LOS ANGELES — The LA Galaxy mounted another thrilling comeback to disappoint their new El Trafico rival, but there's not much time to dwell on Thursday's 2-2 draw against LAFC with another clash facing them this weekend.
A three-day turnaround isn't ideal, but the Galaxy figure it'll favor them Sunday evening at StubHub Center against Orlando City SC (9:30 pm ET | FS1 - Full TV & streaming info). The Lions also played Thursday night and face a cross-country flight to Southern California.
Sigi Schmid calls that “a benefit,” and his side's late rally to tie LAFC ought to provide an emotional boost, too.
“Certainly for us, being able to come back makes it a positive emotional game for us,” Schmid told MLSsoccer.com, after goals by Romain Alessandrini in the 81st minute and Ola Kamara in the 86th extended LA's unbeaten streak to eight games and gave them a 6-1-4 record since mid-May. “We can build upon that.”
The Galaxy have scored 20 goals in their last seven games, though they're still struggling in the early portions of games. They needed second-half rallies to beat New England and Philadelphia in their previous two matches, and remain prone to defensive miscues.
“The problem is when you do a result like this [against LAFC], like we did in the first game [against the new rival, in March], you don't focus on the mistakes you're doing,” Zlatan Ibrahimovic said in a news conference more than an hour after the final whistle. “The only thing you're focused on is that we have a good spirit and we're coming back. But that is not what you should focus on. You should focus on the mistakes that we did. And don't close our eyes for that.
“Yes we did a good recover by doing 2-2 from losing 2-0, but we should focus on the real things, what's happening out there.”
That'll have to wait. Schmid and his staff will use Friday's session to gauge who's ready and who needs a rest, then figure out who'll take the field against Orlando. LA will be without Alessandrini, who picked up his fifth yellow card of the season.
The Galaxy are healthy, with Sebastian Lletget coming on in the second half Thursday night in his return from a sprained ankle.
“Certainly, there's options for us now,” Schmid said. “Seba is probably not fit enough at this stage to start, but he was able to come off the bench today and give us a good 20 minutes. We've just got to figure out exactly what we're going to do. We've already talked about a couple of lineups, but we'll talk more [on Friday].”
Orlando is 1-3-0 since James O'Connor took charge at the end of June and have dropped two in a row since toppling Toronto FC two weeks ago to end a losing streak that reached nine games and cost Jason Kreis his job. The Lions are a team in transition.
“I watched them a little bit before we played. I'll watch a little bit more,” Schmid said. “They came out in a 4-2-3-1 tonight, which they didn't always play with Jason — they played the diamond at times a little more often. Certain guys who were playing a lot for Jason didn't play. So we'll see.”
Kamara, whose tying goal came from a long and ill-advised pass from LAFC's Andre Horta meant for goalkeeper Tyler Miller, is confident.
“We gave it all today, but we're going to recover, and we're going to go back and win that game against Orlando,” he said. “We're feeling strong, and at home we want to dominate. Hopefully, that's what we're going to do on Sunday.”
