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Photo by Jovanny Lopez
"El Trafico” should be changed to the “You Can Not Beat Us” derby. All throughout the week, you would see fans and players talk about the match. Zlatan Ibrahimovic backed up his words with his scoring ability. Zlatan scored a hat trick, each goal scored sent the fans into a frenzy. You could feel the nervousness from the LAFC players and fans.
From the moment that you made your way inside the stadium, you could not help yourself to observe the upper seats and think; “Is today Veterans Day?” LAFC fans wanted to invade Dignity Health Sports Park, and had a huge number of tickets cancelled by the L.A. Galaxy staff because they were purchased illegally, and the safety of the fans were a big concern for everyone.
Photos by Daniel Gray
The LAFC fans took their pleads to social media. Some of them were complaining about the injustice, why were the tickets cancelled? However, they forgot that LAFC cancelled a huge number of tickets purchased the year before. The LAFC fans believed that they were ready for battle, however, they would soon find out the harsh reality.
The game began and within 2 minutes into play, L.A. Galaxy goalkeeper, David Bingham took down LAFC’s leading scorer, Carlos Vela, and earned a penalty kick in which he scored easily on the bottom left corner.
From that moment on, The L.A. Galaxy started to control the flow of the game. The L.A. Galaxy would mark and contest each single ball and made the night very difficult for the midfielders and defense of LAFC. In the 8th minute of play, Julian Araujo sent a pass to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whom brought the ball down with his upper left chest, then he was able to self-pass the ball to himself between two players (in the air), and was able to perfectly strike the ball with his right foot from outside the box to score “A Screamer!”
Photos by Jovanny Lopez
The rest of the match would be very physically challenge for both teams. There were 3 yellow cards issued in the first half; Diego Polenta (21st minute), Jonathan Dos Santos (35th minute) and Eduard Atuesta (39th minute). At halftime, the scored would remain at 1-1.
The second half would start, and the physical play would continue, in the 51st minute, Mark-Anthony Kaye would receive a yellow card for a bad foul. In the 56th minute, Diego Polenta would send a cross to Zlatan and he would head the ball high center of the goal for his second of the night. After this goal, the game continues back and forward. In the 61th minute of the game, Julian Araujo, was shown a yellow card and the fans started to see the will to fight by both teams. In the 65th minute of the game, LAFC made two substitutions. Bob Bradley would send Lee Nguyen and Mohamed El-Munir to try and regain control of possession.
In the 70th minute, Zlatan Ibrahimovic would receive a pass from Favio Alvarez, and he would take a left footed shot from outside the box to send the boll to the bottom right corner of the goal for his 3rd goal of the night. From this moment on, LAFC would push their lines forward. The game would continue to be very physical, and the yellow cards continued to pile up. Favio Alvarez (L.A. Galaxy) and Eddie Segura (LAFC) would each be shown a yellow card.
In extra time, Carlos Vela would score his second goal of the night in the 90+7th minute of the match. The score would remain the same, and the L.A. Galaxy, once again, would come out victorious against the crosstown rivals.
Photos by Daniel Gray and Jovanny Lopez