Joao Klauss notched his first career MLS hat trick, including the tying goal in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time, to give St. Louis City a dramatic 3-3 tie with visiting Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday afternoon.
St. Louis City (3-9-6, 15 points) improved to 2-1-0 under interim coach David Critchley. St. Louis has defeated the Galaxy twice this season and is 2-0-4 all-time against Los Angeles.
Gabriel Pec recorded a brace for the Galaxy and gave his side a one-goal lead late in regulation. Matheus Nascimento also scored a goal and Marco Reus had two assists as Los Angeles (1-12-5, 8 points) is unbeaten in its last two outings after opening the campaign with a dubious record of 16 straight winless matches (0-12-4).
The Galaxy took a 3-2 lead in the 87th minute thanks to a St. Louis misplay. Joey Zalinsky sent a pass back toward the center line, but teammate Jayden Reid slipped and fell to the turf. Pec gained possession and headed toward the net and easily eluded St. Louis goalkeeper Roman Burki and knocked a left-footed tap into the net.
St. Louis tied the match due to some magic from Klauss in second-half stoppage time. Klauss had the ball on the right side of the net and sent a right-footed laser across the box and into the top front left corner of the net to even it up.
Burki made three saves, while Los Angeles’ Novak Micovic recorded two. The Galaxy had a 15-11 edge in shots and a 6-5 advantage in shots on target.
Klauss scored his first goal in the 35th minute when he performed a give-and-go with teammate Marcel Hartel. The ball was tapped back to Klauss, who sent a left-footed shot through the legs of Micovic.
The Galaxy knotted the score six minutes later. Rues slid a grounder cross over to Pec, who sent a left-footed shot past Burki.
Klauss was at it again in the second minute of the second half as he made a long run to catch up to Celio Pompeu’s up-ahead pass. Klauss then ripped a right-footed shot into the top of the net to give St. Louis a 2-1 edge.
Los Angeles tied the score in the 51st minute with Reus setting it up with a back heel flick. The pass went directly to Nascimento, who sent a left-footed shot into the left corner of the net.
–Field Level Media
