LA Galaxy Fight Back to Earn 2-2 Draw against LAFC at Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday Night
May 19, 2025 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
LA Galaxy News Release
LOS ANGELES - Down 2-1 in the 86th minute, the LA Galaxy fought back to earn a 2-2 draw against LAFC before 23,083 fans at Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday night. Marco Reus' game-tying free-kick goal in the 87th minute capped off a two-goal performance by the German midfielder as the Galaxy won their second consecutive match at Dignity Heath Sports Park against LAFC dating back to Sept. 14, 2024.
LA Galaxy Against LAFC
Sunday's match between the LA Galaxy and LAFC marked the 25th edition across all competitions of El Tráfico, with the Galaxy leading the all-time series tied 10-9-6 (54 GF, 53 GA). Against LAFC, the LA Galaxy hold a 8-7-6 (44 GF, 44 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 13 all-time home matches played across all competitions against LAFC, the Galaxy hold a record of 8-2-3 (30 GF, 20 GA). In 25 all-time meetings across all competitions between the LA Galaxy and LAFC, El Tráfico averages 4.3 goals per match. The Galaxy hold an 8-1-3 record in 12 all-time matches played at Dignity Health Sports Park across all competitions against LAFC.
Marco Reus in Form
In his last five matches played dating back to April 27, Marco Reus has totaled six goal contributions (3 goals, 3 assists). It marked the second consecutive match for Reus where he contributed two goal contributions (May 10 vs. New York Red Bulls - 2 assists). In two career matches played against LAFC, the Dortmund, Germany, native has recorded four goal contributions (2 goals, 2 assists).
Goal-Scoring Plays LA - Marco Reus, 6th minute : Streaking down the right flank, Gabriel Pec dribbled into the penalty area and forced Hugo Lloris to parry aside his shot. Marco Reus was first to the loose ball and kneed his shot into the far net.
LFC - Denis Bouanga (Mark Delgado), 13th minute : Denis Bouanga dribbled away from his marker and his shot from 25-yeards away from goal was rifled into the far netting.
LFC - Nathan Ordaz (Ryan Hollingshead), 50th minute : Nathan Ordaz latched onto a pass inside the penalty area and drilled his shot past John McCarthy at the near post.
LA - Marco Reus, 87th minute : Marco Reus' free-kick attempt from just outside the 18-yard was dipped into the bottom right corner of the goal.
Postgame Notes
Sunday's match between the LA Galaxy and LAFC marked the 25th edition across all competitions of El Tráfico, with the Galaxy leading the all-time series tied 10-9-6 (54 GF, 53 GA).
Against LAFC, the LA Galaxy hold a 8-7-6 (44 GF, 44 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 13 all-time home matches played across all competitions against LAFC, the Galaxy hold a record of 8-2-3 (30 GF, 20 GA).
In 25 all-time meetings across all competitions between the LA Galaxy and LAFC, El Tráfico averages 4.3 goals per match.
The Galaxy hold an 8-1-3 record in 12 all-time matches played at Dignity Health Sports Park across all competitions against LAFC.
In his last five matches played dating back to April 27, Marco Reus has totaled six goal contributions (3 goals, 3 assists).
It marked the second consecutive match for Reus where he contributed two goal contributions (May 10 vs. New York Red Bulls - 2 assists).
In two career matches played against LAFC, the Dortmund, Germany, native has recorded four goal contributions (2 goals, 2 assists).
The free-kick goal scored by Reus marked the LA Galaxy's second direct free-kick goal scored during the 2025 campaign, with Diego Fagundez last doing so against the Houston Dynamo on April 12.
Gabriel Pec made his first appearance for LA since logging 74 minutes against Sporting Kansas City on May 4.
Joseph Paintsil made his first appearance for LA since logging 79 minutes against Sporting Kansas City on May 4.
Next Game
Next up, the LA Galaxy travel to face San Diego FC at Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday, May 24 (1:30 p.m. PT; MLS Season Pass, FOX).
