CARSON — For seven seasons, regardless of the names on the jerseys, heartbreak has peeked around the corner whenever the Los Angeles Football Club heads south on the 110 to face the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park.
Always waiting, lurking, a perpetual reminder of El Trafico’s legendary debut in the spring of 2018 when LAFC coughed up a 3-0 lead by conceding four second-half goals. Peaks and valleys. Twists and turns. The occasional head-over-heels highlight.
Madness has been a hallmark of the series ever since Carlos Vela opened it up with a pair of goals before Zlatan Ibrahimovic responded in kind.
Seven years later, neither Vela nor Ibrahimovic was part of the story for Saturday’s third clash of the year between LAFC and the Galaxy — not on the field, at least, which ended 4-2 in favor of the home side following another momentous comeback in Carson that once more straddled the line between control and chaos.
“We played a good first half,” said LAFC’s Ilie Sanchez, who has worn the captain’s armband throughout most of Vela’s absence. “I think we were loyal to who we are and what we want to do on the field and we didn’t do it in the second half. That’s on us. It’s not because of the history of this rivalry. It’s not because we were at their place. The only explanation about tonight is that we didn’t do our jobs. We were not ourselves in the second half and lost the game.”
Dignity Health Sports Park has a way of making that happen for LAFC, which fell to 1-7-2 all-time here.
Ibrahimovic, Galaxy’s leading man from that fateful first El Trafico, is long gone, departing for Europe following the 2019 season.
Vela was head honcho for LAFC from 2018 through 2023. He took an extended break before reappearing the Friday prior to the latest edition of the derby by agreeing to end his free agency.
Despite missing all three regular-season meetings with the Galaxy in 2024, which netted out to a pair of 2-1 wins for LAFC before their house…
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