August 21, 2021 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – LA Galaxy News Release
LOS ANGELES – Playing the second of two home games in four days, the LA Galaxy fell 2-1 to the San Jose Earthquakes at Dignity Health Sports Park on Friday night.
Galaxy Run of Form
The loss marked the Galaxy’s first back-to-back loss during the 2021 campaign, with LA moving to 5-1-1 following a loss this year. LA is 3-2-1 in its last six matches played dating back to a 4-1 win over the Portland Timbers on July 30. In 12 games played at home in 2021, the Galaxy are 7-4-1, having scored 20 and conceded 14 for a +6 goal differential at Dignity Health Sports Park.
Galaxy Against San Jose Earthquakes
Friday’s match marked the 77th all-time MLS regular-season meeting between the Galaxy and the Earthquakes with LA leading the series 34-27-16. The match marked the third meeting between LA and San Jose in 2021, with the Galaxy holding a 2-1-0 record against the Quakes in league play this year.
Goal-Scoring Plays
SJ – Jeremy Ebobisse (Luciano Abecasis, Javier Lopez), 34th minute: Luciano Abecasis’ cross from the right wing into the box found Jeremy Ebobisse, headed the ball into the bottom corner of the goal.
LA – Victor Vázquez, 65th minute: Vázquez’s in-swinging corner kick delivery was curled into the penalty area and a San Jose defender’s touch deflected the ball past J.T. Marcinkowski at the near post.
SJ – Niko Hämäläinen (own goal), 71st minute: Javier Lopez dribbled down the byline and his shot from a tight angle was deflected into the goal off of Niko Hämäläinen.
Postgame Notes
The LA Galaxy are 11-8-2 (35 pts) this season, sitting in third place in the Western Conference standings.
The Galaxy (35 points) sit in fourth place in the Supporters Shield race, behind the New England Revolution (46 points), Seattle Sounders FC (39) and Sporting KC (38).
Following a loss during the 2021 campaign, the Galaxy are 5-1-1.
In its last six league matches played dating back to a 4-1 win over the Portland Timbers on July 30, LA is 3-2-1.
In 12 games played at home in 2021, the Galaxy are 7-4-1, having scored 20 goals and conceded 14 for a +6 goal differential at Dignity Health Sports Park.
Friday’s match marked the 77th all-time MLS regular-season meeting between the Galaxy and the Earthquakes with LA leading the series 34-27-16.
Friday’s meeting between the two sides marked the third matchup between LA and San Jose in 2021, with the Galaxy holding a 2-1-0 record against the Earthquakes.
In 37 regular-season home meetings against San Jose, the Galaxy hold a 22-9-6 record.
Victor Vázquez notched his third goal of the season.
Sacha Kljestan made his 299th MLS regular-season appearance in the match against San Jose. has made 298 regular-season appearances (262 starts), ranking eighth all-time in league history in assists (97) and adding 41 goals.
With his appearance, Kljestan will become the 48th player in league history to appear in 300 MLS regular-season games.
Samuel Grandsir is the only Galaxy player to play in every match this season (20).
Next Game
Next up, the Galaxy travel to face LAFC at Banc of California Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 28. The Aug. 28 match kicks off at 4:00 p.m. PT and features a national television broadcast on FOX.
LA Galaxy (11-8-2, 35pts) vs. San Jose Earthquakes (6-7-8, 26 pts)
Aug. 20, 2021 – Dignity Health Sports Park (Los Angeles)
Goals by Half 1 2 F
LA Galaxy 0 1 1
San Jose Earthquakes 0 2 2
Scoring Summary:
SJ: Ebobisse (Abecasis, J. Lopez), 52
LA: Vázquez, 65
SJ: Hämäläinen (own goal), 71
Misconduct Summary:
SJ: Abecasis (caution), 11
LA: Cabral (caution), 23
SJ: Remedi (caution), 41
LA: Dos Santos (caution), 69
LA: Marcinkowski (caution), 86
Lineups:
LA: GK Jonathan Bond; D Julian Araujo, D Séga Coulibaly, D Nick DePuy (Victor Vázquez, 61), D Niko c; M Sebastian Lletget (Derrick Williams, 89), M Rayan Raveloson, M Sacha Kljestan © (Jonathan dos Santos, 60); F Efrain Alvarez (Samuel Grandsir, 60), F Dejan Joveljić, F Kévin Cabral
Substitutes Not Used: GK Jonathan Klinsmann; D Oniel Fisher, D Jorge Villafaña; M Adam Saldaña; F Ethan Zubak
TOTAL SHOTS: 18 (Dejan Joveljić, 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Dejan Joveljić, 2); FOULS: 10 (Kévin Cabral, 3) OFFSIDES: 2; CORNER KICKS: 12; SAVES: 5
SJ: GK JT Marcinkowski; D Luciano Abecasis (Cade Cowell, 73), D Oswaldo Alanis, D Tanner Beason, D Marcos Lopez; M Eric Remedi (Chris Wondolowski, 90+1), M Jackson Yueill, M Judson (90+2); F Shea Salinas © (Carlos Fierro, 73), F Javier Lopez (Paul Marie, 81), F Jeremy Ebobisse
Substitutes Not Used: GK Daniel Vega; D Paul Marie, D Tommy Thompson; M Jack Skahan; F Siad Haji
TOTAL SHOTS: 17 (Jeremy Ebobisse, 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 6 (Jeremy Ebobisse, 4); FOULS: 13 (Luciano Abecasis, 3) OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 6; SAVES: 3
Referee: Armando Villarreal
Assistant Referees: Chantal Boudreau, Chris Elliot
Fourth Official: Mark Allatin