2025 MLS Regular Season
LA Galax y (0-10-4; 4 pts) vs. LAFC (6-4-4; 22 pts)
Sunday - Dignity Health Sports Park (Los Angeles)
Goals by Half ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰1 ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰2 ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰F
LA Galaxy ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰1 ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰1 ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰2
LAFC ‰ ‰ 1 ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ 1 ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ 2
Scoring Summary:
LA: Reus, 6
LFC: Bouanga (Delgado), 13
LFC: Ordaz (Hollingshead), 50
LA: Reus, 87
Misconduct Summary:
LFC: Delgado (caution), 25
LA: Yamane (caution), 45+2
LFC: Palencia (caution), 48
LFC: Bouanga (caution), 73
LA: Cerrillo (caution), 77
Lineups:
LA: GK John McCarthy; D Miki Yamane (Mauricio Cuevas, 83), D Emiro Garcés, D Maya Yoshida (C), D John Nelson (Julián Aude, 71); M Edwin Cerrillo, M Marco Reus, M Lucas Sanabria (Matheus Nascimento, 83), M Diego Fagundez (Isaiah Parente, 71), M Gabriel Pec, F Christian Ramirez (Joseph Paintsil, 61)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Novak Mićović; D Zanka, M Tucker Lepley, M Elijah Wynder
TOTAL SHOTS: 10 (Gabriel Pec, 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Gabriel Pec, Marco Reus, 2); FOULS: 16 (Lucas Sanabria, 4); OFFSIDES: 2; CORNER KICKS: 1; SAVES: 2
LFC: Hugo Lloris; D Eddie Segura, D Sergi Palencia, D Ryan Hollingshead, D Aaron Long (C), M Igor Jesus, M Mark Delgado (Frankie Amaya, 69), M Timothy Tillman (Marlon Santos, 75), M David Martinez (Cengiz Under, 61), M Nathan Ordaz (Jeremy Ebobisse, 61), F Denis Bouanga
Substitutes Not Used: GK David Ochoa, D Artem Smoliakov, D Nkosi Tafari, M Yaw Yeboah; F Olivier Giroud
TOTAL SHOTS: 13 (David Martinez, Denis Bouanga, 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Four players tied, 1); FOULS: 13 (Ryan Hollingshead, 4); OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 1; SAVES: 2
Referee: Drew Fischer
Assistant Referees: Logan Brown, Jeremy Hanson
Fourth Official: Lukasz Szpala
VAR: Armando Villarreal
Weather: Cear, 68 degrees
Attendance: 23,083
All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial
LA GALAXY POSTGAME QUOTES
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH GREG VANNEY
On the game, where he saw success and how Cerrillo and Sanabria seemed to take a step forward:
"I thought the game certainly had its ebbs and flows. There were stretches early on where I thought we were in control and were playing in their half of the field and good in possession, creating some chances, get the first goal. I thought specifically to those two [Cerrillo and Sanabria], I thought they did a nice job of just controlling the midfield. Lucas' aggression in the challenge and physicality was a nice addition to the group. It's something that I think that we lack, and so it was nice to have that. I think, again, he's settling into the featured for the way we want to play the game and that kind of stuff. But I think, again, his physicality, the amount of ground he can cover, things like that, is good for us. I think it helps Eddie to settle in and do what Eddie has been used to doing a little bit more. That's been nice. I think after the goal there was a stretch where especially the last part of -- well, we turn over the ball in a bad spot, comes right back at us. Hell of a shot but we don't want to give them that transition from there, and we have to deal with him because he's done that too many times. Then the last ten or 15 minutes of the half, I felt like we were under it a little bit. Our ability to kind of stop them from being able to play side-to-side, things like that, I think we spent a fair amount of energy just defending to protect ourselves and being able to secure the ball in transition to back them up and try to regain control of the game, it didn't really happen there on the tail end. We came out slow in the second half at the beginning. That's what pisses me off the most about the game is just coming out of the locker room and being slow because we talked about win or be even at the end of the first 15 minutes of the second half because that's something we have to be better at. And we give up a goal in the first five minutes. After that, I think the response is good. I think we start to get a little bit more proactive, a little more aggressive in ways that we need to and we start to move the game back in their half of the field. We create some chances.
Obviously, Gabe scores on an off-sides, a clear and obvious off-sides that went to the VAR. So clear and obvious. I think offsides is black and white and you don't really go to the VAR but it is what it is...Then call it clearly off-side. Don't go to the VAR. It's black and white. They tell us that you don't need to go to the VAR to see if it's clear and obvious. The guys upstairs need to do it. Where you should go to the VAR is for the one on Joe. That's where he should go because that's subjective, and I think he misses it. And what I'm tired of is those calls go against us, and we can't get one to go for us. I'm not asking for special treatment. I'm just asking for consistency in some of these situations. That's it. So we don't get those two chances. We stick with it. We build some numbers.
