No player in Major League Soccer has scored more against a single opponent than Carlos Vela against the LA Galaxy since LAFC joined the league in 2018. His brace on Sunday extended this record to twelve goals in as many games for the Mexican against his biggest rival. Not a bad way to celebrate your anniversary, El Rey.
The captain wasn’t the only one celebrating in style. Fullback Ryan Hollingshead celebrated his 32nd birthday by scoring the first-ever LAFC game-winning goal in Carson, CA. “On your birthday you're always trying to do something special.” Hollingshead explained postgame, “I was trying to get in there and get a goal and it worked.”
It certainly did — well enough for LAFC to get their first away win against Galaxy in nine attempts.
Match Recap
El Tráfico has become notorious for high-scoring, drama-filled derby matches. For the nth time, the game lived up to the hype.
In the stands, Galaxy’s Los Angeles Riot Squad continued their boycott, leaving Victoria Block half-empty and completely silent. The visiting 3252 took over Dignity Health Sports Park, as many expected, making it sound like BMO Stadium instead.
On the pitch, Galaxy began the match with the energy their fans lacked. They took control of the ball with nearly 75% possession in the first ten minutes and (unlike many LAFC opponents this season) were causing the Champions problems. “LA Galaxy did a good job of slipping balls in behind our midfield three and they were able to run at our back four in the first 20 minutes.” analyzed Steve Cherundolo.
Riqui Puig was the reason. As one of the most talented players in the league, he rightly earns attention, but LAFC was a little too focused. Whether it be the high-press or man-marking Puig, Ilie Sánchez was stepping-up as high as the Galaxy 18-yard box. As the team’s deepest-lying midfielder, this left huge gaps behind him for Puig to exploit and the skilled 22-year old took advantage.
Fortunately for the Black and Gold, Carlos Vela has a wand for a left foot. As the ball took a kind deflection to Vela’s feet from a mild Cifuentes shot in the 22nd minute, Chris Mavinga was caught out of position and slow to react. El Rey made no mistake, curling his shot past Jonathan Klinsmann in a near replica of the very first El Tráfico goal. Just as he did on that day, Vela would go on to score a brace.
First LAFC had to make it to half against a Galaxy team who simply would not give up the ball. The directness of the visitors played into the Galaxy's possession as well, going to goal immediately whenever the ball was won rather than holding onto possession. Nonetheless, Galaxy continued to look for the spaces behind the LAFC midfield three.
Tyler Boyd found it as he turned Kellyn Acosta into a patch of green grass 30 yards out from the goal. This was the space that LAFC was continually giving up in the first half without being punished — until now. Tyler Boyd blasted a thunderbolt into the top right corner with a kiss from McCarthy’s gloves. All of a sudden, Galaxy got what they deserved and the game was level into halftime.
As a coach infamous for his tactical halftime tweaks, Steve Cherundolo needed a solution for the open spaces in midfield. His answer? Prevent Galaxy from playing through by compacting the midfield to avoid leaving gaps.
This meant forcing Galaxy out wide, where they are weaker than in the center of the park. Postgame I asked Cherundolo what the idea was behind compacting the midfield and making it harder for Galaxy to play through. “You answered your question.” he joked, “It’s just being a little more compact and keeping their midfielders in front of ours.”
For the most part, it worked. Ilie Sánchez was no longer caught out of position, Kellyn Acosta was doing his defensive work while being in good positions to release quickly, and José Cifuentes was able to stay relatively high in order to support the front three on counter-attacks. The Ecuadorian’s high positioning combined with alert pressing paid off in the 67th minute as he picked off an ill-advised throw-in from Raheem Edwards toward Sega Coulibaly.
The recently introduced substitute, in his first ten minutes all season, was not ready to receive it. Cifuentes flicked the ball past Coulibaly who dangled a leg out, taking down the midfielder and giving away a penalty. Carlos Vela took the penalty, sending Klinsmann the wrong way before passing the ball into the back of the net to complete his brace.
The only player to ever cross the Los Angeles divide (Raheem Edwards) made a huge mistake to give his former employers the lead.
