LAFC has once again emerged as the better Los Angeles team when the stake is the highest, beating the LA Galaxy 3-2 in Western Conference Semifinals on Friday. LAFC is now through to the Conference finals, where it awaits the winner of the match between FC Dallas and Austin FC.
LAFC opened the scoring with Denis Bouanga in the 23rd minute but couldn’t hold onto the lead as Galaxy made it level via Samuel Grandsir before halftime. The second half lacked action for the most part before Bouanga tucked his second goal of the game in the 80th minute to get his team ahead again. This lead also didn’t last for long as Dejan Joveljic made it 2-2 just five minutes later.
Halfway through stoppage time, LAFC struck again. Cristian Arango used the confusion in the penalty box after a corner kick and blasted the ball into the net from a close range. However, the Galaxy couldn’t come back this time, and LAFC held on for a memorable win.
“It’s something that the fans deserved, my family deserved it, we all deserved it,” Arango said after the game. “It’s an uncountable amount of happiness that we needed as a group. Now we need to continue on this path.”
Galaxy still holds the edge in El Tráfico, having won seven LA derby matches compared to LAFC’s five. However, LAFC is now 2-0 against Galaxy in the MLS Cup Playoffs. The two teams also played against each other in Western Conference Semifinals in 2019, with LAFC beating Galaxy 5-3.
