LA Galaxy vs. Sounders, full-time: Late penalty leaves it level

FULL-TIME: The Sounders came back from a 2-0 deficit to eventually lead 3-2 but were undone by a stoppage-time penalty awarded by VAR. The point was good enough to move the Sounders into the No. 7 spot in the Western Conference, at least temporarily.

GALAXY 3, SOUNDERS 3: VAR awarded a penalty in stoppage time after a header struck the arm of Xavier Arreaga and Dejan Joveljić dispatched goal.

GALAXY 2, SOUNDERS 3: Jordan Morris completed the Sounders’ comeback from 2-0 down, putting away a rebound off a Yeimar Gomez-Andrade header.

GALAXY 2, SOUNDERS 2: Just a few moments after the Sounders hit the woodwork twice on one sequence, the Sounders found the equalizer on a Raúl Ruidíaz header off a Nicolás Lodeiro cross.

GALAXY 2, SOUNDERS 1: Kelyn Rowe put away a perfect feed from Raúl Ruidíaz in the 53rd minute to cut the deficit in half.

GALAXY 2, SOUNDERS 0: Victor Vazquez caught Stefan Frei off his line, scoring on a chip from the edge of the penalty area in the 42nd minute after a spell in which the Sounders had been reasonably dominant.

GALAXY 1, SOUNDERS 0: Chicharito Hernandez got the Galaxy on the board in the 10th minute, collecting a pass in the box and easily slotting it past Stefan Frei. It’s the seventh time in 10 games the Sounders have surrendered the first goal.

LINEUPS: The Sounders moved back to a three-back formation for the first time since July 13, but will deploy a 3-5-2 for the first time this year. The move was somewhat necessitated by an injury to Cristian Roldan, who was effectively replaced in the lineup by Kelyn Rowe.

There are nine games remaining in the 2022 regular season. The Seattle Sounders sit 10th in the Western Conference, but just one point out of a playoff spot and can jump all the way to sixth with a win over the LA Galaxy tonight. That’s been a vaguely familiar storyline for several weeks and will probably continue to be one for the next few.

This Galaxy game has some added importance because they are one of the teams the Sounders will be battling for these final playoff spots. Like the Sounders, the Galaxy have been struggling in recent weeks (although they are coming off a resounding win over the Whitecaps). The Galaxy are 2-5-0 over their past seven and 3-6-1 over their past 10. That’s one more point over their last 10 than the Sounders.

The Galaxy’s biggest problem has been on the defensive end, where they’ve given up 19 goals during this 10-game stretch. They’ve also given up at least two goals in half of those games and at least three in four of them.

Their struggles have been an almost mirror-image of the Sounders, who have only allowed as many as three goals once during this 10-game run but have been limited to just nine goals scored.

• The Sounders have a nine-game unbeaten run against the Galaxy (5-0-3) that dates to 2018 and includes a 3-2 win earlier this year. The Sounders have gone 2-0-3 on the road during that stretch.
• That overlaps almost perfectly with Raúl Ruidíaz’s time with the Sounders, which includes eight goals in eight career appearances against the Galaxy.
• The Galaxy are coming off a 5-2 win over the Whitecaps on Saturday. It included their first four-goal half since 2016.
• Galaxy substitutes have 24 goal contributions this year (10 goals, 14 assists), with Dejan Jovelic leading the way (6 goals, 3 assists).

Galaxy

OUT: Jorge Villafaña (Season-Ending Injured List), Jonathan Pérez (Knee), Derrick Williams (Personal Reasons)

Sounders

OUT: João Paulo (R ACL Tear); Andrew Thomas (Lower Back Stress Fracture); Obed Vargas (Lower Back Stress Fracture)

Referee: Victor Rivas; Assistant Referees: Jeffrey Greeson, Cameron Blanchard; 4th Official: Brandon Stevis; VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero; Assistant VAR: Jeff Muschik

Match date/kickoff time: Friday, 7:08 PM

Venue: Dignity Health Sports Park, Carson, Calif.

Online Streaming: ESPN+ (affiliate link, out of market), Fubo TV (affiliate link)

National English TV: ESPN (Jon Champion & Taylor Twellman)

Local Radio: 93.3 KJR-FM Seattle, iHeartMedia (Costigan, Keller)

Local Spanish Radio: El Rey 1360 AM (Rodriguez, Maqueda, Tapia)

National Spanish TV: ESPN Deportes

International TV:

Australia & New Zealand: beIN Sports Australia

Australia & New Zealand: ESPN Australia

Balkans: Arena Sport

Brazil: ESPN Brazil

China: China Sports Media

China (Closed-Circuit TV): Star Sports

Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain: DAZN (Europe)

India: Eurosport

Latin America: ESPN Latin America

Middle East & North Africa: Abu Dhabi Sports

Netherlands: ESPN Netherlands

Nova Sport (Czech Republic): Czech Republic & Slovakia

Southeast Asia: beIN Sports Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa: ESPN Africa

Sweden: C-More

Turkey & Azerbaijan: Saran Sport

Ukraine: Football 1

Highlights will be posted as the match progresses.

This is Seattle Sounders at Galaxy; watch with us

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