A nearly full-strength LA Galaxy side powered past a reserve-laden LAFC 2-0 Tuesday night, in a muted Open Cup version of El Tráfico at BMO Stadium.
Tyler Boyd and Riqui Puig scored second half goals three minutes apart to put the Galaxy into the Quarterfinals. The Galaxy will travel to face the winner of the Colorado Rapids and Real Salt Lake match on June 6 or 7.
In much of the first half, it was the young LAFC who looked to be the better of the two sides, forcing Galaxy goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsman into action repeatedly, creating 11 shots with five on target. After a shaky start, Klinsman was credited with six saves en route to the clean sheet.
TYLER LOVES AN EL TRÁFICO GOAL ????
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) May 24, 2023
Tyler Boyd with the stunner to make it 1-0 against LAFC! pic.twitter.com/4nWcUgOw9Z
But it was the Galaxy who threatened seriously first, just past the half hour mark, when Chicharito nearly got on the end of a quick counter attack. Chicharito was forced wide by LAFC’s 38-year-old reserve goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic for a harmless goal kick. But LAFC was not fully able to recover from the Galaxy’s quick counter, surrendering possession almost immediately.
The loss of possession forced LAFC’s Erik Dueñas—one of two teenagers playing in LAFC’s back line on the night—to clumsily bring down the Galaxy’s Gastón Brugman in the penalty area. Riqui Puig’s weak penalty kick attempt that followed was easily stopped by Jakupovic and cleared to safety keeping the score 0-0 going into halftime.
LAFC seemed to pick up where they left of at the halftime whistle, forcing Klinsman to turn away two quick chances immediately following the start of the second half. Then Boyd, a halftime substitute, put the Galaxy in the lead in the 49th minute with a spectacular blast from just inside the penalty area off a clever feed from Mark Delgado. It was Boyd’s second goal since joining the Galaxy at the start of the season. His first MLS goal was also against LAFC in the Galaxy’s 3-2 loss on May 16.
“Yeah, it was nice,” said Galaxy head coach and sporting director Greg Vanney. “Again, that’s one of the objectives of this group is to get the first goal. It was nice to get it so early, as you said, I think that frees up the group a little bit as well. And Julián , when the ball popped out, he took a great first touch and he had a good look and a good angle, and he got a hold of it. Very happy for him. Obviously since arriving, he’s done a great job and so for him to get a goal I know felt good for him so, but it also felt good for the team to get on the right side of the game early on and play from a good position.”
Our midfield magician ????@RiquiPuig doubles the lead over LAFC! pic.twitter.com/sTkjLyWmlw
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) May 24, 2023
Three minutes later, Riqui Puig doubled the visitor’s advantage with a Maradona-like run that started with the ball from inside the center circle. The Barcelona product sliced through the LAFC defense to poke the ball past a charging Jakupovic.
As LAFC opted to leave most of the club’s high-impact players off the gameday roster, LAFC was not able to mount any credible comeback attempts in the final half hour of the match.
“Well, you know if we would have had two days between now and the next one, then I would have done something a little bit different as they did,” said Vanney, when asked about if playing more of his starters would impact this weekend’s league game. “You know, in talking to Brian before the game, he was like ‘I wish I had an extra day like you, I would have done something a little bit different’ but whenever you have the full three-day rest or whatever, four days between games, then most guys recover, their normal, it’s a normal routine they’ve recovered and they’re ready to go to the next one. I think guys would love to do that all year long, because they wouldn’t have to train and they would just play and they would recover and play. When you get the three day, which we have next week, it becomes a little bit trickier. And so, for us, it was important that we get some rhythm.”
The big man with BIG saves ????
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) May 24, 2023
Klinsmann’s clean sheet performance is the @kinecta Moment of the Match. pic.twitter.com/ulK0kYxDiy
With the win, the Galaxy earn their 37th all-time Open Cup win, which ties them with the Seattle Sounders for third-most in the Modern Era (1995-present). The Galaxy also improve to 11-0-0 all-time against Southern California teams in the US Open Cup, including beating rival LAFC for a second year in a row.
