LA 1-1 Chicago

The Galaxy finished their 2020 preseason with a draw at home against the Chicago Fire. I couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed after this one. A win here would’ve made a statement. We had the chance to get four wins out of five preseason games, but instead we dropped this one and probably deservedly so.

The game started brightly for LA. Not even 20 seconds in Emiliano Insúa sent a through ball for Cristian Pavón on the wing and suddenly Pavón was in on goal. Unfortunately, his shot was denied by a sliding Francisco Calvo, but had the shot been hit half a second earlier the Galaxy probably would’ve taken a very early lead.

From there, the chances kept coming for us. In the 20th minute a quick counter attack saw Chicharito fire a shot from within the 18 only for it to be parried away for a corner. On that resulting corner the ball was played short for Pavón who took the ball deep into the box and fired a curling effort low, but just past the post. A goal certainly appeared to be on the horizon, though if it did not come quickly, the Fire were going to start to get into the game.

That goal did not come quick enough and Chicago did end up getting themselves into the game. In the 28th minute the ball came flying very high around 10 yards from our goal. David Bingham thought he could come grab the ball out of the air, yet since he had to go through traffic to get to it, he ended up only batting it away straight to Chicago’s Robert Berić. Berić then placed the ball right down the middle of the open net, but somehow Rolf Feltscher slid in and stopped the ball from going in. Amazing from Feltscher, horrible from Bingham.

Immediately after that horrible play, a corner came in right to the foot of an unmarked Berić who again should have scored, but this time was denied by Bingham. The Galaxy were holding on by a thread now.

In the 37th minute Chicago again failed to convert an easy chance. Przemysław Frankowski slid the ball to an open Fabian Herbers on the edge of the 18-yard box, Herbers then shot the ball right into the right foot of Bingham. Great job by Bingham to make himself big, though really Herbers should have put that away regardless. We were now hanging on thanks to sheer luck.

Half-time, 0-0. We successfully hung on thanks to sheer luck into the break. This was such a frustrating half. I wasn’t even frustrated that we were missing chances, it was just that we are miles better than the Fire and were doing the same thing we have done since 2018, playing down to our opponents level. We are better in every position except for maybe defense. Even if we weren’t leading we should have at least have been the noticeably better team. And we weren’t. If anything the Fire we probably slightly better. We needed to dominate this match for the last 45 minutes.

In the 54th minute Cristian Pavón played the ball through for Aleksandar Katai who fired a shot low and hard that was parried by Kenneth Kronholm, Sacha Kljestan then tried to knock in the rebound, but that only bounced right back to him, so he then dropped the ball back to Chicha who kept the play alive by hitting it back Kljestan who finally put the ball in the net, 1-0 LA. This goal was very ugly, though was a product of hard work. We never let the play die, which was great and just what I like to see. On the other hand, we can’t really rely on something that fortunate happening every game in the actual season.

In the coming minutes, the chances for a second goal kept on coming for LA. A great save rejected a header from Aleksandar Katai, Nick Depuy then had a shot fizz wide, Cristian Pavón then had a good cross that didn’t find any Galaxy players. We were getting so close (Katai’s especially) but it just was not happening for us. This was worrying, we aren’t great defensively and definitely could let one slip.

In the 66th minute we almost indeed let one slip. Fabian Herbers sent a short through ball in for Berić who took a very good shot that barely missed the far bottom corner of the far post. It would have been a good goal, but we needed to take that as a warning – it was time to start shutting the game down!

Only three minutes later we missed yet another chance to kill the game off. A ball from Pavón into Emil Cuello saw Cuello in acres of space going to goal, he had his defender beat and really should have taken the ball all the way to goal and shot himself. Instead, he opted to be unselfish and played a fantastic ball into Chicharito. Chicha then got put off by an incoming defender and goalkeeper which resulted in him missing a sitter of a chance.

In the 84th minute the Galaxy were punished for not finishing our chances. A ball came in high just outside of the 18. It fell right between Nick Depuy, Giancarlo González, Micheal Azira, and Robert Berić. Depuy and Berić opted to attack the ball which resulted in it falling to the feet of Azira who was in on goal, he then placed the ball passed Bingham and in, 1-1. The goal was messy and Berić could’ve been called for high kick on Depuy, but it was a goal. And now with just six minutes plus added time to go we were again level. Oh, what a gut punch it was. We had actually come out on the front foot, but our lack of clinical finishing killed us. Maybe we could manage to grind out a win at the end, but it seemed unlikely.

In the 87th minute we very nearly managed to get the goal we were looking for. Pavón burned a defender around the corner and played the ball on the ground into Chicharito who turned and got a shot off that was certainly going in, yet was stopped by a sliding Fransisco Calvo. Calvo’s back landed on the ball which resulted into it rolling into his arm in the box. If you ask me this was clearly a penalty that was missed by VAR. Sadly, we had to accept that we weren’t going to get the call in our favor, it just was not our day.

Full-time, 1-1. This game was one of missed chances, both on the field and off. Chicago and us both missed easy chances in the game. More importantly we missed a chance to take serious momentum into the season. Even a ground out 1-0 win would’ve said a lot in our favor. Keeping a clean sheet and not crumbling to a team worse than us – that is big for us. I remember thinking to myself around the 80th minute, “alright, we’re a real team now! We can beat the easy teams (Vancouver, New England, Colorado, and Chicago) and play with the good teams (Toronto). That’s legit stuff!” And yes, it was only a draw, not a loss, but it should have been a loss. We missed our chances and played awful defense, if we were facing a better offense we would’ve been annihilated. Even a draw was lucky. If that was a showing of what we will be all season, it will be a long season. Then again, it is worth noting that we were missing Jonathan Dos Santos today, and he is a game changer, with him we probably win this match. To sum up, if this is what we are in for all year, we shouldn’t be too excited for this season. If we learn to finish our chances and Alan Franco comes in and is amazing we will be a top tier team. So, who knows what we will really be.

Emil Cuello: 8/10. He is playing himself into a starting role. He only played under 30 minutes and yet he was incredibly effective the whole time. He should’ve had an assist, he was working hard, and he was just all around solid.

Cristian Pavón: 8/10. He’s Pavón, okay? You know what he did. He beat players, he sent through balls, and he hustled. He’s just so good.

Sacha Kljestan: 7.5/10. He scored a scrappy goal. He was good the whole game, but probably would not have been mentioned if he had not scored. All around a good performance, but not off the charts.

Sebastian Lletget: 7.5/10. Lletget is a hard-worker. There’s not much more to be said. He has a heavy touch sometimes, but is a starter because he plays for the crest. He clearly loves the Los Angeles Galaxy and will do anything for us.

Best performer: Emil Cuello (In all honesty this probably would have gone to Pavón if I weren’t probably going to give him 10 or more this year. The difference between his and Cuello’s performances was so negligible that I opted to go with Cuello, as he is an often underappreciated player.)