Galaxy overcome early red card, settle for draw against Houston Dynamo
CARSON — The night to honor their 30th season got off to a dreadful start.
Before the 15th-minute mark, the Galaxy trailed the Houston Dynamo. Before the 30th-minute mark, the Galaxy were down to 10 men after defender Mathias “Zanka” Jorgensen was issued a red card.
However, the Galaxy managed to survive the early doom and gloom and escape Saturday with a hard-earned point in a 1-1 draw in front of 23,685 at Dignity Health Sports Park.
“I thought we started really poor,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “From the kickoff for the next 5-10 minutes, I just felt we never settled in. We have to be cleaner and start games cleaner.”
Although it is another winless night to start the season (0-5-3), considering the circumstances, the Galaxy is good with the point.
The Galaxy had an interested attendee at the game in star midfielder Riqui Puig. Puig, who suffered an ACL injury in last season’s Western Conference final, had been back home in Barcelona during his road to recovery.
The Galaxy’s lone win this season came against CS Herediano in the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup round of 16. Entering Saturday, the Galaxy had just that one win on the season and was winless in seven MLS games.
The Galaxy got their equalizer on a free kick goal by Diego Fagundez, who was making his 400th career MLS appearance. With the goal, Fagundez became the 16th player in MLS history to record 150 career goal contributions.
With the Galaxy down to 10, Fagundez was forced to expend a lot of energy in the midfield. The first change that Galaxy coach Greg Vanney made was at halftime, subbing off Lucas Sanabria for Isaiah Parente.
After Fagundez’s goal, the Galaxy seemed to find some much-needed life. Joseph Paintsil was able to start bombarding runs down the left and Gabriel Pec on the right. In the 72nd minute, the Galaxy earned another free kick. This time, Pec took it from just outside the 18-yard box, but his attempt rolled wide of the far post.
Houston nearly had the winner in the 61st minute, but Ponce’s header hit the post and was cleared out by the Galaxy defense.
Late in the game, as legs started tire after all of the extra work, Vanney made the rest of his subs, but the Galaxy were unable to breakthrough on the scoreboard.
“When you come from behind, you’re down a man, a point is a solid result and also good for the locker room and for the group,” Vanney said. “What I saw in the group was they were eager to go try and win the game.”
Houston opened the scoring in the 14th minute. The Dynamo carved through the Galaxy defense with a 10-pass sequence and against very little pressure, leading to a goal by Ezequiel Ponce.
That’s where the game remained heading into halftime, to a chorus of boos by the Galaxy faithful.
The Galaxy return to action Saturday on the road against Austin FC.