The thing I thought we did well tonight is we got some numbers into places where we were able to play in combination, move the ball quickly, penetrate, get to the end lines. Get through lines. I felt like we had some speed in some of the transitions. There were some good things inside of the game on the attacking side, I thought, tonight.
So, it's nice to be home. It was great to be in front of our crowd because the energy felt wonderful for our guys. We're proud of them and happy that they are sticking with us and supporting us through the challenges, and we keep fighting. I thought the guys fought tonight."
On if he feels like he has enough building blocks getting Joe and those guys back:
"I do. The key for us, one of the keys for us is just getting healthy. I think given the pieces that we lost, beyond what we are not healthy, we start to get thin in certain positions and certain skill sets, speed being one of them, things like that. So being healthy gives us some of the things that we need to do the things we want to do. I think Lucas is coming along. That's wonderful, because he gives us something that's different in our midfield. That's what we've been hoping for and looking for, and it's just taking him a little time to get to that point. He looks more confident and more settled.
I thought it was probably Nasci's best entrance in one of the games. I thought he looked engaged and was moving. There are some positives there. We have some young guys that I think will be emerging through this process. Hopefully we can stay in long enough to see them emerge. That's the objective."
On if he looks at games like tonight like things are moving in the right direction, especially the fact that the team didn't give up:
"First, I don't think there's such a thing as giving up, especially when you are playing your rivals. That would be an absolutely unacceptable position to be in. What I think is the group had to manage certain emotions through the course of the game, which I think is important, being ahead, managing through your emotions and dealing with the game as it is when it's ahead, and then being even and being behind and getting an off-sides call called back. All those things take you through emotional swings in the course of the game and we were able to manage our emotions because the emotions have been tough on us this year. But to be able to manage our emotions through the course of the game to get the equalizing goal says I think a lot for the group's commitment and togetherness, and their continuing work for and belief in each other. I said to them, tonight is a positive night that hopefully we need to think about using as a springboard. This is as good of a team as we've played against and we played them very even up, I thought, and we had our chances. We had our chances."
On what he's seeing from Marco Reus right now:
"Yeah, he's such a smooth customer. At the end of the day, the key for Marco is getting on the ball, getting him in places where he can face forward. Getting guys who are running with him and around him so that he can just deliver because his vision is so good and his touch is so soft. And so again, I think as we continue to get healthy and get Joe around him and Gabe around him and guys who are going to give him those runs that he's going to help slide into players and pick out the passes that he needs to, it's going to help him a lot. Again, he's not in a position now where he's going to pull off wins all on his own. He's going to help be the engine and the guy who facilitates a lot of these final actions and get guys on the ball and put them in the places they need to be, and then do what he did tonight, which is put one away; put two away but put one away on a set piece which is enormous. I think I mentioned to you guys, when he first got here, one day he was hitting free kicks hit probably 30 of them and probably 28 of them looked just like that. Like a ceiling on the ball just went, poof, and just dropped right into the net. It's nice to see him doing that because that's a positive thing for us. Again, he facilitated the first goal. Gab has the chance to finish it, and he just runs it in. But he facilitated the whole action all the way down the stretch and his following up of the play led to the goal. Again, just getting right guys around him is so important to him being able to bring all of his attributes to the game."
On if playoffs are in the back or forefront of his mind:
"Look, honestly, it's for us to win the first game and win the second game, win the third game. Those are the things I'm focused on, the continued progression to try to make our margins a little bit bigger in terms of getting results. It's not a call here or one missed chance here or there that becomes the difference in the game. We've got to increase our margins and just start to get one win at a time and then start to put some wins together. So I don't look at, like -- I honestly don't look at the standings because it doesn't make any sense. I know where we are and I know what our points look like. What I look at is our performances and try to help make this team better and help our guys to prepare them to win. In our league, you've got to start stacking some wins. You start stacking some wins, then you can talk about whether the playoffs are a thing or not. For us, it's to start getting the first win, the second win and then going from there and then I think it's a better time to have that discussion. Right now, we have to focus on one win at a time."
