The LA Galaxy and The Vancouver Whitecaps FC came together on August 13th, 2022. With the air filled with excitement and movement, exactly 28,921 people filled the Dignity Health Sports Center in Carson, California.
After 12 minutes into the game, the LA Galaxy scored their first goal, made by #11, Samuel Gransir. It was a beautiful goal scored into the top right corner of the net, made possible by the passing skills of #9, Kevin Cabral. Additionally, 8 minutes later, another goal was scored, this time due to a penalty kick by LA Galaxy's very own captain, #14, Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez. It proved to be a simple, but beautiful kick in which the goalkeeper dove right and Chicharito shot center.
A thrilling 10 minutes after that #7, known as Victor Vasquez, took a shot from the outermost box, 23 yards out from the goal, and made the score 3-0. But between those 10 minutes of play, The Vancouver Whitecaps had very close encounters with the goal. In the 38th minute of play, they saw an open goal and took it, scoring their first goal! LA's Goalkeeper, Jonathan bond, came out of the box, leaving Vancouver’s #25, Ryan Gauld, to shoot and score. But the Whitecaps' goal was soon forgotten in the 40th minute of play, when #11, Samuel Grandsir, of the LA Galaxy scored his second goal of the night. And if I may add, from the same 23 yard point where his teammate previously scored. Which brought the score to 4-1, right before half time.
With that amazing 1st half coming to an end, the half time didn’t disappoint in the slightest. Cosmo, the Galaxy’s alien mascot, along with other mascots from surrounding areas, including the Rams mascot, came out and played a game of soccer, with a soccer ball the size of a yoga ball! After 15 minutes of the mascots pushing each other and falling, or tripping, on the ball, the crowd was filled with laughter. But soon after, they had to pack up their makeshift field and it was off to the 2nd half.
With another 45 minutes to go, both teams entered the field with the crowd welcoming them to the beat of their hype song with lights flashing to match. The commotion was cut short to the sound of the referee blowing his whistle to officially start the 2nd half.
In the 69th minute of the game, Vancouver's #11, Cristian Dájome, did a short cross ball into the center aligning it almost perfectly to pass to his teammate #87, Tosaint Ricketts, who tapped the ball and caused it to slide under LA Galaxy’s Goalkeeper. However, a few short seconds later the whistle is blown, why? Because there was an unfortunate interception between the Galaxy’s goalkeeper and a handful of Vancouver's players that resulted in a yellow card.
Not even a full 30 second of play time later, Vancouver’s #11 slide tackled LA’s #2, Julian Aruijo, ending in #11 receiving a red card. He was forced to leave the game, causing the Whitecaps to have to play with one less player on the field, but the play continued in the 89th minute.
However, in that same minute, #99 of the LA Galaxy, Dejan Jovelic, crossed the ball over to #26, Efra Alvarez, who was able to shoot it into the back of the net. This ended our game with a score of 5-2, leaving the Galaxy to add yet another win to the books. In terms of the Western Conference, this marks the LA Galaxy’s 6th win.
“I think it was a great performance for everyone… all the guys were working really hard.” reports Victor Vascquez, #7 of the LA Galaxy, during the post-game interview.