It was an opportunity lost for the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Having been given an unexpected prolonged break after its annual match with the San Jose Earthquakes at Stanford Stadium was postposed due to wildfires in that part of the state, the Galaxy hoped the extra time off would leave them with fresh legs and with it, an opportunity to put behind the sour taste of being upset in the US Open Cup by Sacramento Republic by getting a result against Minnesota United at Dignity Health Sports Park.
Unfortunately, it seemed like anything that could go wrong on Wednesday night did go wrong. First, the Galaxy fell behind in the match. Then, it fell a man down when Kevin Cabral was issued a very harsh red card. That was then followed up by two more first half goals, and while the Galaxy played until the end, it was still not enough to prevent a brutal loss, as Minnesota left Carson with the 3-2 result.
We were just not good enough, including myself, everyone,” Galaxy keeper Jonathan Bond said. “Red card aside, and for us to kind of rally and then come out in the second half with the second half two nil, it actually look like we could draw the game. And maybe if we would have scored a bit earlier, draw the game, or maybe even try and win it. From three nil down, it’s something positive that we can take. Yeah, it’s just at the moment, we’re getting punished. And you know, we had some chances that we didn’t convert, could have changed the game, but yeah, it’s we are in a bit of a moment where we need to show some character for sure.”
The Galaxy fell behind nine minutes in. Emmanuel Reynoso held the ball along the right of the field, then mad his move, first by making a cutting move inside towards the penalty area, then fired a left-footed volley that curled perfectly. The ball sailed past the outstretched right hand of keeper Jonathan Bond and into the far post net and in spectacular fashion, Minnesota United was up a goal.
As if falling behind a goal was not bad enough, the Galaxy found themselves down a man when Cabral was controversially sent off in the 25th minute. It started when the Galaxy’s Daniel Aguirre attempted a shot from distance that was stopped by Dayne St. Clair, though he spilled the ball back into play. Cabral raced in for a potential rebound chance, but St. Clair recovered and quickly covered up the ball, and Cabral jumped over St, Clair to avoid a collision. Cabral’s trailing foot however ended up bumping St. Clair in the forehead, and while there clearly was never any foul intent on Cabral’s part, referee Ted Unkel determined the bump to the forehead was enough to give Cabral a straight red card, much to the dismay of the Galaxy.
“So what I would ask to everyone is… Does VAR even matter if the mandate says this?” Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney said of the situation. “If that is in fact the case, which is what I was told from the fourth official, from everybody is it’s a mandate that this has to be a red card. So VAR is irrelevant in that situation they don’t even have a discretion. They don’t have an opinion, they don’t have any experience, it’s irrelevant, it’s a red card.”
Buoyed by the early lead, and having the man advantage, Minnesota quickly went on the attack. Minnesota doubled its lead in the 36th minute, as Luis Amarilla played a ball to the left side the Kemar Lawrence, who then one-timed a cross into the 18 and Fragapane slotted the sliding left-footed shot past Bond point blank into the back net. Minnesota capped off its surprising first half in the 43rd minute, as D.J. Taylor sprung Bongokuhle Hlongwane from the right side, Hlongwane touched a ball into the penalty area, made a cutting move, then tee’d up Reynoso with a ball inside the penalty area and Reynoso fired the left-footed shot past Bond, and Minnesota United went into halftime up 3-0.
The Galaxy did not go down without a fight in the second half. The Galaxy earned a trip to the penalty spot in the 59th minute, as Will Trapp clipped Efrain Alvarez inside the penalty area as Alvarez tried to make a cutting move past Trapp. Marky Delgado converted the penalty to cut into Minnesota’s lead. The Galaxy really made things interesting in stoppage time, first when Dejan Joveljic scored in the 93rd minute to pull the Galaxy within a goal, then seeing the match become 10 vs 10, as Minnesota’s Joseph Rosales picked up his second yellow car, resulting in an ejection, but it was too late for the Galaxy to do anything in the match.
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