Joao Klauss and Erik Thommy each scored first-half goals Saturday night and the LA Galaxy earned a 2-2 tie with visiting San Diego FC to help it maintain playoff position in the West table.
LA (10-11-10, 40 points) has a one-point lead on Colorado for the eighth playoff spot in the West, while San Diego (8-12-10, 34 points) is six points out of the last playoff position with only four matches remaining.
After an explosive first half, both teams generated some quality scoring chances in the second half. Neither could earn the tie-breaking marker, though. San Diego’s Pablo Sisniega finished with seven saves and the Galaxy’s JT Marcinkowski logged five.
Anders Dreyer and Gabriel Pirani scored for San Diego, which owned a 15-12 advantage in total shots and maintained possession for 64.6% of the match.
The first half quickly became defense-optional as both teams, particularly LA, launched fierce attacks on the opponent’s net.
Klauss needed just four minutes to initiate scoring, taking a pass from Sergi Roberto at the center line, dribbling towards the right side and unleashing a one-hop laser that curled inside the right post for his fifth goal in five games.
Dreyer equalized in the 10th minute after goalie JT Marcinkowski was called for a foul on Cedric Bakambu in the box. Pointed to the spot, Dreyer finished professionally into the top middle for his 13th goal of the year.
Klauss appeared to score in the 12th minute but video review nullified the marker when offsides was detected. But the Galaxy got one that counted five minutes later as Thommy hammered Harbor Miller’s pass into the bottom left corner.
That was just about it for LA offensively for the half’s remainder. San Diego hogged the ball for most of the last 25 minutes, pulling even in the 39th minute as Pirani collected a loose ball in the box and tallied into the lower left part of the net.
–Field Level Media
