El Tráfico has been one of Major League Soccer’s most hyped-up rivalries since its inception, and its 24th installment on Saturday between the Los Angeles Galaxy and LAFC might go down as one of the best games in the rivalry’s history.
LAFC took a quick 2-0 lead during the first half, but it was the Galaxy who charged back and ultimately won at home, scoring four unanswered goals to win 4-2 and clinch a playoff berth. The win also gives the Galaxy a seven point lead over second-place LAFC in the Western Conference, allowing the Galaxy to control their destiny for the No. 1 seed with five matches remaining in the regular season.
Coming into the match, the Galaxy had lost both of their previous two games against LAFC in 2024 by a 2-1 scoreline. Besides the fact the club couldn’t get over the hump against their intra-city enemy, its original four-point lead could’ve dwindled to one if LAFC were victorious, signaling that this game was possibly the most important matchup of the year for both sides.
However, the Galaxy didn’t begin the game as if it were a make-or-break game for the team’s No. 1-seed aspirations, allowing two goals to LAFC in just the first 15 minutes.
LAFC’s star forward Denis Bouanga placed his stamp on this game from the get-go. Even though he wasn’t credited for an assist on LAFC’s first goal, he set up the chance. Bouanga cut in from the left wing, as he often does, and played a ball towards the center of the box that was deflected into the air, permitting Mateusz Bogusz to capitalize by heading home past Galaxy goalkeeper and former LAFC player John McCarthy in the fourth minute.
Then in the 15th minute, it was Bouanga again who stormed in from the left, spinning around Galaxy defender Jalen Neal and finishing past McCarthy on the near post to make it 2-0.
Even though they were shut out at the half, the Galaxy offense kept clicking with midfielder Riqui Puig controlling the tempo. Puig and forward Gabriel Pec created some great chances in the first half, but they couldn’t find the net against LAFC keeper and World Cup-winner Hugo Lloris.
“I felt like even in the first half we created chances, we didn’t finish them,” Galaxy manager Greg Vanney said in his postgame press conference. “It was looking at the first half and saying okay we can’t do anything about what has happened behind us…we just need to raise our intensity and raise the intention.”
The Galaxy offense did exactly that at the start of the second half, applying pressure vigorously on the LAFC defense. They finally broke through in the 53rd minute when striker Dejan Joveljić displayed fancy footwork in the penalty box to sidestep an LAFC defender and finish in the top left corner past Lloris.
Applying the pressure again in LAFC’s box just two minutes later, Puig played a ball back to midfielder Edwin Cerrillo, who rocketed one into the top left corner from the top of the 18 to even the score at two apiece.
The Galaxy’s leaky first-half defense sealed itself in the second, allowing one of the league’s best offenses to flourish. It was Puig again at the heart of the attack in the 67th minute, when he received the ball in the box from a nice cutback delivered by new star Marco Reus.
Puig decided to take the shot with minimal power, but the deflection fell right to Joveljić, who tapped one past Lloris to give the Galaxy a 3-2 lead and send the supporters at the Dignity Health Sports Park into a frenzy.
LAFC couldn’t contain the Galaxy’s firepower on offense in the second half and to make matters worse, midfielder Lewis O’Brien received a red card in the 79th minute.
With O’Brien off the pitch, the Galaxy had even more space to operate and utilize in the midfield. Reus and Puig had their way in that area of the pitch, with Reus playing Puig on a no-look, give-and-go pass that the Spanish midfielder fired from the top of the box, fooling Lloris to boost the Galaxy lead to 4-2 in the 86th minute, effectively putting the game to bed.
Second half comebacks are no stranger in El Tráfico, as this match almost mirrored Zlatan Ibrahimović's debut in 2018. That day, he came off the bench to score two goals and win the first ever LA derby. Six years later, the Galaxy now own a 10-5-9 record over LAFC.
The Galaxy currently have the most goals scored in the Western Conference at 57, further proving why they’re one of the favorites to win the MLS Cup. They’ll have to take care of business with five matches remaining, with the next one coming up on the road against the Portland Timbers on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.