CARSON, Calif. – The New York Red Bulls ended their slump on Saturday night on the road. The defeated LA Galaxy 3-2 at StubHub Center on a late PK goal after a Dave Romeny handball in the box. Bradley Wright-Philips and Zlatan Ibrahimovic led the way offensively for their teams.
New York Red Bulls Beat LA Galaxy, End Slump After Dave Romney Handball
It was a tale of two halves in this match. In the first half, the Galaxy had more of the ball and several chances, but it was the Red Bulls with the high-quality opportunities and the goals. Just seven minutes in, Bradley Wright-Philips got the ball on a long pass. He created space on the edge of the box and found an on-running Daniel Royer who buried it in the back of the net. It was his first goal of the season.
Minutes later, Romain Alessandrini appeared to tie it up on a counter, but VAR ruled that Ola Kamara was off-sides on the build-up play. The half ended 0-1.
Four minutes into the second half, half-time substitute Florain Valot scores on the counter, with Wright-Philips again being providing the assist after running onto a long ball.
The Galaxy got into the game with a goal in the 59th minute. Zlatan Ibrahimovic got a long ball and sent a through pass to Ola Kamara, who tapped the ball past Robles to score. The Galaxy tied it up in the 66th minute. Zlatan provided the service on a corner. Dave Romney headed the ball down to Giovani dos Santos, who took a touch to control then scored.
Los Angeles appeared to take the lead just minutes later when Zlatan tapped in a cross in front of goal, but the linesman ruled him off-sides.
With the game tied, New York Red Bulls responded. The visitors drew a PK in the 83rd minute on a called handball on Dave Romney. Kakue stepped up and scored. The match ended 2-3.
Three Takeaways:
Long balls: Both defenses had trouble judging long balls and defending them once a forward collected them. Wright-Philips made mincemeat of the slower Galaxy center backs, who were caught in No Man’s Land on both RBNY goals from the run of play. Zlatan gathered the ball as no one challenged him on the Kamara goal.
Slow start again: For the fourth match in five the Galaxy gave up the first goal. The club continues to have slow starts in the first half, especially at home.
Officials play a role: The officials played a significant role in this match but appeared to get all their calls right. VAR disallowed Alessandrini’s goal in the first half when Kamara was well off-sides. Zlatan appeared to be off as well on his disallowed goal in the second, but it was close. While the handball on Romney appeared to be off his shoulder/tricep area, his hand was stretched out as he went to ground, and thus in an unnatural position.
