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Late finishes give Galaxy tie against Red Bulls

Photo by Kelvin Kuo/USA Today Sports
Photo by Kelvin Kuo/USA Today Sports

The home side seemed dead in the water with under a quarter hour remaining, but the LA Galaxy pulled out a thrilling comeback against the New York Red Bulls at StubHub Center.

Goals from Mike Magee and Ashley Cole helped the Galaxy complete their 2-2 comeback in the final 10 minutes of Sunday night’s match against the Red Bulls. Cole’s finish was his first since joining the Western Conference powerhouse this season, and extended the Galaxy’s unbeaten streak to eight matches.

Referee Hilario Grajeda was at the center of attention in the dying moments, as the Red Bulls became infuriated by a pair of no-calls that likely could have resulted in penalty kicks. Alex Muyl and Gonzalo Veron were each involved in close calls with goalkeeper Brian Rowe during the latter stages of the match, with both Red Bulls players going down, but Grajeda swallowed his whistle on both sequences.

After joining the Red Bulls from Argentine side San Lorenzo a season ago, Veron’s goalscoring struggles have been well-documented. The attacker gave the Red Bulls a 1-0 lead, though, in the 68th minute after Sacha Kljestan picked out the 26-year-old for his league-leading 13th assist of 2016.

The road side had its advantage doubled in the 74th minute when Sean Davis netted his first MLS goal. Felipe played a through ball into the midfielder’s path in the penalty area, before the young Red Bull curled an effort into the far post.

The Red Bulls battled adversity throughout the match on Sunday night, as head coach Jesse Marsch was force to make three substitutions in the first 47 minutes. Injuries to Damien Perrinelle, Connor Lade and Bradley Wright-Phillips forced the second-year coach to adjust on the fly, including bringing on Veron at striker just moments into the second stanza.

The Galaxy will return to the field Wednesday night against FC Dallas in the U.S. Open Cup semifinals, while the Red Bulls host the Montreal Impact on Saturday evening at Red Bull Arena.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Giovani dos Santos was the dominant figure in the Galaxy attack, and the Mexican attacker was rewarded for his brilliance with an assist on Mike Magee’s 80th minute finish.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

While it was close to call in live action, referee Hilario Grajeda opted to not call a penalty kick in the final stages of the match after Gonzalo Veron was taken down in the box by Galaxy keeper Brian Rowe.

MATCH TO FORGET

The Red Bulls backline did well stifling the Galaxy attack in the most important moments for much of the night, but the group fell apart in the final 10 minutes, allowing two goals.

Comments

  1. This game left me screaming the the TV. when 2 players leave the game because of challenges then there is a problem (perrinelle and bwp). Maybe we could argue about the muyl non-call, but veron’s right foot was stuck in rowe’s armpit. can’t understand that non-call.
    there was an obvious foul, on the play that resulted in goal #1 for the galaxy.

    usually the calls even out in a game but in this case, the lack of calls impacted the result. shame that the red bulls didn’t walk away with the win. i guess 1 point is better than 0 on the road.

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  2. Absolute joke of a referee. I will volunteer to pay Marsch’s fine. I want to hear the referee’s explanation for the two non-calls. Marsch’s may as well have said, “We obviously have the best officials in the world. They never miss a call. If you have questions, don’t ask me, ask the referee.” And yes, Lakas truly is a fool.

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  3. As a Red Bull fan I thought they were in trouble the way LA kept coming at them. LA is always a talented team but the Red Bulls should have won this. At least one of Rowe’s fouls in the box should have been called for a penalty. Jesse Marsh will get fined for complaining against a horrendous night of officiating by the so-called PRO refs but what discipline does the referee Grajeda get for a terrible job?

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  4. The refs were man of the match!!! Kind of funny how the star studded team of la Galaxy couldn’t crack the red bulls defense all night despite two major injuries in the first half. The refs will not do their job until there are real journalist on the beat that call it like it is. Worst players on the field: larenowitcz, out of control all game clearly he is spending time with dejong; grella caused a goal; the refs who missed the LA penalty, two red cards, two red bulls penalties, allowed run of plan on a clear foul which lead to goal! The refs should cover the fines coming from MLS even though we live in a country with freedom of speech!

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  5. You know, people complain about the Galaxy rules, and for the most part, I haven’t seen it. But wow. Two clear penalties on the Galaxy keeper Rowe. No cards for Laurentowicz (sp?) on either two really brutal challenges. Foul on a Red Bull player that led to the first goal….
    Very surprising. Maybe Bruce Arena just has an authoritative air?

    Kind of a bummer. Great games from Lletget, Grella and Veron, though.

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    • The referee also missed an extremely obvious foul on Gerrard in the box in the second minute of the game that also should have seen a red card for the defender, but a no call there too. It was a badly refereed game and the both teams were not happy about the officiating, but the Galaxy will be happy to keep their unbeaten streak alive and the comeback draw, and the Red Bulls happy for a point on the road, although it might be an expensive one if their are some heavy injuries.

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