LOS ANGELES (Monday, Nov. 1, 2021) – In their 2021 MLS regular-season road finale, the LA Galaxy earned a 1-1 draw against Seattle Sounders FC at Lumen Field on Monday night. Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez notched his team-leading 15th goal of the season, while Nick DePuy and Sebastian Lletget each registered assists in the Galaxy’s first result on the road against Seattle in regular-season play dating back to Sept. 10, 2017.
LA Galaxy Playoff Picture
With one match remaining in their 2021 MLS regular-season campaign the LA Galaxy (13-12-8, 47 points, -4 GD) moved up to sixth place in the Western Conference standings, two points behind the fourth-place Portland Timbers (15-13-4, 49 points, -1 GD), one point behind fifth-place Minnesota United FC (13-11-9, 48 points, -2 GD) and level on points with seventh-place Vancouver Whitecaps FC (12-9-11, 47 points, 0 GD). Additionally, Real Salt Lake (13-13-6, 45 points, +2 GD) sit below the playoff line in eighth place, while LAFC (12-12-8, 44 points, 5 GD) rest in ninth place in the Western Conference.
Goal-Scoring Plays
LA – Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez (Nick DePuy, Sebastian Lletget), 19th minute: Nick DePuy flicked on Sebastian Lletget’s in-swinging corner kick service to Chicharito, whose back-heel shot from the center of the six-yard box beat Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei.
SEA – Raúl Ruidíaz (Penalty Kick), 50th minute: Ruidíaz’s chipped attempt from the penalty spot was floated into the left side of the net.
PostGame Comments
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH GREG VANNEY
On his thoughts following the draw against Seattle:
“Big picture, I was pleased with how the team played. We were hard to break down, especially in the first half. I think they were confused as to how to break us down and I thought we had some decent run at them. We got the goal and we could have maybe got a second goal in that stretch when they were there. Then they started to loosen up a little bit with some of their movement and obviously they got a little bit more of the possession, and at times pinned us in a little bit deeper. But I thought for good stretches, aside from some set-pieces, by and large we were fairly in control of things and fairly comfortable. We had to do a little bit of work, but fairly comfortable. I thought we had a little bit of a hard time sometimes getting out of our defensive shape in the transition to be able to then go from our defensive shape into a good attacking shape where we could keep possession of the ball. I thought we would have a little bit more of the ball over the course of the night than we did. Some of that was I thought we hesitated too long just to get the ball off of our foot. We were looking for a better pass when the clear pass was in front of us. Against a team like Seattle, you’ve got to move the ball quickly and when you do that you can get them discombobulated in some of their pressure and you get some possession and you can get some movement. But I thought we were just hesitating on the ball a little bit too long at times, which got us pinned into areas of the field that meant we turned over balls that we would have liked to have not turnover which meant more defending. But I thought we had some good chances down the stretch. On the goal, it’s something that we talked about all week going into this was [Cristian] Roldan’s run outs from midfield and just his willingness to keep running and to make sure that we always had someone to deal with that. Ideally, that was kind of why Fish [Oniel Fisher] was in. He was sitting in a little bit deeper and hoping to manage the run outs and to help us defend a little bit more. Unfortunately, he got on the wrong side of that and made kind of a hasty play at the end that ends up being a penalty. Aside from that, they had a couple of free kick, set-piece chances that were obviously close. It was an incredible save from Bondy [Jonathan Bond] from point blank on the header. We had a couple of decent looks, especially on the transition where we just don’t get the final pass that we need. We don’t get the play that we need to try to make a difference. We had one right in front of the goal of our own set piece again. There were chances for us to win it. It’s hard to say we should have won it, but we certainly could have won it and that’s what we were trying to do. We were trying to protect ourselves, but at the same time set ourselves up to take the three points if we could. But the one point could prove valuable, but we don’t know yet. We’ll see. We know what we have to do when we come home. We’re in front of our fans in we’re in our stadium and the picture is clear as to what we need to do.”
On what it meant to have Chicharito back after missing the last match:
“He’s a guy that can independently think on the field and read situations and recognize what’s dangerous in games when you need that. When things are adapting, and the other team is moving players into different areas of the field, he was super committed to not allowing midfielders to get on the ball and face forward between lines and the work that he was doing on the defensive side to condense space and crowd them up was enormous for us. His ability to hold up play sometimes when we needed to get out in transition because we were sitting in a lower block was huge for us. He’s savvy, he’s smart, he can adapt in the game and it’s important that you can do that. We missed that last week because it becomes very rigid sometimes with our younger players who are still learning things tactically. You almost need somebody around them telling them where they should be and that doesn’t happen fast enough. When he can do it on his own and people can read off of him, it just helps us such a great deal. I know he would have liked a chance to really finish it off to get the second one, but he did an incredible amount of work.”
