LOS ANGELES (Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021) – In their 2021 MLS Regular-Season home finale, the LA Galaxy battled Minnesota United FC to a 3-3 draw, but did not qualify for the Audi 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs before 23,803 fans at Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday night. Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez registered a brace, while Sebastian Lletget notched his third goal of the season.
LA Galaxy 2021 Season in Review
The LA Galaxy (13-12-9, 48 points) finished the 2021 MLS Regular Season in eighth place in the Western Conference standings, but did not qualify for the Audi 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs. LA held an 8-4-5 record in 17 games played at Dignity Health Sports Park, while holding a 5-8-4 record in 17 games played on the road this season. Individually, Chicharito led the club and finished tied for third in the league with 17 goals scored in 21 games played (20 starts). Notably, Chicharito registered 10 goals in 10 games played at Dignity Health Sports Park this season. Julian Araujo led the Galaxy in minutes played (2,797), games started (32) and assists (7) in his third season with the club. Victor Vázquez finished second on the team in assists (6), while Kevin Cabral, Sacha Klejstan and Rayan Raveloson finished tied for second on the team in goals scored (5). Notably, Chicharito, Araujo and Sebastian Lletget were named 2021 MLS All-Stars.
Galaxy Announce 2021 Team Awards
The Galaxy announced the recipients of the club’s 2021 team awards following the conclusion of the 2021 MLS Regular Season. Chicharito was named the 2021 LA Galaxy Player of the Year, presented by Herbalife Nutrition, in addition to claiming Golden Boot honors. Additionally, Araujo was named the Defender of the Year and Humanitarian of the Year.
PostGame Comments
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH GREG VANNEY
On tonight’s game:
“We were a little bit naïve on the night. We gave up two goals off our attacking corner kicks that turned into transitions where the ball breaks out. We have opportunity to foul and end the play and get everybody behind the ball, and we naively just try to defend it, which is nice and it's honest and all that stuff. But that's not what tonight is about or any other game. You foul the opposition. It's in your half of the field, you get behind the ball and you live to fight another day and instead we allow them to break out. We don't deal with the play and that happens twice. The other goal is off of another set piece. So I think we get ourselves down 2-0 in a game that you must win, and it means you're battling hard just to get back into the game to give yourselves a chance. I give the guy’s credit. They battled back, got ourselves back into it. But we couldn't survive the naive plays tonight and we couldn't survive the naive sort of plays over the course of the season that cost us goals and it becomes, you know, one point. You can go through the course of the season and think of the plays. That could have been the difference in the end, after 34 games and all the plays that you have over the course of 90 minutes for 34 games plus stoppage time and everything else you can think of all the moments where it could have been should have been. But at the end of it all, we didn't. We didn't do enough. I appreciate the guys’ effort. They battled and they fought, but at the end of the day we have to defend better. We have to defend our goal; we have to execute and we scored three goals. I mean, if you score three goals, you got to win games and we didn't. And that's a problem. That's why we're here.
On the last final minutes when the team realized Real Salt Lake had scored and the reaction to that:
“Yeah, I mean, there was a stretch, we were still pressing, and we felt like it was important to win the game. As I said, the last couple of days in MLS, you never know what's going to happen down the stretch and you are pressing to win the game but you also don't want to expose yourself to lose the game and so I was trying to find that balance within our group. And then we found out right about the start of stoppage time for us. I think that the scenario had switched. So then trying to get that message on the field to throw caution to the wind and try to get the ball forward, I think we still ended up having a couple of decent looks even in that stretch in stoppage time, but obviously not enough to get what we needed. But that's about when we found it out, we had some, we had messaging coming down, you know, and so we were obviously in a good spot and we were in a playoff spot until then.”
