Galaxy fights back from two-goal deficit for draw against FC Dallas

CARSON — This new group of Galaxy players is learning that any point is huge when you’re locked in a battle for the playoffs.

Saturday, the Galaxy went into halftime against FC Dallas down by two goals and needing to do a lot of work just to get a point.

The Galaxy finally found the right combinations to fight back to earn that valuable point in a 2-2 draw in front of 15,136 at Dignity Health Sports Park.

“We didn’t compete in the first half,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “We were second to everything, we were slow to closing people down, the ball was moving too slow. … The first half lacked anything that looked like a team that was supposed to be fighting for a playoff spot.

“We had a real opportunity tonight to jump a couple of more points ahead.  The second half looked completely opposite.”

The point moves the Galaxy (13-11-7) to 46 points and in fifth place in the Western Conference, tied with Portland on 46 points.

More importantly for the Galaxy, it will remain above the playoff line heading into next week. The Galaxy has a four-point cushion over eighth-place. The top seven teams in the conference qualify for the playoffs.

The Galaxy has three games remaining at Sporting Kansas City (Wednesday), at Seattle (Nov. 1) and then at home against Minnesota United to conclude the regular season, Nov. 7.

The Galaxy finally sprung to life in the second half.

In the 64th minute, the Galaxy earned a penalty kick. Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez stepped up and converted it to make to 2-1.

In the 75th minute, the Galaxy thought it had the equalizer, as Hernandez beat Maurer inside the near post. However, the linesman raised his flag for offside on Dejan Joveljic, who had played the ball to Hernandez.

Then in the 83rd minute, Sebastian Lletget, who entered to start the second half, scored the equalizer slotting home a perfect cross from Samuel Grandsir.

“The second half, it looked like a team that was playing for everything,” Vanney said. “Fighting for every ball, was competing in their challenges, was looking to play forward and run forward and put balls in front of the goal. I mean that’s the difference.

“At the end of the day, tactics are irrelevant …you have to win the duels, you have to win the fight, you have to win all the scrappy stuff in there and then you can start to play soccer. We lost all of the scrappy stuff in the first half and we didn’t get close to them at all defensively. The response was fantastic. At this time of year, it can’t look like it did in the first half.”

FC Dallas opened the scoring in the 30th minute as Jesus Ferreira connected by atop the 18-yard box with a shot that left Galaxy goalkeeper Jonathan Bond frozen in his footsteps.

In the 41st minute, FC Dallas caught the Galaxy flat after an initial shot, leading to Franco Jara knocking in a rebound for a 2-0 lead.

Galaxy defender Julian Araujo missed the game due to yellow card accumulation. It was just the second game of the season that he has missed.