“You don’t win these games, you play them.”
That’s how LAFC center back Jesús Murillo described El Trafico as he began his postgame press conference – a representation the Black and Gold undoubteduly embodied on the day to emerge victorious in a hard-fought 2-1 battle over cross-county rivals LA Galaxy.
Within four minutes of kickoff in the 22nd edition of El Trafico, LAFC opened the scoring through Timothy Tillman tapping in a flicked-on corner at the back post. Nearly identical to his goal against Nashville SC a few weeks ago, Tillman has seemingly found a knack of being in the right place at the right time on corners.
“It was just my job to be right there and I got lucky the ball hit me,” Tillman humbly analyzed. “I’m happy to help the team like that.”
Conversely, set pieces have been the achilles heel for Galaxy this season. They continue to lead the league in goals conceded from dead ball opportunities with Tillman representing the sixth such goal scored against Galaxy this season.
“This one, for me again, is that we lose the near post,” Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney dissected. “They get in front of us at the near post, they skip it on, and then we lose the backpost. When you lose the near post, which has happened a couple of times, it makes all of the zone players a little bit more passive because they don’t know where the deflection is going to go and they can’t attack the ball.”
As a result of the early lead, the home side was able to settle into their defensive gameplan, preventing Galaxy’s dangerous wingers from getting in behind, and hitting in transition “which is one of the weaker parts of [Galaxy’s] game” according to LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo. Galaxy dominating 68% of the possession while creating zero big chances to LAFC’s four is clear evidence of that fact.
“Teams that are stronger in possession will always have to defend counters,” Cherundolo began. “I think…
Source link : https://sbisoccer.com/2024/04/lafc-end-galaxys-unbeaten-season-as-the-battle-for-la-reaches-new-heights
Author : Justin Ruderman
Publish date : 2024-04-07 13:04:27
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