On what the final minutes were like and never being out of the playoff line all season until stoppage time:
“Yeah, you know, I think I almost blew my lid when we gave up the penalty kick because I was again another self-inflicted wound that was just completely unnecessary and we were fortunate that he misses it, which gives us a lifeline. Yeah. And then, you know, as you said, during that little stretch of time from when that happened until a stoppage, we were still trying to figure out a way to get a goal, but without exposing ourselves to keep us in it. Obviously, we couldn't get the goal and when we found out it was another like kind of an oh crap moment. here we go, we've got to throw caution to the wind, we got to get the ball forward, we got to get everybody on the same page because it wasn't it wasn't much before that when I was telling them just right to control themselves a little bit and to play smart to not give away another goal. But to still play forward, still try to execute, still try to get the next goal, but without doing silly things. So yeah, it's just a lot of emotions down the end, a lot of ups and downs, a lot of shifts, and you're trying to give the group the right information. They're emotionally invested and exhausted in some ways and trying to push through whatever they have. So it just becomes one of those moments where again, as you said, we're in a playoff spot the entire season, we spent five minutes of the season not in the playoffs, and now we're out and that's, you know, that comes down to again, execution over 34 games.”
On what has he learned about this group this season and the club’s outlook for next season:
“Yeah, you know. I think I would probably be better emotionally and in a better position to answer that question in a couple of days you know, after a game. I think it was a season of meeting a bunch of new players, learning new players, adding guys along the way, trying to figure out, you know, when you scout and you look for players and you put them on the field together, you have a vision for what you want things to look like and positions for guys to play and all that. But then you start to work with the personalities and work with the guys and you figure out, you know, Javier [Hernandez] has been more effective over the course of the season, with a second forward near him creating space and moving. And he's, you know, things like that. So it's been a learning process, both about them on the field at times, but also just on, you know, handling these big moments, handling the expectations of being with the Galaxy that come with that and also for guys to learn our league and to understand, you know, how to get results in our league, but also how each game matters, even in a playoff scenario, in a playoff environment where you don't really go, get too heavy into the feeling of the table till the end. But every game, every point from the beginning to the middle to the end matters. And that's something that this group will learn for sure today. And this moment right now, you learn that everything matters in this league. And just because you're in a table or in a, you know, a playoff environment, there's never a moment that doesn't matter. So I think this is an unfortunate lesson for this, for all of us, myself included. This is an unfortunate lesson, but it's one that we have to take forward and use to grow from.”
On his thoughts on the season:
“Well, I think there's a couple of ways. From the perspective of coming to the Galaxy and you always want to be and expect to be in your own way. And also for me, it's there's only one solution and that's to win. And so any time you don't win for me it, it feels like failure. It doesn't matter if it's the first game of the year or the third game. I get gross anxiety when we lose, like that drives me crazy. And so to not make the playoffs, this is going to drive me crazy for ten months until we can get back to the opportunity to be in the playoffs. Because this is for me, it's not who I am, and it kills me. And I'd say that for a lot of the guys, but we're learning this. In terms of the other side of the league, I think we picked, to be honest, a really challenging year to try to rebuild a team. That's the honest truth. And we said that at the beginning when we started the project of rebuilding the group. The reason is, from a scouting perspective at the beginning of the year, you don't have the opportunity to go and see players everywhere and meet with them. And for the six months before that, you don't really have that process in place because of the pandemic. So, we knew there was a little bit of risk to try to rebuild the roster going into a season like this. Second, it's delayed and, you know, by the congestion of the roster and the way the national team windows are set up and all those things that you're going to have stops and starts through the season where you're going to have less time on the training field, more games back to back to back. And so, you're going to have a difficult time pulling a team together and getting guys here. I don't need to get into the details of that. You guys know all the details, but we picked a