VAR: Edvin Jurisevic
Weather: Clear, 74 degrees
Attendance: 17,568
All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial
LA GALAXY POSTGAME QUOTES
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH GREG VANNEY
On tonight’s game:
“I thought the first 60 minutes were pedestrian, it was slow, it was just blah. I think our defending in general is just not good enough. We give away too many chances, we gave away too many goals, it’s on me and it’s going to change in the next three weeks. We play a game next week which we might want to see a reaction, but we have three weeks to get better defensively because we can’t keep conceding goals and chances at the rate we are and it’s a mentality. Our mentality is that we love to attack, we love to have the ball, but we cheat defensively, and we rest, and we don’t concentrate, and we don’t do the little things that it takes to be a good defending team. We cheat them and it’s going to end. Our guys aren’t going to be on the field, I shared that with them and it’s going to end. Our mentality to defend has to change, we are going to be a good attacking team. I’m confident in that I’m sure of it as we get everybody rolling. This second half when we made some changes, the intensity and the forward thinking and the attacking hit another speed and another level no problem but our defending and giving up chances is just ridiculous right now and it’s on me and we are going to change it.”
On the team’s struggle to score goals:
“Some of it is missing opportunities and some of it is because we don’t defend well, and we start too many attacks deep in our half of the field. Many goals are scored in transition, many goals are scored when you recover balls in good areas when the team is disorganized and you play forward and you attack quicker. We’ve been pretty impotent on set pieces at times but we are leaving out a whole section of the game in my opinion where the majority of goals are scored because it’s too easy for the opposition just to get into our half of the field and for us to recover balls too deep in our area, I think we are the team that starts their attacks the deepest of any team in the league which mean we have to go from 120 to 85 yards every time we want to create a chance. I think we can help ourselves, we can build more momentum into our attacks if we can, as a group, change our mentality to defend, to be harder to play against, to recover balls in better ways, to play forward in those transitions, to build the momentum like we had in the second half – it had some speed to it. We have to be able to play with speed and move the ball and move off the ball but still remain disciplined about our positions to protect ourselves in transition but at least it was forward thinking, it made the opposition make some decisions, it made them have to make some plays in and around their goal. When we get into those areas, we have to put things away, Kevin [Cabral] had another chance and he doesn’t get it on goal. We’ve had chances, last game we had a point-blank header from Derrick [Williams] and the keeper makes a save, we’ve had Samuel [Grandsir] hit the post and we had chances here and there tonight. I don’t think we have as many chances as we should because we start our attacks too deep on the field too often. We need to start attacks higher which means we need to defend better, and we need to recover balls higher. As I said to our guys I think as our group our mentality to defend isn’t where it needs to be if we want to compete for anything. I think we love having the ball, but we don’t necessarily work the way we need to work to get the ball back and that mentality has to shift.”
On the team’s game plan tonight:
“In a way the game set up how I thought we could set it up which is we give the opportunity for the guys who came on the field fresh to be able to push for the game but again coming out of the second half, the first ten minutes of the second half, we give up a goal. We can’t do that and then the guys we put on were fresh and went for it but there is more to it than that. Some of it is guys we are trying to get fit, it’s guys who are playing a ton of matches, guys who we are trying to manage a little bit. It’s still middle of the season and the middle of the summer so it’s not just about the one result. There is still a big picture here that we are trying to play towards. Having said that, guys are playing for the starting positions now I think our team is getting more competitive for spots and guys are going to have to perform on both sides of the ball. Guys right now are getting chances but as the season grows closer to the end, there is going to be less and less chances as we get closer to the playoffs, which we still have to secure, but as we get there, who are competing on both sides of the ball? The best [players] in their roles are going to be the guys who are on the field and right now guys should be competing for those spots.”
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