If you didn’t watch Thursday’s LA Galaxy v Vancouver Whitecaps match, you definitely missed out. It produced an incredible comeback from the defending champions, LA Galaxy. Sure, you can’t compare it to Manchester City’s comeback against QPR in the final game of last season, but it was still a great comeback for LA.
LA Galaxy got off to a pretty bad start in this match when Vancouver Whitecaps scored early on. They scored in the 4th minute and it looked like their plan was to just defend for the rest of the match. LA Galaxy had some bad calls going against them. Minutes before HT, LA captain Landon Donovan was knocked down in the penalty area, but the ref didn’t see anything wrong and didn’t give LA a penalty. LA almost equalized thanks to David Beckham’s free kick. Unfortunately for LA, Vancouver’s keeper made a great save. At HT, it was 1-0 Vancouver, even though LA Galaxy had about 70% possession and had more shots on goal.
It looked like this was going to be a long night for LA Galaxy and their fans. Finally after waiting for what seemed like an eternity, LA Galaxy finally equalized in the 69th minute, thanks to Mike Magee. The whole stadium went crazy when he scored. LA was finally back in the game. Minutes later, Vancouver’s Jay DeMerit was subbed off and was replaced by Bonjour. Donovan was running towards goal and was brought down by Bonjour. LA was finally rewarded a penalty and LA’s captain stepped up to take it. Everyone in the stadium waited anxiously to see what would happen. Donovan didn’t let them down and scored LA’s second goal of the game (and eventual game winner). The stadium erupted and LA was finally in the lead. Vancouver had a few more chances to score, but luckily for LA fans, they were able to defend well and eventually won the game 2-1.
Next up for LA Galaxy is a match against their biggest rival, San Jose Earthquakes. The first match will be at the Home Depot Center on Sunday. The last time these two met, the game ended 2-2.
(image courtesy of lagalaxy.com)
