Galaxy tie Inter Miami, gives their fans a reason for optimism

CARSON – Major League Soccer is fully in its Messi Era, but the L.A. Galaxy – Los Angeles’ other team, to hear the league’s commissioner tell it – did its best to interrupt and announce a new era of its own Sunday night at Dignity Health Sports Park.

The 27,642 fans packed into the park – a regular-season attendance record – got a bit of both worlds in the 1-1 tie. A resurgent Galaxy, a Lionel Messi goal.

The Galaxy’s Greg Vanney was right, it absolutely was a spectacle, the type of match that could, as the coach said, “set the standard” for the rest of the season. (And just imagine if the MLS’ usual refs were available and not striking, how much less weird it might’ve been.)

Not only was the new-look Galaxy’s season opener a big reveal for the team’s invested fans, it was a showcase for the whole league – shoot, the whole world – because of who L.A. was up against: The greatest Messi and his decorated Inter Miami mates. Good stuff.

“It did have a sense of a final,” Vanney said. “That was great, and players love to play in this type of environment. You saw the game you saw tonight because of the atmosphere, it gets all the recognition of all the players at the highest level, concentration and work rate. And then you get a really interesting game out of it.”

After a season of discontent, a fan revolt and front office failings off the pitch, and an unimpressive 8-12-14 record on it, the Galaxy gave their fans reason to hope again Sunday, despite letting the victory slip in the 92nd minute.

The Galaxy opened business in 2024 having turned over half of the roster, and as assembled now, they looked young and athletic, determined and energized.

They opened up by opening up the throttle and letting their new wingers fly. Just arrived, Joseph Paintsil, the 26-year-old Ghanaian, started and played most of the match. “I love playing this kind of game,” he said after his MLS debut, who finished with seven shots, including two on target.

And Gabriel Pec, the 23-year-old Brazilian newcomer, stepped on in the 70th minute and applied more pressure late, five minutes before the Galaxy deposited its first goal – Dejan Joveljic scored it easily after Mark Delgado set him up.

The Galaxy’s backline came up big, bottling up Miami until Messi got an opening on a give-and-go with Jordi Alba in the 92nd minute to tie it with his left foot.

No shame in it for the home team, who were down a player after a questionable red card on Delgado. Though it was “sucky” for new Galaxy goalkeeper John McCarthy, it was a great treat for so many of the fans who’d paid high prices to see perhaps the greatest ever perform, fans who broke out in high-fives and hugged, who broke out in we’re-not-worthy bows, some of whom probably shed a tear or two for having witnessed it.

“I see what this team is capable of,” Vanney said. “Even knowing the guys are still coming together. I’m excited about the group that we have.”

So is the MLS, Commissioner Don Garber said.

“Look what they’ve got going on here,” Garber said before kickoff Sunday. “This is a team that steps up their game, (new general manager Will) Kuntz is doing a good job; in the league office we’re very proud of him. I think the signings are notable and the L.A. Galaxy are saying, like, there are two teams in Los Angeles, and we’re gonna give everybody a run for their money.”

Everybody including LAFC, that is, the team up the freeway that began play in 2018 and now is valued at $1 billion, that won the MLS Cup two seasons ago and played for another in the league final last season – while the Galaxy struggled and its fans suffered.

But no one forgot about the Galaxy. On the contrary, its devoted fans made a big, loud stink about the direction of one of MLS’s charter members, winner of a record five MLS Cups in nine finals appearances, four Supporters’ Shields and four second-place finishes. The team of Cobi Jones and Landon Donovan, David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimović.

And now of Pec and Paintsil and Riqui Puig, the little dude with the long strides who wasn’t the greatest No. 10 on the pitch Sunday, but who, for much of it, was the most impactful. Who seemed to want to set the tone Sunday, a sense of optimism, a new era.

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Galaxy tie Inter Miami, gives their fans a reason for optimism – Daily News

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