Galaxy-LAFC rematch has a tough first act to follow
The game was basically over by the time Zlatan Ibrahimovic stripped off his warmup suit and prepared for his first MLS appearance.
The Galaxy, playing at home, trailed the Los Angeles Football Club 3-1 with 19 minutes left in their first intracity derby -- hastily dubbed “El Trafico” when no one could think of anything better.
Ibrahimovic had been in Southern California less than three days, was less than a year removed from major knee surgery and hadn’t played in a game in more than three months. As he ran onto the field, he moved with the pace and grace of a newborn giraffe and his first touch was as heavy as the humid late-afternoon air.
“After two minutes, I started to breathe heavy,” said Ibrahimovic, who looked every bit the aging player some feared he had become.
Which makes what happened next still seem like fiction four months after it became fact: With Ibrahimovic scoring the game-tying goal on an incomparable 40-yard volley and the game-winner on an improbable stoppage-time header, the Galaxy turned a three-goal deficit into a 4-3 victory. El Trafico became El Clasico.
“It was the craziest game I’ve ever been a part of,” said Galaxy midfielder Chris Pontius, who has played in more than 230 of them in MLS and with the U.S. national team.
Others rushed to place it among the most memorable matches in league history.
Yet it may only be a prelude to Thursday night’s rivalry rematch at Banc of California Stadium where the streaking Galaxy, unbeaten since May, meet an LAFC team that has never lost at home.
“If you don’t have a ticket,” Galaxy coach Sigi Schmid said “you’ve got to make sure you put on your TV.”
Given the way that the March 31 meeting started, it appeared the only thing that would be memorable about the first El Trafico would be the drubbing the Galaxy would take. With Carlos Vela scoring twice in the first 26 minutes, LAFC dominated a first half it should have led by more than just 2-0.
When Galaxy defender Daniel Steres contributed an own goal early in the second half, it did, giving LAFC the kind of fast, entertaining start Vela had hoped for.
“I said before the game, ‘I hope it’s a fun game to watch’,” Vela said after training Wednesday. “We want[ed] to create a good rivalry in this city. It’s a big city.”
What every rivalry needs most, however, is drama and that was about to come. Because even buried in a 3-0 hole and with just one shot on goal, Pontius said he felt the game begin to change.
“We were on our heels the entire first half,” he said. “The momentum changed at halftime. We were so much better.”
The second half was 16 minutes old before Sebastian Lletget got the Galaxy on the scoreboard though -- and even that goal, coming after Servando Carrasco stripped the ball from LAFC’s Benny Feilhaber -- seemed like nothing more than a weak murmur of protest.
So when the sellout crowd, more out of boredom than expectation, began chanting “We want Zlatan,” Schmid turned to the bench and motioned Ibrahimovic over.
With the Galaxy going on the road the next week, Ibrahimovic needed to play against LAFC if he were to make his debut at home, as management wished. But given the heat, jet lag, his obvious lack of fitness – and especially the score – Ibrahimovic’s entrance with less than 20 minutes to play seemed more like surrender than a cavalry charge.
Even Ibrahimovic had only modest expectations. Because while his heart and mind were willing, he wasn’t sure his body would be able to follow.
“I mean, you have a vision,” he said. “You try to predict things and have a vision for what scenario you want. Then you need to do it physically.”
It took just two minutes for him to make his presence felt with a poor LAFC clearance of a long Ibrahimovic cross leading to a Pontius score and a 3-2 game.
Ibrahimovic was already gassed though and moving so awkwardly he told himself the next time the ball came his way he would shoot it rather than run with it, no matter where he was.
That happened four minutes later when a pass intended for teammate Ola Kamara dropped at Ibrahimovic’s feet, closer to the midfield stripe than the goal. In the Fox Sports broadcast booth John Strong, battling a sore throat, saw the ball near midfield and reached for a gulp of honey.
“Normally a good time to squeeze that in,” his broadcast partner Stuart Holden remembered.
Some college football teams might not try a kick from where Ibrahimovic stood but he had no choice, swinging his right leg back and volleying a bending shot over backpeddling LAFC keeper Tyler Miller and into the center of the net to tie the game.
When a surprised Strong looked up, the shot was on its way, inspiring his austere call of the goal. “Aw c’mon!,” he screamed. “C’mon!”
“Most people didn’t think he would shoot,” Pontius said. “Ibra thinks different than a normal person.”
And he wasn’t done. With 13 minutes left, there was still room for one last bit of magic and that came seconds into stoppage time when Ibrahimovic sliced between two defenders and beat Miller to an Ashley Cole cross, heading in the game-winner.
“Are you serious?” Strong asked this time.
On the Galaxy sideline, Schmid wondered the same thing.
“You didn’t expect it. It’s not like you planned it,” he remembered this week. “But when it happened it was like ‘OK, well it makes sense. He does things like that’.”
LAFC (10-5-5) recovered from the shock, losing just four times in its next 17 games to climb to second in the conference in points and second in the league in scoring.
“It wasn’t one of the best games in MLS. What it had was an incredible ending,” LAFC coach Bob Bradley remembered. “You just tip your hat that Zlatan, in his first game, the ball falls and he smashes one in and follows it up with the winner. That part’s incredible.
“And yes, it probably does help the rivalry.”
The Galaxy (9-7-5) have nearly kept pace. With Ibrahimovic scoring a conference-best 12 goals for a team that has a league-high 23 in its last 10 games, the Galaxy have gone 6-1-3 over that span.
On Thursday, they collide again in El Trafico – this time on LAFC’s turf.
“The first derby had everything you could want,” Schmid said. “It had intrigue. It had disappointment. It had ecstasy.
“Those are things that make games special.”
And can make the encores even moreso.
kevin.baxter@latimes.com | Twitter: @kbaxter11