difficult year to try to rebuild a team. We also picked a difficult year to try to go young and to try to invest in our future by bringing in young players and developing them and bringing them along so that we have a sustainable success down the road. And so, yeah, that ultimately some of that may maybe caught up with us in the end. But I think the investment is of our time and energy this season for where we're trying to go is going to be worth it. I know it's hard for any of us to see that in this moment, but I really, I do. I've seen growth in some of our players over the course of this season. They're getting more settled. They understand now what 34 games looks like in MLS. Will be able to have a pre-season together. We had ten or eleven players who weren't even a part of our pre-season to prepare for this this season. So, there's a lot of things that we put that were challenging for ourselves that I think we'll be more settled going into next year. But at the end of the day, when we end like this, it’s not good enough for me, and I'm sure for a lot of other people.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD JAVIER “CHICHARITO” HERNANDEZ
On what he wishes went differently:
“There's going to be time to see in which part we didn't do well enough. It's obviously that we didn’t deserve to be in the playoffs, that’s why it didn’t happen. Regardless of some stuff that I've been listening about the VAR in another game in a goal or something like that, that it's incredible. But I mean, yeah, there's going to be time. Right now, the only thing that I have in my feelings, in my mind and my brain and in everything is like, it hurts. It hurts when you give everything to something, it hurts. I'm very hurt. I feel sorry for myself, for the whole organization, for the whole family, for the fans, for the media, for everyone. You know, it's like, Yeah, we need to learn that this are the lessons. Sometimes we as a humans, we don't want to go through because sometimes when you don't have a guarantee, you don't want to give everything you know. And I think that's something that we did as a family. We did everything that we can.
We dreamed. We set a goal, we couldn't achieve it. It is a very important lesson, very painful one. And yeah, we need to move forward.”
On his thoughts on the season:
“Sometimes football is like that, in an unfair way when they measure you, of course, there's a lot of improvement. The manager, like I said in the first week when Greg [Vanney] came in, like we all took responsibility comparing last year, you know, from sorry from the owners to the staff, we all did better, we all improved. And yeah, of course, there's a lot of stuff that we did much, much better than in the last season. I don't I want to [play] the victim and I don't want to solve these things, but as well, I don't want to dramatize it more. But the thing is, we need to realize that we are the LA Galaxy. You know, the aspirations and accountability are massive, it’s huge. We are the biggest organization of MLS. We are the most successful for a reason. So we need level up all of our standards, starting from me. All of us learn, grow and whoever doesn't have that in mind shouldn't be in this organization, you know, starting from me. We need to give all; we need to give everything. We need to be proud. We need to be at the level of the LA Galaxy family member.”
On his message to fans:
“Simple, that we are sorry and we're going to be better next season. We can’t change anything. We accept and we understand that they're disappointed. We are the first ones that are feeling that. So we are we very sorry and we're going to be better next season.”
Goal-Scoring Plays
MIN – Adrien Hunou (Ronald Métanire), 22nd minute: In transition, Adrien Hunou received the ball near the left side of the penalty area and clipped his shot over Jonathan Bond into the back of the net.
MIN – Robin Lod (Michael Boxall, Bakaye Dibassy), 34th minute: Following a corner kick, Robin Lod latched onto Michael Boxall’s flicked header and fired his shot into the top corner from close range.
LA – Sebastian Lletget (Kévin Cabral, Rayan Raveloson), 45+1st minute: Dribbling down the right side of the field, Raveloson picked out Cabral on the left side of the penalty area. Cabral quickly played the ball across the face of goal to Lletget, who buried his shot from close range.
LA – Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez (Julian Araujo, Victor Vázquez), 51st minute: Attacking down the right flank, Julian Araujo’s low, hard cross into the box found Chicharito, who hit a one-timed shot into the bottom left corner of the goal.
MIN – Own Goal (Julian Araujo), 62nd minute: Hunou’s pass across the face of goal was knocked in by Julian Araujo.
LA – Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, 75th minute: After Chicharito’s shot inside the penalty area was blocked, he was first to the rebound and laced his right-footed shot underneath Tyler Miller.
Postgame Notes
Following the draw against Minnesota, the LA Galaxy finished in eighth place in the Western Conference standings, but did not qualify for the Audi 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs.