“When we score the momentum shifts our way.” recalled birthday boy Ryan Hollingshead, “It’s important to capitalize.” Of course, that is exactly what he did just two minutes later. Carlos Vela turned provider this time, serving in the perfect in-swinging corner on top of the six-yard box seconds after being hit with a fan-thrown beer. Revenge was immediate as Ryan Hollingshead darted across the top of the six, thumping home the header to give LAFC a 3-1 cushion with 20 minutes remaining.
But if you know El Tráfico, you know a two-goal lead can evaporate in seconds.
Three subs in the following two minutes injected energy back into the Galaxy, who would not go down without a fight. They pushed the game back into the LAFC half as the visitors dropped deeper to stay compact. As Galaxy pushed numbers forward, they left their defenders on an island for Denis Bouanga to attack on the counter. That pattern of play almost put Galaxy to bed in the 75th minute when Mahala Opoku was inches away from slotting in a fourth.
Instead, Galaxy went back on the front foot. Riqui Puig shook the left post from 25 yards before playing an inch-perfect through ball a minute later to put Chicharito in on goal. As is starting to become customary, John McCarthy came up with a massive 1v1 save, closing down Chicharito, and sticking out a strong right hand to push it over the crossbar.
The pressure eventually did pay off when Galaxy figured out how to play down the wings that LAFC was leaving open. Jovelic was able to combine with Puig to get around Jesús Murillo before crossing the ball toward Chicharito. As Aaron Long challenged, Chicharito scuffed his shot and the ball continued to roll through to Marco Delgado for the tap-in.
With five minutes plus a whopping eight minutes of stoppage time — we were in for an old-fashioned grandstand finish.
After giving Mateusz Bogusz his debut, Steve Cherundolo opted to bring on Sergi Palencia, a fullback, for José Cifuentes, a midfielder, in a pragmatic formation shift to a 5-3-2 with Hollingshead as an elbow-back.
Galaxy found their stoppage-time chance through Calegari who was able to get a dangerous snapshot on goal as the ball fell to him in the 93rd minute. John McCarthy though, once again, came up with a massive diving save to tip the ball over the bar, essentially winning the game for LAFC.
With the 3-2 victory, the Black and Gold remain the only undefeated team in MLS while breaking the dreaded “Carson Curse.”
Carlos Vela: Back in Form?
Two weeks ago Carlos Vela said, “I’m not happy where I am right now. I think I can play way better.” He was right. Bouanga was taking the spotlight, but Vela was letting him.
Not anymore.
Carlos Vela has four goals and an assist in his last two matches at a rate of one goal contribution every 32 minutes. That is vintage Carlos Vela, just like the goal he produced on Sunday to open the scoring. Despite joking that he is getting older after the match, Carlos Vela is turning back the clock with his recent performances.
This is what unlocks the full potential of LAFC. Overall, the performance was not up to the LAFC standard in Carson, but Vela was. The same can be said about Denis Bouanga in Vancouver. LAFC is, of course, a team built on a system rather than individuals, but when both superstars are in form, it’s difficult to lose.
Generally, the entire team will win LAFC the game. If they don’t, Bouanga will. If he doesn’t, Vela will. If not, well, we haven’t gotten there yet. I’ll let you know when we do.
Ryan Hollingshead: The Best Goal-Scoring Defender in MLS
It is time Ryan Hollingshead is given his flowers. If you ask the majority of MLS fans who the best goal-scoring defender in the league is, they’re not likely to pick Hollingshead, but they should. He’s a player who has an incredible knack for popping up in the right spot, at the right time. He stays defensively sound until an opening appears. In that opening, Ryan Hollingshead will appear scoring a goal before you even know he dashed forward.
Surely his high school experience as a winger is a factor.
Last season, Hollingshead was the joint-highest-scoring defender in MLS with six goals on the season. People finally started to take notice of his goal-scoring ability. Then on Sunday, with his curse-breaking, birthday goal, he reached 25 career MLS regular-season goals. That is good for the second-most among all MLS defenders since 2010. Ryan Hollingshead didn’t make his MLS debut until 2014.
Say it with me — Ryan Hollingshead is the best goal-scoring defender in Major League Soccer.
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