that looms as the most im-
portant test of the season for
LAFC since Vela has scored
or assisted on 42 of the
team’s 74 goals this season.
Losing him for an ex-
tended period could prove
devastating.
But while LAFC was lick-
ing its wounds, Ibrahimovic
found little to celebrate in a
draw that left the Galaxy
tied for fourth in the Western
Conference table, just five
points from missing the
playoffs for a third straight
year.
“One point means noth-
ing,” he said.
His coach, whose team
has won only one of its last
six games, disagreed.
“We played a great first
half,” Guillermo Barros Sch-
elotto said in Spanish. “Our
first objective is to get to the
playoffs. We still have seven
games left. We’re going to be
in this fight to the finish.”
The Galaxy certainly
fought to the finish Sunday
despite nearly letting the
game get away in a second
half in which they were out-
shot 13-2 and failed to put a
shot on goal. So it fell to Ga-
laxy goalkeeper David Bing-
ham to keep the numbers on
the scoreboard equal, mak-
ing seven saves.
“They haven’t got us yet,”
Galaxy midfielder
Sebastian Lletget said.
“We’re walking away with a
point. It’s a positive.”
Last summer’s El Trafico
at Banc of California was
marred by several scuffles
between fans of the teams in
and around the stadium. To
avoid a repeat, LAFC
doubled the security force to
approximately 800.
The game wasn’t even
two minutes old before
Ibrahimovic put the Galaxy
in front, slicing between de-
fenders Eddie Segura and
Steven Beitashour to collect
a Cristian Pavon pass inside
the penalty area, then
putting a left-footed shot
just inside the left post.
LAFC’s Latif Blessingmatched that 10 minutes lat-
er, heading in a one-handed
clearance from Bingham at
the far post. But the tie
didn’t last long with Ibrahi-
movic, then Pavon, scoring a
minute apart to give the Ga-
laxy a two-goal lead after
just 16 minutes.
The Pavon score was his
first in MLS while Ibrahi-
movic’s brace gave him 22
goals this year, matching histotal from last season. He
also has six in his last three
games, and he celebrated
both scores Sunday by strik-
ing a Megan Rapinoe-like
victory pose, facing the
LAFC supporters’ section
with his hands held wide,
high about his head.
It was just the second
time this season LAFC (19-
3-5) had faced a two-goal
deficit — the first coming
against the Galaxy (13-11-3)
five weeks ago. Blessing cut
the advantage to 3-2 in first-
half stoppage time, pounc-
ing on the rebound of a
blocked shot to give LAFC a
boost heading into halftime.
Vela needed eight min-
utes of the second half to find
the equalizer, beating Bing-
ham with a left-footed shot
from the right wing for his
MLS-best 27th goal of the
season. Eight minutes laterhe was subbed off, a move
that appeared to pain him
more than his hamstring
did. Vela angrily threw his
captain’s armband to the
ground, then punched at a
row of water bottles behind
the bench.
LAFC kept the pressure
up without Vela, taking 11
shots after he left, although
none of them got past Bing-
ham. But for LAFC coach
Bob Bradley, whose team’s
five-game winning streak
was snapped, the problem
wasn’t with how the game
ended, but how it started.
“Early in the game we
didn’t make plays,” he said.
In the bigger picture,
Bradley said he’s trying to
build something that will en-
dure beyond one half or even
one season. And the Galaxy
are making that difficult.
“To be something that’sreally going to stand, that’s
not easy,” he said. “This
thing of beating the Galaxy,
that hasn’t come easy.”Galaxy and LAFC duel to a 3-3 draw
CARLOS VELA,MLS’ top scorer, celebrates his tying 27th goal with LAFC teammates before exiting with an injury in the second half.Myung J. ChunLos Angeles Times[Soccer,from D1]
LATIMES.COM/SPORTS S MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2019D7
SEPTEMBER 10, 7:30PM | LA MEMORIAL COLISEUM
GET TICKETS ATBRAZIL PERU
v
s
SOCCER
WEST W L T PtsGFGA
LAFC.....................19 3 5 62 74 29
Real Salt Lake.........13 10 4 43 40 34
Seattle...................12 8 7 43 42 40
Minnesota ..............12 9 6 42 44 36
GALAXY..................13 11 3 42 38 41
San Jose................12 10 5 41 45 43
FC Dallas ...............11 10 7 40 44 37
Portland .................11 11 4 37 42 40
Sporting Kansas City ..9 11 7 34 40 45
Houston...................9 14 4 31 38 48
Colorado ..................7 14 6 27 43 54
Vancouver................6 13 9 27 28 48
EAST W L T PtsGFGA
Atlanta...................15 9 3 48 46 30
Philadelphia ...........14 8 6 48 51 41
New York City FC......13 5 8 47 48 33
New York ................12 11 5 41 47 42
D.C. United.............10 10 9 39 36 38
New England..........10 9 8 38 40 46
Toronto ..................10 10 7 37 43 44
Montreal................10 14 4 34 40 52
Orlando ...................9 12 7 34 35 36
Chicago ...................8 12 9 33 43 42
Columbus ................8 15 6 30 32 43
Cincinnati.................5 19 3 18 27 64
Three points for a win, one for a tie.STANDINGS
ger of ending in crushing
disappointment.
Coach Bob Bradley
described what Vela sus-
tained as a “hamstring
tweak.”
“I don’t think it’s a real
bad one,” Bradley said,
tapping his knuckles on the
table at which he was seated
for the postgame news
conference.
However, Bradley ac-
knowledged he wouldn’t be
certain about the condition
of his star player until the
team receives the results of
the MRI examination Vela is
scheduled to undergo on
Monday.