Sunday’s match marked the ninth MLS regular-season meeting between LA and Minnesota, with the Galaxy leading the series 5-1-3.
In four all-time meetings at Dignity Health Sports Park between LA and Minnesota, the Galaxy hold an unbeaten record (2-0-2).
Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez tallied a brace against Minnesota, finishing tied for third in the league with 17 goals scored in 21 games played (20 starts).
The brace marked Chicharito’s fourth multi-goal game of the 2021 campaign.
In 10 games played at Dignity Health Sports Park in 2021, Chicharito tallied 10 goals.
Chicharito finished third in MLS in goals per 90 minutes played (0.88) with a minimum of 600 minutes played, behind only D.C. United’s Ola Kamara (0.94) and LAFC’s Cristian Arango (0.90).
Notably, Chicharito tallied five goals in his last six appearances dating back to Oct. 16.
Julian Araujo notched his seventh assist of the 2021 season.
Araujo finished the match with a team-high four chances created against the Loons.
Sebastian Lletget registered his third goal of the 2021 campaign.
Victor Vázquez tallied his sixth assist in his first season with LA in the match against Minnesota.
Samuel Grandsir was the only player on the Galaxy roster to appear in every match this season (34 games played).
Rayan Raveloson registered five goals and one assist in 22 games played (22 starts) in his first season with the Galaxy.
Kévin Cabral, who tallied an assist against Minnesota, finished his first season in LA with five goals and two assists in 28 games played (24 starts).
LA Galaxy (13-12-9, 48pts) vs. Minnesota United FC (13-11-10, 49pts)
Nov. 7, 2021 – Dignity Health Sports Park (Los Angeles)
Goals by Half 1 2 F
LA Galaxy 1 2 3
Minnesota United FC 2 1 3
Scoring Summary:
MIN: Hunou (Métanire), 22
MIN: Lod (Boxall, Dibassy), 34
LA: Lletget (Cabral, Raveloson), 45+1
LA: Chicharito (Araujo, Vázquez), 51
MIN: Own Goal (Araujo), 62
LA: Chicharito, 75
Misconduct Summary:
MIN: Dibassy (caution), 2
LA: Araujo (caution), 41
MIN: Reynoso (caution), 73
Lineups:
LA: GK Jonathan Bond; D Julian Araujo, D Nick DePuy, D Derrick Williams, D Oniel Fisher (Niko Hämäläinen, 39); M Victor Vázquez (Efrain Alvarez, 85), M Jonathan dos Santos © (Sacha Kljestan, 69), M Rayan Raveloson, M Sebastian Lletget (Samuel Grandsir, 68); F Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, F Kévin Cabral
Substitutes Not Used: GK Jonathan Klinsmann; D Daniel Steres, D Jorge Villafaña; M Adam Saldaña; F Dejan Joveljić
TOTAL SHOTS: 16 (Chicharito, 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 10 (Chicharito, 3); FOULS: 13 (Four players tied, 2); OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 1
MIN: GK Tyler Miller; D Bakaye Dibassy, D Michael Boxall ©, D Romaine Metanire, D Chase Gaspar; M Franco Fragapane, M Emanuel Reynoso (Brent Kallman, 90), M Robin Lod (Fanendo Adi, 90+5), M Wil Trapp, M Hassani Dotson; F Adrien Hunou (Ethan Finlay, 76)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Dayne St. Clair; D Brent Kallman; M Jukka Raitala, M Jacori Hayes, M Jan Gregus, M Niko Hansen, M Joseph Rosales
TOTAL SHOTS: 21 (Emanuel Reynoso, 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (Three players tied, 1); FOULS: 9 (Bakaye Dibassy, 3); OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 7; SAVES: 7
Referee: Kevin Stott
Assistant Referees: Kyle Atkins, Jeremy Hanson
Fourth Official: Brandon Stevis
VAR: Edvin Jurisevic
Weather: Clear, 59 degrees
Attendance: 23,803
All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial
