PASADENA, Calif. (Tuesday, July 4, 2023) – Playing the second of two regular-season matches in the span of four days, the LA Galaxy earned a 2-1 win over LAFC in the 20th edition of El Tráfico before a new MLS single-match standalone attendance record of 82,110 fans at Rose Bowl Stadium on Tuesday night. Tyler Boyd and Riqui Puig both recorded a goal and an assist in the victory against LAFC as the LA Galaxy extended their unbeaten run in league play to six matches dating back to May 31.
New MLS Record Attendance
The LA Galaxy’s Fourth of July win over LAFC at the Rose Bowl Stadium set a new MLS standalone attendance record with a sold-out crowd of 82,110 fans. The previous standalone attendance record was set on March 5, 2022, when the Galaxy squared off against Charlotte FC before 74,479 fans at Bank of America Stadium.
Galaxy Run Of Form
Following the win over LAFC, the Galaxy extended their unbeaten run to six matches in league play (2-0-4; 9 GF, 7 GA) dating back to May 31. In the Galaxy’s last five matches played at home across all competitions dating back to May 10, LA holds a 3-1-1 record (9 GF, 6 GA).
LA Galaxy Against LAFC
The Fourth of July match between the LA Galaxy and LAFC marked the 20th edition across all competitions of El Tráfico, with the Galaxy leading the all-time series 9-6-5. In 11 all-time home matches played across all competitions against LAFC, the Galaxy hold a record of 8-1-2 (25 GF, 15 GA). In 20 matches played between the LA Galaxy (44 GF) and LAFC (41 GF) across all competitions, El Tráfico averages 4.25 goals per game. In three matches played across all competitions this season against LAFC, Boyd has recorded three goals.
Goal-Scoring Plays.
LAG – Tyler Boyd (Riqui Puig), 26th minute: Riqui Puig passed the ball down the left edge of the penalty area to Tyler Boyd, who turned his defender before delivering a curling shot into the far corner of the goal.
LFC – Ilie Sanchez (Timothy Tillman), 57th minute: Timothy Tillman’s corner kick delivery into the left side of the six-yard box found Ilie Sanchez, whose flicked header was fired in at the near post.
LAG – Preston Judd (Tyler Boyd, Douglas Costa), 73rd minute: Douglas Costa played an outside of the boot pass to Tyler Boyd down the left flank. Boyd’s ensuing low cross into six-yard box was finished from close range by Riqui Puig.
Postgame Notes
- The LA Galaxy’s Fourth of July win over LAFC at the Rose Bowl Stadium set a new MLS standalone attendance record with a sold-out crowd of 82,110 fans.
- Tuesday’s Fourth of July match marked the 28th MLS regular-season match held on July 4 at home for the Galaxy, with LA holding a 15-7-5 record on games played on Independence Day.
- Following the win over LAFC, the Galaxy extended their unbeaten run to six matches in league play (2-0-4; 9 GF, 7 GA) dating back to May 31.
- In the Galaxy’s last five matches played at home across all competitions dating back to May 10, LA holds a 3-1-1 record (9 GF, 6 GA).
- The July 4 match between the LA Galaxy and LAFC marked the 20th edition across all competitions of El Tráfico, with the Galaxy leading the all-time series 9-6-5.
- The LA Galaxy are undefeated against LAFC in two matches played across all competitions this season on a Tuesday (2-0-0; 4 GF, 1 GA).
- In three meetings between the two teams across all competitions this season, the Galaxy lead the series 2-1-0.
- In 11 all-time home matches played across all competitions against LAFC, the Galaxy hold a record of 8-1-2 (25 GF, 15 GA).
- In 20 matches played between the LA Galaxy (44 GF) and LAFC (41 GF) across all competitions, El Tráficoaverages 4.25 goals per game.
- In 128 all-time regular-season and playoff games played at Rose Bowl Stadium, the Galaxy hold a combined record of 87-32-9 record (.715 win percentage).
- LA Galaxy Head Coach and Sporting Director Greg Vanney holds a 5-3-2 record in 10 career matches managed across all competitions against LAFC.
- When scoring the first goal in a match across all competitions this season, the Galaxy hold a 6-2-1 record.
- In three matches played across all competitions during the 2023 campaign against LAFC, Tyler Boyd has recorded three goals.
- With his assist in the match against LAFC, Douglas Costa has recorded one goal and five assists in six matches played across all competitions dating back to June 7.
- In five games played in league play dating back to June 11, Costa’s five assists lead the league during that span.
- Riqui Puig tallied one goal and one assist, created four chances, completed 32 of 33 passes (97% pass accuracy) and 10 dribbles and won 16 duels in the win over LAFC.
- Puig has tallied one goal and three assists in three league matches played dating back to June 21.
- As a second-half substitute, LA Galaxy goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann made four saves against LAFC.
*
Next Game
*Next up, the LA Galaxy play host to the Philadelphia Union at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday, July 8. The match on July 8 kicks off at 7:30 p.m. PT and will be broadcasted live on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
2023 MLS Regular Season
LA Galaxy (4-9-7, 19pts) vs. LAFC (9-6-5, 32 pts)
Tuesday, July 4, 2023 – Rose Bowl Stadium (Pasadena, Calif.)
Goals by Half 1 2 F
LA Galaxy 1 1 2
LAFC 1 0 1
Scoring Summary:
LAG: Boyd (Puig), 26
LFC: Sanchez (Tillman), 57
LAG: Puig (Boyd, Costa), 73
Misconduct Summary:
LFC: Tillman (caution), 19
LAG: Edwards (caution), 34
LAG: Costa (caution), 54
LFC: Maldonado (caution), 70
LAG: Aude (caution), 72
LFC: Dueñas (caution), 82
Lineups:
LA: GK Jonathan Bond (Jonathan Klinsmann, 45); D Calegari, D Chris Mavinga, D Kelvin Leerdam, D Raheem Edwards (Julián Aude, 58); M Riqui Puig, M Gastón Brugman ©, M Mark Delgado; M Tyler Boyd (Daniel Aguirre, 90), M Douglas Costa; F Preston Judd (Dejan Joveljić, 58)
Substitutes Not Used: D Mauricio Cuevas; M Efraín Álvarez, M Jonathan Pérez, M Uri Rosell, M Gino Vivi
TOTAL SHOTS: 11 (Preston Judd, 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 6 (Four players tied, 1); FOULS: 17 (Dejan Joveljić, 3); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 1; SAVES: 7
LFC: GK John McCarthy, D Denil Maldonado, D Giorgio Chiellini, D Erik Dueñas, D Ryan Hollingshead; M Ilie Sanchez (Mateusz Bogusz, 75), M Timothy Tillman (Nathan Ordaz, 90+1), M Kwadwo Opoku (Stipe Biuk, 71), M Kellyn Acosta (Jose Cifuentes, 45), M Carlos Vela ©; F Denis Bouanga
Substitutes Not Used: GK Eldin Jakupovic; D Diego Rosales, M Daniel Crisostomo, F Julian Gaines
TOTAL SHOTS: 17 (Denis Bouanga, 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 8 (Denis Bouanga, 2); FOULS: 15 (Timothy Tillman, 3); OFFSIDES: 3; CORNER KICKS: 6; SAVES: 4
Referee: Victor Rivas
Assistant Referees: Cameron Blanchard, Corey Rockwell
Fourth Official: Brandon Stevis
VAR: Daniel Radford
Weather: Clear, 72 degrees
Attendance: 82,110
All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial
LA GALAXY POSTGAME QUOTES
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH AND SPORTING DIRECTOR GREG VANNEY
On his thoughts on the game and playing in front of a record-setting MLS crowd tonight:
“It was an exciting, just, atmosphere to be honest. For me, personally, to be back in the Rose Bowl. To see it full. To take a second and realize just how far this league has come since we kicked it off in ’96, to where it is now. The level of the two teams. The competition tonight. Quality of players on the field. All of it. It was just an incredible venue. Incredible atmosphere. And, a wonderful game that I think entertained. As these games always do.”
On when they knew they had to take Jonathan Bond out of the game, and his status:
“It was halftime. He came in. It was some kind of a collision in one of the plays. I don’t remember exactly. And, in that, he felt his hamstring. And, so, halftime, he went and got checked out to see if he could continue or not continue. And then we found out that he couldn’t. So, we had to make a shift.”
On Riqui Puig and his goal, assist on the night and if tonight is his best performance in an LA Galaxy jersey:
“Maybe. Given the moment. Given the stadium. The amount of people. The spectacle that it was tonight. He was outstanding. He just plays at a different speed. When he picks up the ball and shifts and changes direction and accelerates through the lines. He just… it’s a different speed. And, being closer, we’re connecting a lot. And Douglas’ [Costa] ability to play through things and create new scenarios, it’s special by both of them, and they’re getting more time together to connect with each other. It’s fun. Riqui [Puig] was outstanding tonight. For sure. A lot of guys had good performances. And, the whole team stuck together for 90 minutes and do the things they had to do to preserve the win down the stretch.”
On five games unbeaten, a few draws in that stretch and what the difference tonight was:
“I think part of it was just, look, we finished the game. I felt like in a couple of these games, when we got ahead, when we were up a goal, and even tonight, 1-0, we started to get a touch passive and tried not to deal with them. And they were obviously pushing at this point. The onset of the second half, they were pushing to try to get themselves in the game. We need to increase our speed and try to be a little bit more proactive. Get a little bit higher posture so that they couldn’t get so deep on us so easily. When we conceded the second goal, I feel like we got back to that. Back to being more proactive. More aggressive. Our wingers got a little higher. Defensive positioning. And we were able to make things a lot more difficult. We recovered well in better areas. And, tonight, ultimately, we finished the game. We took the chances, by and large, we had a couple others, but we took our chances, and we dealt with everything that we had to deal with. And, in the end, which, they threw some things at us, they had some things that made me really nervous down the stretch, but we found a way to deal with it, to clear it, to clean it up. We got ourselves through the game. But, for us, and I said to our guys, you have to play every play for 90 minutes. Because the margins are thin right now for us. And we have to make sure that we’re present in every single play. Our forwards have to defend deep sometimes. And everybody has to be a part of it to see these things out. There was a couple wins where we felt like we should have got or deserved to get through that stretch, and tonight, we finished it up. But this is a good feeling for this group. I don’t know if you call this a neutral site or a home game, or what it is. But, we haven’t played at home one game out of those five, and so, it’s been a good stretch for us where the group has really shown resilience. And kind of a foundation to continue to build off of with this particular group of players.”
On if it feels like a massive win to him, feeling the excitement throughout the stadium and the world, and if this game was a springboard forward:
“For sure. We’ve been, like I said, over this stretch of five games coming into this one, we’ve been so close to getting the three points. On a couple of occasions, at least, where you put those in the bank. You build a little bit of confidence. You build a little bit of resiliency through that stretch. Tonight, we got all of that in one match. Because of the environment. The magnitude of the game. The feeling of the game. The joy that’s in the group. Sometimes you forget about some of the struggles that were earlier in the season. And I felt like even though we’re been solid through this little stretch, you still feel the tension of the earlier part of the season. So, my hope is that the joy tonight that they feel in the locker room and for each other, our effort and for our fans, this can be that thing that puts you on another level of confidence and belief and you can start to build off of this even more. But I think it’s building off of the last five games that we should look back on. It’s not just tonight. It’s things that we’ve been able to accomplish on the road for this last stretch.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER TYLER BOYD
On scoring three goals against LAFC this season:
“I don't know. I said it before. I like the big games, but it just happens to come against LAFC every time so it's just a blessing. I always say it. All the glory to Jesus Christ. He’s my savior and I play for him. I give him all the glory and I dedicate that goal to obviously the fans that travel, but also to my parents who traveled. They traveled from New Zealand to be here at the game. So yeah, a very special moment. Amazing performance from the team. They don't pass me the ball, I can't score. So we fought like heck today as a team and I'm super proud of the group.”
On playing this match in front of a record MLS attendance on the Fourth of July:
“Yeah, it was special on the 4th of July. I'm half American so I'm kind of patriotic as well and just listening to that national anthem, with so many people singing... It was special to break the attendance record and to get a win. Just a magical night. Yeah, I'm really blessed to be here. I'm so happy to be back in America and yeah, it was a special occasion and everything happens for a reason. I guess that rain happened for a reason when we rescheduled and we're able to break the attendance record and get the win, so magical night.”
On playing with Riqui Puig:
“Amazing player. I think we're gelling together, him and I, especially today it showed. He gave me the first assist. I gave him the second, so that's nice to make that connection but it's a team effort. Everyone works really hard and puts us in positions to get up there and get into goal-scoring position so it's a team effort, not one player, but he's great to play with and a good guy too.”
On the form of Douglas Costa:
“Yeah, you can see on the goal in the second half came from him -- an amazing ball outside of the foot, I went through, played it across to Riqui so that all comes from the magic of the outside of the foot from Douglas. He’s an amazing guy. He speaks Portuguese. I speak Portuguese, so we’ve got a pretty good relationship and it's so nice to have him back. He's had a few assists and goals in this past few games and he's on fire at the moment, so we're lucky to have him. Yeah, hopefully, it continues.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER RIQUI PUIG (Translated from Spanish)
On playing in front of a record breaking crowd:
“The atmosphere was amazing, our fans came out and they cheered the whole game. We heard them in the good and the bad. We want to thank the Galaxy because we came here and won and it was a spectacular match.”
On getting a goal and an assist:
"I'm a player that likes to play these big games with a lot of pressure and a lot of fans in the stands and I think we showed today what we are capable of and I love that pressure and I'm very happy and happy for the team. We really needed these three points, we have won in five games but we also haven't lost in five games but I think it was well deserved."
On getting a win and what has changed in the team:
"We're working the same. I don't think we have changed anything we just haven't had the luck. I come from a team where we are used to winning and this has been really hard for me personally but I think the team is taking the hits in the right way and we are getting back, we will be back and I think we are hoping and pushing for the playoffs."
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER GASTÓN BRUGMAN (Translated from Spanish)
On a game like today showing how much history the team has and on the game's atmosphere:
"Thanks for the words. I think the things you say about the Galaxy it is what you say it is a team with a lot of history here and this jersey has some weight to it whether you are wearing it or you're playing against it. Tonight's atmosphere was amazing, the event was so enjoyable on the field and I think the fans in the stands enjoyed it as well and I think the best team won today and I'm very happy for that win."
On Riqui Puig's importance to the team:
"He's an important player for us and we love to play with him and if he's happy you can see it on the field he really enjoys his game and playing and he showed it today. We have to take care of Riqui because he's the best man on the team."
On being a leader on the team and wearing the captains armband:
"It is a nice responsibility, I've done it before on other teams and I'm well prepared and I'm happy to take this opportunity and I'm thankful for the team."
