead for the majority of it, but at least we were playing forward and we were running forward and more guys were sprinting, and we were fighting to recover balls and compete for balls. At times it got a little bit chaotic and disorganized, I think just because of the emotion of pushing the game, but we've got to be able to find the emotion and the urgency and still stay organized and purposeful in what we're doing. We're back and forth on that one where we have urgency and intensity, and then we lose a little bit of the structure of the game and what we're trying to do, and then at times when we have a little bit of structure, we lack the purpose and intensity in the game. And so those two have to get to a balance so that we that we can find the form that we're looking for."

On what he thought about Javier Hernandez's partnership with Dejan Joveljić performance:

"Yeah, I, I think it's a partnership that can certainly flourish. They don't have many minutes together and (don't) have many training sessions together either so it's early days, but anytime you also play with two forwards, you've got to build a nice structure and be able to protect yourself around it and be able to hold the ball and be able to do some different things and be able to get the ball wide into wide areas, deep to the end lines and get yourself in crossing positions. Things like that if we're going to have two guys in front of the box or in front of the goal, like those two, so it's a little bit different setup than what we've had through majority of the season, which the whole group has to get used to, which we need a little bit of training time to work through that it's not something you want to spend a lot of time working through on the on a matchday but yes, they're obviously two guys who can complement each other. Obviously, Dejan set Javier up a couple times so they can also play that role as well with one another so it was nice to see them on. But again, for me, it's just the broader collective performance that we have to, as a group, get to another level."

LA GALAXY FORWARD JAVIER HERNANDEZ

On the team's performance in the second half:

"We [had a better second half]. Our response is the most positive thing about the game that we take. The response, the way that the players who came in made a very big impact. And you can see that when we have a full squad, we are a very complete and more competent team as well. Unfortunately, when you play at home and you don't get the three points it's obviously more disappointing than positive in a way. Of course, we want to get as many points as we can at home, we didn't do it today and now we have to go to Minnesota and get the three points."

On his connection with Dejan Joveljić:

"He's a very young player with a lot of ambition, a lot of hunger to learn and to improve as a player and as a person and you can see it. He played in El Trafico in pretty good form, he scored two goals and then I came back, and he took it pretty well when I came on in his place. He came on [and looked] very good in Colorado. And then today with a fantastic assist, the impact that he [had], the effort, everything. But not only Dejan [Joveljić], all of us, we need to learn from all of us. Like I always said it, we all have the same value. It doesn't matter if you are a DP, if you are experienced or not. I think the effort doesn't matter about age, about status or about experience, effort should be always be 100 percent, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter from where you are, it doesn't matter about nothing. So, I think we need to keep maintain that, that we need to give 100 or even 110 percent every single game like there's no tomorrow. And then we can trust in Greg [Vanney] and in other teammates if I'm not available, if I don't feel as fresh as I can feel for next matches, it doesn't matter. We need to focus on the present, in the games and we need to stop missing a lot of points at home. And then when we go [on the road], try to get as many points as we can."

On the team's intensity:

"Every player needs to be as responsible as they can. There's no excuses. The facilities that we have, an organization like the LA Galaxy, the way that the manager is giving opportunities to all the players. The way that he wants us to play, in a way that it is more attractive, more aggressive, playing more with the ball and not only defend. In the fitness area they are always trying to be as on point as they can so the players are always fresh, in any aspect, the organization is doing pretty well. There's a point that any player needs to take full responsibility if you want to be a better player, if you want to get better opportunities, if you want to have better contracts, if you want to become a better DP, if you want to get into national teams, if you want to go to Europe, it's just ambition and that's something that if you don't have it in there then you need to find it and seek it. And I'm speaking for myself too because that's what I want to do, I'm giving my everything in this passion in this profession, in this sport that I love so much. So we all need to do that, we all need to do that. It doesn't matter if I score goals or I don't score goals, I am not a hero. I would love people to understand that it's about the process, that it is about the passion, it's about giving the effort. If you give your all, then soccer is going to give you back so many [things], and that's something that my dad taught me since I was a kid. That's something that you don't learn in books or in training. You need to have that passion, to have that desire. In the end we are humans and in the end it's competition, but in the end, I want to win, I want to get as many points as we can and when the whistle blows, we are friends, and we can hang out and we can do whatever. But it's about passion, it's about desire, it's about wanting even in a sometimes-insane way, your dreams and your goals of course."

[Translated from Spanish]

On scoring and playing at home again:

"It felt great to score but I would give up that goal if we could have won 2-1. My passion, my effort, and my dedication is because I want to be a better person and a better player, and I want to give all that to my team, to my family. I want to give it all for them and this dream that we call have which is to get to the MLS Cup final and win the championship. I am very happy, I said it on the flash interview on the field, this is my first goal with my head in a very long time and I had been wanting to score with my head. I beat one of the tallest players on the field to that ball so it's rewarding. We got a point but it's hard to shake the feeling that we lost two points at home."

LA GALAXY GOALKEEPER JONATHAN KLINSMANN

On how this game felt since his first appearance of the season against Minnesota United FC:

"From the Minnesota game... Just playing you gain a lot of confidence, just 90 minutes playing behind those guys and playing with them, you gain a lot of confidence. Even in training, you gain more confidence every single day and able to play today. Today was special for me today because it was the first time playing in front of these fans at home in the stadium I grew up coming to, so it was pretty special. To answer your question, [I feel] a lot more comfortable. Every game as a goalkeeper ,you gain more experience and more conformable with the guys in front of you."

On how this point at home feels against Houston:

"We are at home, we want to win every game at home, this is our home and our stadium. We need to get as many points here as possible. I thought we had a really good chance today, like I said, we came out in the second half fighting and it was just a disappointing point. We did get one point, but we really wanted the three."

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