The LA Galaxy’s winless streak comes to an end following a 1-0 Cali Clasico win in Carson on Wednesday night. Joseph Paintsil was the hero of the night with his lone goal bringing the crowd to life.
This was a gritty win as LA had to finish the game a man down. Lucas Sanabria was late to tackle and received his second yellow card of the night just before halftime. It is the second consecutive match with a red card for the G’s.
The second half saw the Galaxy grow into the game and eventually break the deadlock. LA’s best moments of quick possession saw Harbor Miller send a pass across the goal and find the Ghanaian winger at the far post.
Paintsil’s last MLS goal came against the Quakes in Stanford Stadium in late July. He’s become a regular tormentor for the Northern Californian side.
“If we can keep building his confidence and keep getting him more confident and cleaner in those final actions, the amount of goal contributions he can have can be off the charts,” said Head Coach Greg Vanney after the match.
“I’m happy for him because it’s a confidence thing,” added Vanney.
“You just need to always raise your head high and just keep trying. The most important thing is trying. But if you stop trying, then you are failure,” said Paintsil about his recent form.
Failing to score against the Quakes is something Paintsil doesn’t tend to do. He has six goals in his nine games against the Quakes since joining the LA Galaxy.
“I just do my run. I just do whatever I need to do. I think the goal just came because I was at the right position,” said Paintsil.
Paintsil is now tied with Joao Klauss with five goals in MLS this season, the most on the LA Galaxy. Should Paintsil be a regular on the scoresheet, LA will establish itself as a playoff contender.
“We did better with the margins”
The LA Galaxy’s fight after going down to 10 men was the main talking point of the game. Another game of going down a man to a quality team isn’t ideal when trying to end a winless run. But the LA Galaxy fought and expended a lot of energy to get a win in front of the home fans for the first time since April.
“Sometimes winning the hard way is even better for the mentality and the spirit of the group as you embark upon an important last part of the season,” said Vanney postgame.
J.T Marcinkowski had multiple quality saves to keep the clean sheet. With Sanabria out, Justin Haak elevated his involvement in both the defensive and attacking phases of the game. Harbor Miller’s engine didn’t give out as his pace became a real issue for San Jose’s backline as the game went on. Everyone did their part to work for a positive result on the night.
“I just felt like the mentality grew as the game grew… I thought the guys started to believe that they could get a win out of the game, and they found their moment,” he added.
There are still many questions about the LA Galaxy that remain following this game. It wasn’t a convincing win, and LA didn’t look up to par when the game was 11v11. Either way, Vanney is happy that the team executed in key moments to keep all three points.
“Tonight we did better with the margins. We didn’t make mistakes that really cost us,” said Vanney.
“This team has the capacity… to show the qualities that we have, but also the maturity and what it takes to understand how to win different types of games.”
This game wasn’t sexy. It wasn’t satisfying to watch. Nor does it feel like a real turning point just yet.
But the Galaxy showed that when it needs to show grit and heart, it will fight with everything it’s got.