On Jonathan Bond’s save in stoppage time and the vibe of the team heading into Sunday’s regular-season finale against Minnesota:
“When I saw him up rising and it came off his head, I was concerned. Yes. It all happened so fast that I’m not even sure if my heart had time to even stop, but yes; I was certainly concerned. When we came back home after two good results and that third game against Dallas… I thought if we could win it, we really would put ourselves in a good position to get in with just something down the stretch. When we didn’t win that game, then I felt the two games away in Kansas City and then Seattle were going to be really tough games and it was going to come down to the game at home because we were going to battle it out with Minnesota for one of the spots. I felt like the way it was going, it was there. There were some games along the stretch at home for sure that we needed to take some of the points that were there for us at home and would have probably made us a little more comfortable down it. This whole stretch has been really good for this team. I know it’s not been comfortable, but in terms of trying to grow as a group we have to play in some of these pressure games and now we’ve got to play in a really big game, which is essentially a playoff game. It’s a knockout game. That’s what it is. It’s the old fashioned knockout.. One and move on, or one and done. This is going to be a great experience for this group of players together to go home and try to get this done.”
LA GALAXY GOALKEEPER JONATHAN BOND
On whether or not he thinks this is a match the club should have won against Seattle:
“We definitely had the chances to win it. We had a lot of chances. I mean Seba’s [Sebastian Lletget] chance before halftime and then straight after halftime we had a chance from a corner and then even actually my save we’re just one good pass away from winning 2-1. But at the same time, in the balance of the game I thought they dominated the second half to be honest and we just had to be resolute, stand strong and hold them to a point.”
On what he saw on his save in stoppage time:
“It was a good ball, it was flat and the guy just met it perfectly. It was straight on his head. It was an instinctive reaction and then I was just relieved it hit the bar and went to Nick [DePuy], who cleared it. And then I thought we were going to score. I thought we were going to score on the counter attack and that we would really be flying then. Obviously it was an important moment and an important point.”
On the team’s regular-season finale against Minnesota on Sunday:
I do think we made progress, especially since the last game we were here. They were way better than us and they beat us 3-0, and today we could have two or three up before they got a hold of the game. So from that point of view, it was definitely an improvement. I still think we have a lot of improving to do. We have a lot of young players, a lot of new players and we’re trying to build something that’s not just for here and now. We’re not in a bad place. I think the point today was actually a big point. A lot of teams would probably look at us and see that we lost to Kansas [City] and we’ve got to go away at Seattle, who are chasing first place and they’ve got [Nicolas] Lodeiro back, [Jordan] Morris is back, Ruidíaz is playing and everyone is fit and playing and we’ve gone and stepped up and earned an important point.”
LA Galaxy (13-12-8, 47pts) at Seattle Sounders FC (17-8-8, 59pts)
Nov. 1, 2021 – Lumen Field (Seattle, Wash.)
Goals by Half 1 2 F
LA Galaxy 1 0 1
Seattle Sounders FC 0 1 1
Scoring Summary:
LA: Chicharito (DePuy, Lletget), 19
SEA: Ruidíaz (penalty kick), 50
Misconduct Summary:
SEA: Rowe (caution), 66
LA: Bond (caution), 81
LA: Grandsir (caution), 90+1
LA: Steres (caution), 90+3
Lineups:
LA: GK Jonathan Bond; D Julian Araujo, D Nick DePuy, D Derrick Williams, D Oniel Fisher; M Efrain Álvarez (Samuel Grandsir, 63), M Jonathan dos Santos © (Sacha Kljestan, 78), M Rayan Raveloson, M Sebastian Lletget (Victor Vázquez, 63); F Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez (Daniel Steres, 88), F Kévin Cabral
Substitutes Not Used: GK Jonathan Klinsmann; D Niko Hämäläinen, D Jorge Villafaña; M Adam Saldaña, F Dejan Joveljić
TOTAL SHOTS: 9 (Rayan Raveloson, 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Rayan Raveloson, 2); FOULS: 17 (Sebastian Lletget, 4); OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 2
SEA: GK Stefan Frei; D Xavier Arreaga, D Nouhou (Shane O’Neill, 45), D Brad Smith (Nicolas Benezet, 73), D Yeimar Gomez; M Joao Paulo, M Cristian Roldan, M Nicolas Lodeiro © (Fredy Montero, 73), M Alex Roldan, M Kelyn Rowe; F Raúl Ruidíaz (Jordan Morris, 50)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Stefan Cleveland; D Abdoulaye Cissoko, M Josh Atencio, M Leo Chu, M Danny Leyva
TOTAL SHOTS: 12 (Raúl Ruidíaz, 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (Raúl Ruidíaz, 2); FOULS: 11 (Kelyn Rowe, 3); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 3
Referee: Joe Dickerson
Assistant Referees: Cameron Blanchard, Jeff Hosking
Fourth Official: Ramy Touchan
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero
Weather: Light rain, 47 degrees
Attendance: 32,781
All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial
Next Game
Next up, the Galaxy play host to Minnesota United FC in their regular-season finale at Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday, Nov. 7; kickoff is set for 3:00 p.m. PT.