On if todays midfield play is the blueprint moving forward:
"I thought there's some games that I think we played pretty well but maybe not 90 minutes well. You know, Kansas City, how you lose that game is really hard to explain, but I feel like we were really in control that have game in pretty much every way. Just couldn't find the net. But this is different because I think it's a top team, a rival, a team that has a lot of weapons and a very good midfield. And we went toe-to-toe with them, and I think it shows. I think it's really difficult to have consistency if you don't have consistency through your midfield and those guys able to dictate control, adapt, all that, you know. So I think they are growing. Lucas's evolution will really help that midfield. The two of them and their durability also give Marco the chance to be maybe a little more free sometimes to be the facilitator of moments like this. Yeah, I think the more our midfield steadies, and it's not just on a couple guys, but the more our midfield steadies like that, the better chance we have of winning games. You have to dominate or win the middle of the field if you're going to stay and get results. This helps a lot. Hopefully, again, this is the start of something we're going to see a lot more of as we continue to build forward."
On if 30 minutes was what he was expecting from Joe:
"Yes, 30 minutes was what I was expecting. It's the difference of injury, Gabe's was a hip pointer. So it's more of a contusion or bruise that becomes pain management and things like that. Whereas Joseph was a strain, a slight strain. The positive thing was upon the imaging and talking to the specialist, the strain wasn't in a place that they were super concerned about. So it was a minor strain but in what they would call a non-significant area. So you have to give it a chance to heal but not necessarily something that's going to take a long time. It's also a fatigue type of injury. So we knew that we were going to be limited in the amount of time that we could have them out there tonight. So we knew it was going to be 30 minutes. We held it and then the decision was to bring him in as the nine instead of on the wing and see if we could get something out of that."
On how different it was to see Mark Delgado on the other side of the field:
"Yeah, I mean, Mark is Mark. I didn't pay attention to him tonight because I'm paying attention to my team. But I can tell there's times when he's dropping out into spaces and he's moving around the field and he's creating pictures that we are having to figure out how to defend. That's one part of it in the first half. He kept dropping out of the midfield a little bit and creating kind of a three, and then we weren't cutting the field in half. Again he's clever. He knows how to move around the field and create different scenarios that we are having to figure out how to defend. It's Mark. That's what he does. He's the great balancer. He's always flowing around the field. He's a very good game reader. And he covers a ton of territory, things like that. Again, I didn't focus in on him, per se, but I saw him out there at times like, oh, sure, yeah, there is Mark doing Mark. What do you expect."
On what it was like to give Mark his ring:
"Yeah, Mark and I and some of our staff go back to since he was maybe 15 years old, and so back in the Chivas USA days where Mark was playing in the Academy at the time, and I was kind of helping to oversee the academy, as well as I was an assistant coach to the first team, and Dan Calichman was his coach on the U-18 team. We have been around Mark since he was just a kid of the it's crazy that he just turned 30 a couple days ago. It's been pretty much half of his life that we've spent in some way, shape or form with him. He's grown so much as a player and as a person because when you know somebody that young, you see how much he's grown up in life. He was with us at Chivas. He was with us in Toronto. He's been with us in the Galaxy, and so he's more than just a player, you know, just because for us, just because he's somebody that we've been around for so long. So he's a huge part. He knows the system. He knows the things that I want from him when he's with us and as I said he's the great balancer and he does a lot of work for other guys. And he facilitates the game so that some of the great players can do the things that they need to do to be great players. You know, he's still doing his thing. It's just not with us. But he's still doing his thing. I'm happy for him. Again, he was quite emotional when he picked up his ring the other day. But I think that that was probably more just seeing people from his past that he's close to and as much as it was getting the ring and all that."
On the conversation for the team to be able to turn that page and get ready for such a big rival game:
"It's probably a good thing we played LAFC tonight because if it was just any other game you're probably trying to grind the guys. You travel six hours on a flight back, three time zones, you're trying to recover, get guys reeled in. The thing is, you don't have to were I about their motivation because it's LAFC on the other side. So that's probably a positive thing, given -- I would say it's definitely a positive thing given the road trip that we had them on the other side. I thought the guys responded well. Yesterday, the first day we got back, maybe even the second, guys looked tired, maybe a little down and then yesterday came out to train and it was like a completely different mood and mentality and I'm like okay, these guys are ready to play. I was looking forward to tonight because I felt like the energy was correct and the guys were ready to go."
On extra motivation to go out and erase that sour taste from week one vs SDFC:
"We don't have the luxury to look across and be too concerned about catching up with people. What we need to do is go out and perform and get a result. So I think what we're looking to cross is trying to build off of the game tonight, take away the positives, the things that we can really use moving forward. Keep getting guys healthy and prepared, and yeah, each one of these games, the in-state rivalries, if you will, are great. Again, I hope it keeps our motivation up and our attention and that we keep looking forward to battling through each one of these. Yeah, we're ready to line up for the next one. I think these guys just can't wait to get back on the field each one of these times so they get a chance to start building some momentum."
On Bradley Wright-Phillips saying the team was losing some of the muscle memory of how to deal with adversity:
"As a former player, and Bradley is a former player, and he know this is very well, we try to adapt the group. I tried to adapt the group and we played a different system. We went into a 5-3-2. This is one of the reasons why I don't listen to the world; everybody wants me to adapt but adapt can mean a million different things. There's lots of ways to adapt. If you mean by shape, adapting by shape comes with different type of decision-making decisions. If I play in a back five, we have to rotate a certain way. Guys have to release. Guys have to choose when to step out of the line. It's different than playing in a back four. If you play in a three-man midfield; it's different than a four-man midfield and it's different than three up top or two up top. It changes your decision-making process. What I felt like is, when you get on the field and I'm looking at the guys going, we're indecisive. We are not solving, we are not recognizing when we need to be rotating across. We are not recognizing when a back line guy needs to step out and oppose the ball. They are staying in the line. Our midfield is a little bit spread apart because the decisions are a little bit different. I feel like when I was watching the game that indecision was the biggest problem in the game. Like, uncertainty. When you get into uncertainty, then it's hard to be aggressive. And when you're not aggressive it looks like people maybe aren't as committed or aren't, whatever. I've been in these games. I can tell you games straightaway, we played turkey in the Confederations Cup in France, and -- U.S., Turkey. And I played in that game, and I couldn't figure out if I should step forward or in because they were overloading in different ways, and I didn't know which way was up. At halftime and at the end of the game, I get blistered for not putting in an effort. I promise you; it wasn't the effort. I didn't have the solution. And without having the solution, you look indecisive. You look out decisive; the outside world may think that you are not committed. But the reality is, you just don't have is the correct solution to be decisive. So I felt that was us, and then we were getting punished for that indecision. We were getting punished for exposing ourselves and had a game a game that started to weigh on us. I think that was the emotion of it, and I think it's very clear. Because the group stepped out in the first half of Philadelphia and came out and competed their asses off right from the start. We competed every minute since that. I think that happens. You hope it doesn't happen often. That's why I don't love to adapt especially with a team that's new in the midfield or has some different younger guys or some different things. That's why I don't love the idea of just adapting shape. We adapt all the time inside of games but not necessarily our shape specifically. So for me that was the night. It wasn't much else out of that. We made some indecisive plays and we paid for it and we paid for it heavily."
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER MARCO REUS
On how he's been feeling:
"Yeah, of course, I feel much better than weeks ago. I was one month out because of my knee problem. It's bothering me still a little bit but it's much, much better. I don't know when it was the last time that I had three games in one week with those kind of minutes. So I'm very happy not with the result today, but with the mentality of the team. I mean, we showed not the best game in the second half, especially as a team together but after the 2-1, we did it good. We tried to manage the midfield, control the midfield, especially in the second half. And then we had with the subs, with Joe [Paintsil], brings a lot of energy in the team. It helped us, especially in the second half. Yeah, we had two or three good opportunities. At the end, it was a free kick. But I told the guys in the dressing room, as well that, it doesn't feel like a draw. We should win this game, especially with the 1-0 ahead in the first half after six or seven minutes. But I like how we come back after the 2-1."
On his free-kick abilities:
"Of course not every situation is the same. Especially against LAFC, also very important. Yeah, I had these kind of situations a thousand times in my career. So I know what I have to do in this situation. I'm not watching, like, ok, the ref is blowing the whistle and I have to shoot now. I have to stay calm. Just concentrate on the situation, and then, yeah, hopefully it goes in, and this time, it was a little bit lucky but it was a good shot, as well. But yeah, we keep going and we try next time, next Saturday."
On his free-kick showdown with Hugo Lloris:
"Yeah, of course, I mean, Lloris, he's a great goalkeeper. I don't know how many titles he won with France in the World Cup. He's a great goalkeeper. So it's always good to have them, especially these kind of goalkeeper in the back. For me, like honestly, I don't care who is in the goal. I don't really care about against we are playing for me just about our team, how we can build from the recent games into the next games, and yeah, nothing changed. We didn't win this game. We wanted it to bad, especially for the fans."
