The Los Angeles Football Club will have to wait a while longer for a local derby win after suffering another late-game collapse, tying 2-2 against the Los Angeles Galaxy on home soil.
Despite the Galaxy being the first to threaten with a Zlatan Ibrahimovic free kick going just wide in the 3rd minute, LAFC controlled proceedings in the first half, making sure that the traffic in the second installment of "El Trafico" remained mostly one-way.
"I think LAFC was a better team today," said Ibrahimovic after the game. "We got chances. We have to score when we get those chances. I think one point was a good result for us."
The dominance paid off early as Carlos Vela powered home a header after some good work on the right from Norwegian forward Adama Diomande saw him prevent the ball from crossing the end line and then serve a beautiful cross to his Mexican counterpart.
"I think we started really well," said Vela. "In the second half we had some chances to score and finish the game, but we missed them, and you know what happened...we did it again. We have a lot to learn."
With the lead established early, the hosts imposed their style over the Galaxy, their one-touch football frustrating their opponents and almost seeing them score again in the 12th minute with Latif Blessing's far-post shot from the right after a quick give-and-go with Lee Nguyen going just wide.
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The one negative of the first half for LAFC was having to see midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye leave the pitch in the 19th minute after rolling his ankle, his face full of agony telling the whole story.
After the game, LAFC manager Bob Bradley announced that Kaye was diagnosed with a fractured left ankle and will have to undergo surgery.
"I'll start with the worst news of the night for Mark-Anthony Kaye," began Bradley. "He has a fracture on the inside part of the ankle. Surgery. That part has had me in a bad mood since I got the news at halftime."
The hosts, however, used the resulting free kick to return some of that pain, Nguyen's wonderful strike going over the Galaxy wall and into the back of the net to make it 2-0.
The Galaxy tried to get one back in the third minute of added-on time, but Tyler Miller did well to cut off Ibrahimovic's over-the-top through ball and snatch it away from an onrushing Romain Alessandrini.
The hosts were unlucky not to get a third in the 61st minute after Benny Feilhaber's shot from outside the box deflected off a pair of Galaxy legs and into the far post.
David Bingham almost dug his team into a deeper hole just two minutes later when he tried to cut back and was stripped by an onrushing Blessing, but thankfully for him, the ball trickled out before Blessing could gain possession.
Eduard Atuesta almost made it 3-0 in the 78th minute as he darted into the Galaxy box, but his cross-goal shot went tantalizingly wide.
The Galaxy finally cut the deficit in the 82nd minute as Alessandrini chested down a cross from Ibrahimovic and fired into the back of the net.
"We had nothing to lose at that point," said Alessandrini of the goal. "The second half was much better. We came back. I scored a goal. The last twenty minutes I think they were a little bit tired because we put more pressure on them."
The ghosts from the first derby finally came back to haunt LAFC in the 86th minute as Andrè Horta's attempt at a backpass from beyond the halfway line served more as a through ball for Ola Kamara, who rounded Miller to make it 2-2.
"I saw him [Horta] look at the goalie and I knew he was going to pass it, but I didn't want to show it too early," said Kamara of the mistake that ultimately equalized the game. "When I read it, I was actually looking for Ibra the whole way to play it back, but I felt like in the end it was a tough angle and I was able to score it myself."
And while the black and gold probably deserved better, striking the post multiple times during the game -- including after Kamara's tying goal -- all that matters is the final scoreline and the fact that LAFC threw away another dominant derby lead.
"We do a lot of good things, but what we still haven't been able to get right is when there's a game and at the end there's emotion and there's a derby and it's just spinning out of control -- that there's a couple of players on the field who have the composure and intelligence to just make sure that we get it right," Bradley said.
Now all they can do is sit and wait for a month, hopeful that a third encounter will finally result in a victory over their counterparts from Carson.
