LA 1-1 Houston MLS is Back

Let me start by saying I am sorry for how late this article. It has been a busy few days, but I am now able to sit down and finish this up. Anyway, onto the article.

Unsurprisingly, we are out of the MLS is Back tournament. The game last night brought with it positives, but also the huge negative of being the end of our tournament. The end was apparent after the loss to LAFC, but having it confirmed still hurt. Thanks to our heavy defeat at the hands of our cross town rivals we needed a three or more goal win to advance. Houston, on the other hand simply needed a win and they would be onto the round of 16. Otherwise, it would be NYCFC going on.

The game started in favor of Houston. Only five minutes in the first realistic chance of the game came when Boniek García played Niko Hansen through who crossed the ball back to the head of Mauro Manotas whose header was denied by David Bingham and ultimately cleared away. It was a decent save by Bingham, but Manotas probably should have done better. The ball already had power on it, so he didn’t need to try to hit it too hard, he was only seven or eight yards from goal, and most of the goal was open. Granted, the ball was a bit behind him, yet it still should have probably gone in. It took some luck, but we were still level.

After that, the game began to open up a bit with both teams getting forward. This was best exemplified by a Joe Corona infringement just outside of the 18 leading to a 17th minute Darwin Quintero free kick that was buried, 1-0 Houston. The shot was not very good in all honesty, I have no idea how David Bingham could find himself flat footed there. Quintero’s shot was not very close to the corner and was not some searingly fast laser of a shot either, Bingham just jukes himself honestly. Right as the ball is being hit, he makes a slight movement towards the far post that leaves him unable to save anything to his near post where the shot ultimately goes. I am someone who does not often blame the goalie, but this was just poor.

From there the game became ours for a long time. A Cristian Pavón free kick and a Julian Araujo header both tested Marko Maric, but neither got particularly close to being the breakthrough. In the 37th minute a spectacular ball from Nick Depuy gave Ethan Zubak a real chance at his first ever MLS goal. The pass left Zubak one on one with Maric, but the chance was squandered as the shot sailed well wide.

Deep into added time we allowed Houston a chance to go two up when a quick counter saw Niko Hansen play Memo Rodríguez in on goal only for Nick Depuy to throw off Rodríguez forcing him to send his shot straight at Bingham. Houston then had a chance off the rebound but seemed flustered and missed it.

Half-time, 1-0 Houston. We played well through the first 45, but just couldn’t get one in. The Dynamo probably did deserve to be one up as they had more clear cut chances, still the way in which they scored hurt. At this point, advancing was almost definitely out of the picture, yet a draw or even win was still certainly on the table.

In the 50th minute, Sebastian Lletget’s cross met the head of Ethan Zubak who could only send the ball straight at Maric. This header was certainly not a tap-in, though still it definitely should have not finished better and was a realistic chance for the leveler. 

The game stalled out quite a bit from there. It was still LA’s game, just mostly played in midfield. The only even half chance either way came in 62nd minute when Emil Cuello let fly, although the shot was never likely to go in and was comfortably saved by Maric.

 However, in the 89th minute that all changed. A corner whipped in was going over the heads of most players, but in the middle of the box Diedie Traore managed to get around Maynor Figueroa, forcing Figueroa to put his arms around Traore, this caused Traore to fall and a penalty to be given. Finally, we have our chance. It took a stupid foul and even then a debatable call, but here we go. 91 minutes in and Pavón sends Maric the wrong way, 1-1. Well, we might not have time to advance, but at least we can send the Dynamo packing. That is, assuming we don’t blow it here at the end.

Blow it we nearly did, the Dynamo’s best spell of play came in stoppage time. A 94th minute Ronaldo Peña header could have gone in with better finishing, and scarier yet was a Tomás Martínez shot in the 95th minute that beat David Bingham and barely crept wide.

Then, in the 96th minute we could have won it when Ethan Zubak ran the ball all the way to the byline and dropped it for Sebastian Lletget, who unfortunately hit the shot poorly and missed.

Full-time 1-1. I have not seen many games get so boring and then become so exciting. Pretty much from minute 50 to minute 89 there was nothing at all to say, then from 89 to 96 the action did not stop. What a crazy few minutes it was. Anyway, you do have to be a bit disappointed to draw even in the manner in which we did. We are still winless in 2020 and bottom of the Western Conference. Following the completion of the MLS is Back tournament I will really dig into the fundamental issues with our beloved LA Galaxy. For now I will just leave you with this information – we have only two of an available 15 points this season. Make of that what you will.

Best performer: Nick Depuy (Made our defense look far better than previous games this tournament, so it seems fair)