LA Galaxy Fight Back in 2-2 Thriller Against Nashville SC
It wasn't the best game for the LA Galaxy but the club managed to crawl back and rescue a point.
The LA Galaxy’s resilience shines in the Music City as the SoCal club fights back to rescue a point against Nashville SC. The 2-2 draw keeps the Galaxy undefeated against Nashville in four all-time meetings and LA sits in third place in the conference standings.
The Galaxy had the opportunity to get on the scoreboard from the penalty spot but goalkeeper Elliot Panicco saved Dejan Joveljić’s shot. The Serbian shot the ball down the middle but Panicco used his feet to get a touch on the ball to send it away from goal.
In the second half, Joseph Paintsil’s shot was inches away from hitting the back of the net but struck the post instead. Paintsil then found himself giving a penalty to Nashville as he lost the ball in LA’s defensive third and pulled down Dru Yearwood.
Teal Bunbury stepped up to the spot and his shot beat goalkeeper John McCarthy to his left in the 54th minute. Four minutes later, Yearwood doubled the lead following Julian Aude’s decision to bring the ball down in the box and inability to clear the ball.
The Galaxy kept pushing for a goal despite the circumstances and found a lifeline through Riqui Puig. The Spanish midfielder was booed on every touch of the game but silenced the crowd with his outside-of-the-box strike in the 67th minute.
Joveljić and Aude then redeemed themselves by combing for the game-tying goal in the 82nd minute of the match. The Serbian forward was in the right place at the right time to get a quick strike a few yards away from the net. Both teams had chances until the final whistle but neither could share the deadlock.
“I was really pleased with just the fight back being down two to zero on the road in Nashville and to keep pushing and creating opportunities and getting one back and then getting the second back,” said Head Coach Greg Vanney postgame. “If we execute over the day, there's something more for us I think on the occasion but good mentality to fight back,” he added.
Room to improve
With his goal on Sunday, Joveljić has three goals in three games - tied for first in MLS. The missed penalty and shot that he was unable to get off just a few yards out late in the second half were his biggest blemishes on the night.
“I think there's still a couple of occasions where he isn't quite prepared when other opportunities are showing up. His feet aren't sorted. Or he just being a little bit sharper in those moments to finish,” said Vanney postgame. Joveljić finished the game with six shots (four on target) and with two big chances missed.
The potential for the Serbian forward to take that next level is there. Vanney mentioned that he sees Joveljić taking another leap in his game. It’s interesting to think that he’s at the top of the league scoring charts despite knowing he take that next level.
Joveljić became the fifth player in club history to score in each of the LA Galaxy’s first three games to start an MLS regular season with his goal against Nashville SC. He is the first Galaxy player to accomplish the feat since Edson Buddle in 2010.
When talking about penalty-taking duties, Vanney said “Maybe it's next man up, we'll see” and told reporters that the club needs to find the guy to finish 90% of the time. He also said Joveljic has gone five for five in penalty practices in the last couple of weeks alongside another player that he didn’t mention by name.
Paintsil’s growing pains
MLS is now starting to gameplan around defending Painstil and limiting his impact for the LA Galaxy. He’s got the qualities to take the league by storm and be an MVP-caliber player for years to come. Nashville’s defensive tendencies limited the impact of the Ghanian and gave him his first true moments of adversity since joining the Galaxy.
Nashville played a 5-3-2 to start the game and closed down space to prevent Paintsil from driving with the ball. He was limited to quick touches and passes for a majority of the second half.
Vanney made tactical changes to get Paintsil more involved and it worked. Instead of making the pacey winger play on the outside, he had right back Miki Yamane be the one making runs in that space and that pushed Paintsil more on the inside. It worked as Painstil got touches closer to goal and nearly got on target early in the second half.
“I felt like [Paintsil] was really starting to find some good spots, that it was hard for them to organize the marking of them again, things that we are learning with him and with the group as we as we keep facing sort of different ways to defend us,” noted Vanney.
On the defensive end, Paintsil's lone bad moment was the penalty he gave up. After winning the ball back, he took a heavy touch toward the box where he then battled Yearwood but his momentum was enough to bring him down in the box. This was a lesson learned on the road and an error I wouldn’t expect him to commit again.
Assessing the defense
The LA Galaxy defense has its first real moments of shakiness and errors that led to goals this season. From the previously mentioned Paintsil, Aude’s failed clearance, and Miki Yamane’s poor pass that needed goalkeeper McCarthy to get a fingertip on Hany Mukhtar’s shot early in second-half stoppage time.
Despite these low moments that almost led to a goal, McCarthy was pleased with how the defensive effort on the night. “I think it was a good game defensively, maybe a mental error here, mental or there…There's nobody to point any fingers at or anything it's it was a group effort.”
When you look at the game as a whole, McCarthy is right. The Galaxy did enough to force Nashville to shoot from distance and not give them clear-cut moments in open play for most of the game. It was those errors that brought the home side back into the game rather than breaking down the Galaxy backline.
Maya Yoshida and Martin Cáceres had solid games in the middle of the backline. Cáceres’ elite anticipation was on display all game as he had excellent anticipation to disrupt Nashville and once again was efficient with the ball at his feet. Yoshida recorded a team-high nine possessions won, completed 92 of 96 passes (95.8 %), and won four of five duels on the night.
Yoshida brought up the different languages spoken across the backline after the first game of the season, which makes their solidity so far impressive. There hasn’t been a moment where the backline is out of position or ripped apart by the opponent.
“You want to have the team understanding each other as much as possible. So when it comes down to crunch time, you guys have believed in each other and have each other's back,” said McCarthy. “So definitely got to work on a little bit of each of language but we’re a solid group back there.”
I asked McCarthy if he had any phrases that he shouts during games to get the attention of the Spanish and Japanese speakers of the backline. He then quickly mentioned that he calls Maya Yoshida おじいちゃん (Ojīchan) - which means Grandpa in Japanese - when he needs to get his attention during the game. Safe to say his voice stands out for Yoshida.
This game highlighted the importance of limiting mistakes and how quickly they can lead to goals. It was the story of the 2023 LA Galaxy and the club’s newcomers got a quick taste of that. One silverling of the night is that the ‘23 version of the club would’ve never climbed out of the deficit and returned home with a point.
Thanks for the excellent sum up, Alex!