“Flat” was definitely the theme of the evening at Dignity Health, as the struggling L.A. Galaxy hosted Austin FC.
The Galaxy, who went winless through sixteen games, were on a bit of a streak and looking to keep it going—three consecutive home wins, including two in a row in July.
Despite this, they are rapidly losing their largely-Latin supporters’ groups, who are unhappy that the team has not made a statement regarding the ICE presence in Los Angeles.
The groups cancelled an annual bus trip to San Jose in June, an event that has seen thousands make the trek in the past.
The July 4th game was sparsely attended, with protests held outside the stadium, and those who did enter sat in their seats in silence. At least until they walked out in the 12th minute.
The July 16th game saw another silent protest, similar to what LAFC supporters did in June. However, both LAFC and Angel City FC have both released statements addressing the issue, with ACFC going so far as to rebrand the entire stadium in “Immigrant City FC” signage before the June 14th game.
Continued silence from the Galaxy front office has resulted in largely empty supporters’ sections and a decidedly flat atmosphere inside the building. It didn’t help that at 16,272, this was L.A.’s second-lowest attendance for the season.
An uncharacteristically cloudy sky dulled what normally would have been a pleasant summer evening, throwing flat light through the first half that did little to rouse the fans who did show up.
Even the balls were apparently flat, with both teams complaining almost immediately after kickoff, resulting in a long delay barely 4 minutes into the match.
But eventually, politics, weather, and air pressure were put aside, and the teams could get down to soccer.
The visitors took control almost immediately, driving down the field. Austin’s Owen Wolff took a right-footed shot from outside the box, but was stopped by Novak Mićović. Austin earned a corner, but failed to convert.
The Galaxy rallied, and had attempts in the 22nd and 26th minute, from Matheus Nascimento and Joseph Paintsil, but both were off target. The closest L.A. would come to scoring in regulation was actually on an Austin near-own goal, when Brad Stuver mishandled a backwards pass and had to scramble to stop the ball from crossing the line.
The tie was broken in the 40th minute by Austin when Myrto Uzuni found the bottom-left corner from the far side of the box, putting it past a diving Mićović.
With 10 minutes of stoppage time added due to Deflategate 2025 and an injury to Galaxy defender Julián Aude, L.A had opportunities to even it up. Marco Reus had a close shot blocked in the first minute. A corner kick gave Maya Yoshida a header opportunity, but it too was stopped. Gabriel Pec nearly tied it up minutes later but his shot found the far post and deflected in the wrong direction. Pec attempted to convert a free kick in the 8th, only to be met by Stuver, ending their attempts in the first half.
Whatever head coach Greg Vanney said to his team at halftime, it managed to get them fired up, and they started the second half strong. Pec earned a free kick, then took a shot from outside the box. L.A. got a corner, but failed to convert.
Austin found their footing in the 51st, and Uzuni took another shot, but Mićović was there to stop it. The two teams traded sides and shots, but neither could find the back of the net until the 63rd minute. Uzuni pressed towards the goal, drawing Mićović too far off the line. The keeper failed to find the handle, and the ball wound up at the boots of Wolff. Defender Miki Yamane scrambled to cover the empty net, but Wolff rocketed the ball over his knee to double Austin’s lead.
That took whatever air might have been left out of L.A.’s balloon. The two teams traded shots without creating any serious opportunities, and the already quiet crowd grew even quieter—other than complaining about every injury delay or substitution.
When the fourth official announced an additional 8 minutes of stoppage time, that was largely met by groans from the home crowd that was ready to end the suffering.
Until.
In the second minute of stoppage time, Pantsil raced Mikkel Desler down the left for a long pass. Taking the ball just outside the penalty area, Desler only just managed to take away the angle and get between Pantsil and Stuver. The two began to tangle as they had for most of the game, but as Pantsil attempted to reverse direction at the base line, he fell to the ground. An instant later, referee Ricardo Fierro pointed to the spot, to the disbelief of Desler.
Pantsil converted the penalty, and immediately resurrected the Galaxy’s hopes. Grabbing the ball from the back of the net, he raced back to center for the kickoff.
But despite L.A. displaying an intensity that had been absent for the match thus far, and a full 11 minutes of stoppage time, they only managed to put one shot on goal, and Stuver easily hauled it in.
After the game, Vanney commented: “…I just felt like the game started flat and carried on flat until some point in the second half I thought the intensity started to show and started to seem like a game that really kind of matter. It took us in my opinion a little bit too long to get there.”
The loss dropped the Galaxy to 3-6-14 for the season, while Austin moved to 8-6-8. While Austin is currently in the wild card spot for the playoffs, they’re only behind Colorado by 1 goal, and have played two fewer games. The Galaxy have an uphill battle just to get into the wildcard spot, and will need a lot of help from the teams above them to get there.
Austin gets a short break before heading to play DC United on July 26th.
The Galaxy, on the other hand, barely get a break at all, facing cross-town rivals LAFC on the 19th at BMO Stadium.
Galaxy supporters’ groups have already announced that they will not attend the game.
Credit: Jim Sabo