“Carlos, in just over a
year and a half or whatever,
every now and then, he will
feel a little something that’s
tight,” Bradley said. “It
hasn’t ended up being any-
thing bad yet. Hopefully,
that’s the case.”
Vela was removed from
the match in the 61st min-
ute, eight minutes after he
scored to erase what re-
mained of a 3-1 deficit. The
team’s medical staff had
checked on him earlier.
His body language con-
veyed the belief he could
have continued. Upon his
departure, Vela looked
down the sideline at Bradley
with his arms outstretched.
As Vela neared the LAFC
bench, Bradley placed an
arm around the striker and
spoke a few words to him.
Before taking a seat, Vela
punched the padded chair.
His frustration had to be
shared by the segment of
the home crowd that under-
stood the potential implica-
tions of what happened.
LAFC has an unusually
talented group of players,
especially for this league,
and a proactive system that
permits them to flourish.
But Vela is the reason an
LAFC team that would
otherwise be very good is
great.
A legitimate world-class
player who was seriously
courted by Barcelona of
Spain in the offseason, Vela
can change the complexion
of a game on his own, pro-
viding the LAFC with an
alternative form of attack
when its collective approach
fails.
As much as Vela and
LAFC downplayed the
injury after the game, the
reality is that there is no
such thing as a minor ham-
string problem. Injuries like
this linger. Even if they
aren’t severe enough to
sideline a player, they can
slow him down.
Without Vela at full
speed, LAFC isn’t LAFC.
Until Vela was replaced
by newly acquired Brian
Rodriguez, the match was
shaping into a showcase of
LAFC’s superior depth.
With Vela scoring his
league-leading 27th goal in
the 53rd minute to level the
game at 3-3, Bradley’s team
overcame a nightmare start
to secure a point.
LAFC encountered
trouble developing an offen-
sive rhythm in the first half,
with Jonathan dos Santos
blocking passing lanes and
making timely tackles in the
midfield for the Galaxy.
The home team also
failed to keep track of the
Galaxy’s new attacker,
Cristian Pavon, allowing
him to carry the ball into the
final third of the field in the
second minute and set up
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s open-
ing goal.
Latif Blessing headed in
a close-range rebound in the
12th minute to level the
score, but another defensivemistake by LAFC in the 15th
minute permitted the Ga-
laxy to reclaim the lead.
Fabio Alvarez played a ball
over the top to Ibrahimovic,
who was in offside position,
but the play was allowed to
go on because the ball went
off the top of the head of
leaping defender Walker
Zimmerman. Ibrahimovic
danced around goalkeeper
Tyler Miller and put the
Galaxy back in front 2-1.
Zimmerman was in-
volved in the next goal as
well, as Pavon cut inside of
him from the left flank in the
16th minute and unleashed
a low shot that beat Miller to
the near post.
Dos Santos noticeably
slowed down as the game
progressed. LAFC found
more gaps in front of its
opponent’s back line, from
which it was able to play the
ball wide and take advan-
tage of the Galaxy’s weak
outside backs. A cross by
Steven Beitashour from the
right end line in first-half
stoppage time resulted in
another loose ball in front of
the goal that Blessing con-
verted for a goal.
It was only a matter of
time before LAFC tied the
score. Vela performed the
honors, taking a feed from
Mark-Anthony Kaye on the
right side of the penalty box
and slanting a shot by goal-
keeper David Bingham.
The stadium erupted
with cheers.
By the end of the night,
however, none of those
details mattered as much.
What was important, what
would determine where
LAFC would go from here,
was something that re-
mained unknown.LAFC is just not same
team without star Vela
THE GALAXY’SSebastian Lletget, left, and LAFC’s
Latif Blessing battle for the ball in Sunday’s match.Myung J. ChunLos Angeles TimesLAFC 3, GALAXY 3
LAFC.......................................................2 1—3
GALAXY...................................................3 0—3
LAFC, Blessing, 5, 12th; 3, Galaxy, Ibrahimovic, 22
(Alvarez), 15th; 4, Galaxy, Pavon, 1 (Alvarez), 16th; 5,
LAFC, Blessing, 6, 45th+1.
Second half—6, LAFC, Vela, 27 (Kaye), 53rd.
Goalies—Galaxy, David Bingham, Matt Lampson;
LAFC, Tyler Miller, Pablo Sisniega.
Yellow Cards—Skjelvik, Galaxy, 28th; Gonzalez, Ga-
laxy, 51st; Alvarez, Galaxy, 81st; Carrasco, Galaxy, 84th;
Ibrahimovic, Galaxy, 84th.
Referee—Allen Chapman. Assistant Referees—Brian
Poeschel, Nick Uranga, Edvin Jurisevic. 4th Official—
Michael Radchuk.
A—22,757.
Lineups:
LAFC—Tyler Miller, Steven Beitashour, Eddie Segura,
Walker Zimmerman, Jordan Harvey, Eduard Atuesta,
Latif Blessing, Mark Anthony Kaye, Carlos Vela(Brian
Rodriguez, 61st), Diego Rossi(Josh Perez, 86th), Adama
Diomande.
GALAXY—David Bingham, Jorgen Skjelvik(Dave
Romney, 46th), Diego Polenta, Giancarlo Gonzalez, Rolf
Feltscher, Uriel Antuna(Joe Corona, 56th), Favio Alvarez,
Sebastian Lletget, Jonathan Dos Santos(Servando Car-
rasco, 82nd), Cristian Pavon, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.[Hernandez, from D1]