On whether this has been one of the most difficult seasons of his career:
"I think it's quite hard. Honestly I don't know if any of this season in my career -- last year won the championship and this year, I mean, it's not like the last 14 games that we, like, kicked out from 40 games against the other teams. I mean, we had some bad situations with own goals, and mistakes that we did, and then we could concede a goal and then we have to come back. This takes a little bit of the energy of the team, you know. Because we have a young team, and this is also a good experience time for them to show, okay, you have to invest every game a hundred percent. It doesn't matter against who. You have to be on your top level, and it starts with the training sessions.cThough for me, it's really like how we can be better as a team and it starts for me with the training sessions. We did in the last days and two weeks much, much better with higher quality in the training session."
On performing in rivalry matches:
"I like these games, especially when you play home with the home crowd. For me, it's always an opportunity to step up for the team and for myself, as well. It was a big game. I think they was not expecting us that we showed that mentality, especially in the second half when we didn't have that much changesBut like I said, we don't give up. We showed mentality, and that's the only way."
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER EDWIN CERRILLO
On playing alongside Lucas Sanabria:
"Yeah, especially with him feeling more comfortable and having that confidence, and me just encouraging him a little bit more to come out of his shell and just play his game. I think as time went on, he's been more comfortable, a little less shy, and I think just that and the off-field, talking to him more, getting him with different groups of people within our team just to feel more welcome and feel part of this team. I think that's helped him a lot and today he showcased that confidence and I feel very secure in the midfield with him and there's moments in the game where me included can find solutions a little bit better. But good performance for him."
On what Lucas feeling more comfortable does for him:
" I think sometimes just with him having that confidence, and me having confidence within him. I don't have to kind of do both jobs or have jobs here and there. It's a lot more clear of what I need to do, and just knowing that he's understanding what he needs to do as well. Just be more connected. That makes us feel a lot more comfortable and makes me feel a lot more comfortable."
On if things are shifting to a more positive light:
"I think from the best games we had to take the positives out of each and every performance that we had and obviously improve some things. Yeah, with the news of Greg, everyone is happy. Because we all believe in him and he's given us the solutions to go out and perform and set us up in a way that we can win. Ultimately, it's for us to go out on the field and showcase and pay him back with results. I think watching from the outside in, against Philadelphia, I wanted to be in there fighting with those guys and I wasn't able to. Today in a big game with our fans back home, we had to put in a performance to showcase that we're together, and this team is good and we're going to keep building on that. We don't win but we take a positive performance and we can definitely build on that."
On Marco Reus' presence in the locker room and on the field:
"It's important for to us have him on the field as much as possible. I think none of us are surprised by this quality. Even me on the pre-kick goal, I just stood there because I had so much faith that he was going to make it. It's important to have him on the field because we can rely on him to change the game as Riqui did last year, and Riqui is not there but we have Marco Reus. So just to have him in the locker room with his experience and going through this tough stretch of games, he's the guy that continues with positivity around the locker room, and everybody respects every time he speaks."
On if the rivalry game injected energy into the team:
"I think when you come into a game like this, no matter if we're in first place or in the position that we're in now, this means a lot more because it's a rivalry. And we all had to get out of our shell and get out of the slum that we're in, and the past results are the past results, and we had to come out and play. I think the guys did well. And obviously not satisfied with the draw but again we are going to continue building and hopefully this turns the season around."
On Sanabria coming out of his shell a bit:
"I think yeah, when he first got here, he kind of only talked to Julian because they are pretty much the same age and drinking mate, even Diego and Marco drink it as well. You see him laughing and being happy off the field. He came into a team, a winning team from last year, and I think maybe the pressure can get to him. We are all human, and he's a young kid. It was definitely going to take a little time to adapt. Again, on these trips, when we're gone for so long, you spend more time with each other. From the outside looking in, I was with Tucker and Mauricio, so I felt the responsibility to kind of get to know him a little bit better and tell him that I'm there for him no matter what, and I showcased that on the field and I have his back and he has my back. Definitely going to build on that. He showed his qualities today with his play, and really important player for us going forward."
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- LAFC Draws LA Galaxy 2-2 on the Road - Los Angeles FC
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Other Recent LA Galaxy Stories
- LA Galaxy Fight Back to Earn 2-2 Draw against LAFC at Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday Night
- LA Galaxy Play Host to LAFC at Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday, May 18
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- LA Galaxy Fall 3-2 on the Road to the Philadelphia Union at Subaru Park on Wednesday Night
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