CARSON, Calif. – Capturing the season series with their El Trafico rivals was vital for the LA Galaxy on Friday night, but the 1-1 draw that provided that triumph over LAFC might have harmed them in the long run.
The Galaxy (10-9-8) are fighting for their playoff lives and they needed to get the full three points at home to bolster their candidacy. Now their winless skid has extended to five games. They've got just seven left to play, and only three of them are at StubHub Center.
The bragging rights that go with the win and two draws against LAFC are nice, especially given the new club's at-times-deafening ‘we are LA's team’ rhetoric. But don't tell that to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a veteran of big derbies in Holland, Italy, Spain, France and England.
“Doesn't give me nothing,” Ibrahimovic, whose 16th goal of the campaign supplied LA a 15th-minute advantage, said when asked about besting the crosstown rival. “I prefer to win the trophy than to win against them.”
To do that, the Galaxy needs to pick up some more victories. They last won on July 29 at Orlando City, their fourth triumph over five games, and have picked up just three points in the five games that have followed, letting leads slip away in four of them.
“It's still a point,” head coach Sigi Schmid noted in his postgame media session. “A point helps. It's better than zero. Winning the season series is important as well, because I think this is the 10th season series we've won this year. ... We still have some open accounts out there, so we want to go next week to [Real] Salt Lake, and we want to get points out of [that game], and that will win that season series.
“If we keep doing that, I think we will be OK. But, certainly, we would have preferred three points.”
Actually, it's the ninth series LA has captured this year – six against Eastern Conference foes, and three of five (over LAFC, Portland and San Jose) that have concluded against the Western Conference – and they're 1-3-2 against Western rivals remaining on their schedule.
Nobody has played as many matches in MLS as LA has, and although they sit fifth in the Western Conference, seven of their rivals have higher ceilings. The Galaxy can get to 59 points by winning out; three of the four teams they seem to be battling for the final three postseason berths have one (Vancouver), two (Seattle) or three (Portland) games in hand.
“A lot of teams have games in hand, and it's not looking too good right now,” midfielder Sebastian Lletget said. “But we've got to focus on the next game, and we know we have to win at least four or five. I think if we do win five, we're in the clear, but it's going to be tough.”
LA hasn't won five of seven games since 2015, and they face a tough schedule the rest of the way. The next two games are on the road: They follow their Utah trek with a mid-September game at Toronto FC, and then come critical home matches Sept. 23 against the Sounders and Sept. 29 against the Whitecaps. There are trips to Sporting Kansas City and Minnesota United before a closing-day StubHub clash with Houston.
“Only a few games left, and we know we need to pick up some points,” goalkeeper David Bingham said. “Tonight we missed that opportunity. It was [a good performance], but we'd rather play bad and win the game than play good and lose or tie. We need to win a lot of these games coming up, and that's all that really matters.”
