LOS ANGELES — Eddie Segura scored in the 72nd minute to give Los Angeles Football Club a 3-3 tie with the Philadelphia Union on Sunday night at Banc of California Stadium.
Carlos Vela and Diego Rossi also scored for LAFC (1-0-1), with Vela extending his goal-scoring streak at home to 12 games, a record in Major League Soccer.
Brenden Aaronson, Jakob Glesnes and Sergio Santos provided goals for the Union (0-1-1), which received eight saves from goalkeeper Andre Blake.
“It’s a weird early-season game, different than other games we’ve had,” LAFC manager Bob Bradley said. “The disappointing part is giving up three goals.”
Brian Rodriguez’s corner kick began the sequence that Segura ended. After Glesnes headed the corner kick, Blake jumped to deflect it. LAFC’s Latif Blessing secured the ball and fired a shot that a defender blocked, but Segura struck a seven-yard volley off the inside of Blake’s left thigh and into the net.
For LAFC midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye, Sunday night’s draw served as a preview of coming attractions.
“This game was very hectic,” Kaye said. “A lot of teams this year are going to try to make the game like that for us. We know we have to match that intensity and, hopefully, our quality comes out.”
Aaronson gave the Union a 3-2 lead in the 69th minute. Santos fired a shot from the left side of the box that an LAFC defender blocked. Santos recovered the rebound and passed to Aaronson, who turned and fired from 11 yards.
“You look at the first two goals, and they were very good goals,” Kaye said about the Union’s tallies. “The third one, I think, was just sloppy defending on our part.”
Santos put the Union ahead with the game’s first goal in the 29th minute. Santos received Jamiro Monteiro’s pass on the right wing and used his left foot to send a 24-yard shot between lunging goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer and the far post.
After scoring the Union’s first goal of the season, Santos celebrated by removing one of his shin guards — which featured a picture of his family — and kissed it.
Vela tied the score in the 39th minute with his second goal of the season, a 23-yard free kick that curled over the left hand of a diving Blake.
Glesnes broke the tie in the 48th minute with a 38-yard free kick, but Rossi forced a 2-2 tie when he curled a 14-yard shot from the left side of the box into the upper-right corner of the net.
The match’s turbulent, physical nature reflected the Union’s style.
“They play off of second balls. They play off of flicks,” Bradley said. “So the game is going to end up being up-and-down in those ways. I think we handled a lot of that quite well. We created a lot of chances but in moments when we needed to be more precise and find ways to slow the game down, we weren’t good enough.”
Nevertheless, Kaye believes the match provided necessary preparation for the first quarterfinal leg of the CONCACAF Champions’ League, when LAFC will play host to Mexico’s Cruz Azul on Thursday night.
“All four games we’ve played haven’t been very easy for us,” Kaye said. “But we’ve been able to show the right mentality and push through. It’s just making us stronger.
“I think if this game was too easy, then you’d really have to dig deep to motivate yourself for Cruz Azul. But the fact that this one demanded a lot from us, and that all our subs needed to impact the game, is making our senses more heightened. We need to make sure that we’re clicking on all cylinders.”
The Union adapted to a lineup change.
Philadelphia midfielder Jose Martinez made his first MLS start Sunday. Martinez, a Venezuelan international, replaced Warren Creavalle in the lineup. Creavalle missed the match due to an upper leg strain.
The Union return home to play the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night.