10-man LA Galaxy open the season with draw against NYCFC
João Klauss scores his first LA Galaxy goal but not enough to take down NYCFC
The Galaxy’s season kicked off on Sunday night, but not with a victory over NYCFC. LA records a 1-1 draw with NYCFC despite playing the final 25 minutes a man down.
João Kluass scored his first LA Galaxy goal two minutes into the match. Marco Reus found the Brazilian forward in the box, whose one-time finish brought the fans to life at Dignity Health Sports Park.
Emiro Garces put the LA Galaxy in a tough spot in the second half. The Colombian received his second yellow card of the game following a VAR review, which awarded a penalty for NYCFC. Nicolas Fernandez buried the penalty kick to draw the match.
With a man down, LA struggled to string a meaningful attack or break down the visitors. The Galaxy starts the season with back-to-back draws ahead of another matchweek with two games.
Midfield Struggles
The Galaxy usually tends to hold the majority of possession, but this match was the exception. LA finished the game with 35% possession, the lowest tally in the Greg Vanney era. Before the red card, LA was hovering around the 37% mark, and then the game favored NYCFC.
“Between Jakob (Glesnes) and Emi (Garces) and Miki (Yamane), who were kind of in the start, and then (Haak and Sanabria), who were in midfield together, haven't spent much time together. So I didn't feel like they were necessarily really working off of each other. So I just felt like we were making a lot of bad reads as it goes to starting our attacks,” said Vanney postgame.
LA restored to long balls in the air when creativity was hard to come by. Goalkeeper Novak Micovic led the team with 8 passes into the final third. Only the LA Galaxy and Toronto FC had their goalkeepers lead their respective teams in that category. Lucas Sanabria (6) and Marco Reus (5) were the other leaders in that category for LA.
“If you don't use the ball well, you're going to defend a lot… if you're losing balls between your lines, then you're going to defend low a lot. And that became it."
This was a classic case of the Galaxy not being ready in possession and not in sync when it came to patterns of play. These types of struggles make it harder for the Galaxy to be on the front foot.
“My job is to make things easier for them”
Klauss made a good first impression in front of the LA Galaxy fans on Sunday night with a goal two minutes into the match. A quality first-time strike showed his lethal instincts in front of goal and brought life to the home crowd.
“When we get better with the ball, I think you're going to see even better Klauss for us on the attacking side, and better connections with those groups,” said Vanney postgame.
“There's a lot to be excited about with him on top. I think getting that first goal in the first game is great for his confidence."
The 28-year-old striker recorded an assist in LA’s 1-1 draw with Sporting San Miguelito last Thursday and now has his first goal for the club.
“I've been in the league for three years and everybody in the league dreamed to play for Galaxy. So in my first game in front of the fans and with 85 seconds or something I score my first goal, it was magic,” said Klauss.
Aside from his goal, Vanney praised his work rate on the defensive side and his commitment to running without the ball. He hopes that the level of defensive intensity is contagious for the rest of his team.
“When your striker is leading you in those kinds of ways, you have to commit and go with it. I think one of two things is going to happen: He's either going to stop working, or the rest of the group is going to keep up. And for me, the rest of the group is going to need to keep up,” said Vanney.
Klauss made it clear he is a team player above all else. He isn’t looking for the spotlight; rather he wants to set the stage for his teammates to be the main attraction.
“I think my job is to make things easier for them. I think they are the stars. I think they will create the most for the team. My job is to make things easier for them,” he said of playing with Paintsil, Pec and Reus.
“It’s very easy to create connection with them. It’s been good from day one, and I’m really happy with that.”
Penalty or not?
The moment that changed the match was the penalty call in favor of NYCFC. Garces received his second yellow card of the match following the VAR review.
“Initially, in the run of play, I thought penalty. When I watched it back, I'm not as convinced as I was when I saw it in the run of play, just because I couldn't tell if the player runs into Emiro because they're both kind of angling towards the ball,” said Vanney about the play in the 60th minute of the match.
A pool reporter question was submitted about the play, and this was the following response from the match officials:
“After review, LA Galaxy #25 Garces committed a foul on NYCFC #7 Nico in the penalty area while challenging for the ball which denied an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. There was no foul contact prior."
Vanney told reporters that Maya Yoshida was getting ready to come into the match for Garces moments before the foul occurred.
“We actually had Maya standing right next to me ready to go in for him. I just needed one more stoppage and it was happening. So, yeah, unfortunately the timing was the timing,” said Vanney.
Garces will miss the club’s next MLS Regular Season match on Saturday against Charlotte FC.