LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles FC finally did it.
It took six tries over two seasons, but Los Angeles’ newest soccer team finally beat the storied LA Galaxy – and in spectacular fashion. LAFC beat the Galaxy 5-3 in an El Trafico Western Conference semifinal Thursday night at Banc of California Stadium.
LAFC, led by a pair of goals from Carlos Vela, will advance to the Western Conference final to host the Seattle Sounders at 10 p.m. ET Tuesday.
After the LA Galaxy controlled the tempo for the first 10 minutes of the match, LAFC struck first. Latif Blessing dispossessed Diego Polenta in the Galaxy’s half. Diego Rossi then fed the ball to Vela, who beat defender Daniel Steres to make it a 1-0 game in the 16th minute.
Despite early Galaxy chances — Daniel Steres heading wide in the fifth minute off a corner and Cristian Pavon hitting the left post — LAFC seemed content to sit back and absorb pressure. As LAFC began to settle into the game, gaps in the Galaxy defense started to show and a foul on Vela by Polenta at the top of the box in the 15th minute almost paid dividends as Vela’s attempt hit the top right corner of Galaxy goalkeeper David Bingham’s post.
LAFC tallied again when Blessing pushed the tempo through the midfield and slipped a ball to Rossi, who slotted the ball across Bingham’s goal for an easy Vela tap-in. Ensuing replays showed Vela may have been offside, but the play was not reviewed by the referee.
“What was he doing upstairs, drinking coffee with Magic Johnson?” Ibrahimovic said of the Video Assistant Referee responsible for flagging obvious errors that the on-field referee can then choose whether to review. “He didn’t even go check. He said he needed a signal from the VAR people to go out and check. What are the VAR people doing?”
The Galaxy quickly answered in the 41st minute. Zlatan Ibrahimovic took a long pass at the top of box and fed Pavon to bring the visitors within a goal before the half.
The second half began much like the first. The Galaxy maintained the bulk of possession, but LAFC had the first chance: Vela attempted a shot from the left side of box that Bingham saved.
However, the Galaxy tied things up soon after in the 54th minute as a defensive error by Tristan Blackmon allowed Ibrahimovic to fire through Miller’s legs to level the score at 2-2.
“It’s hard to recover from something like that. We showed a lot of personality. We had to fight,” Vela said.
Both teams made changes in the second half. Romain Alessandrini came on for Uriel Antuna in the 58th minute for the LA Galaxy. For LAFC, Adama Diomande came on for Brian Rodriguez and Walker Zimmerman was subbed in place of Steven Beitashour.
As the momentum seemed to shift in favor of the Galaxy, LAFC responded at a crucial moment in the match.
After an attempt by Jonathan Dos Santos was saved by Miller in the 65th minute, LAFC snatched the lead back. Diego Rossi fired past Bingham in the 66th minute to put the hosts up 3-2.
“At that moment, against your biggest rival, when obviously everything is at stake, to see those guys respond at 2-2, oh man, that was awesome,” LAFC coach Bob Bradley said.
LAFC’s attack did not let up and two minutes later, Diomande doubled the lead by heading the ball home from the center of box.
“We were always going to use him, we just had to wait and see how the game played out,” Bradley of Diomande. “Dio give us something different when he comes on.”
The Galaxy did not appear to be out of it, however. A free kick in the 77th minute by Alessandrini found the newly-substituted Rolf Feltscher’s head to put the Galaxy within striking distance with a 4-3 scoreline.
Determined to not let history repeat itself, LAFC answered in the 80th minute through Diomande, who took a long pass in the Galaxy attacking third into the box and fired to cap the game with his second of night.
“We take a lot of good things out of tonight and there’s a proud feeling of how we keep moving ourselves along,” Bradley said. “And yet, when you talk to everybody inside, they are all focused and ready for the next game.”