FC Dallas struggles in 3-1 loss to LA Galaxy

FC Dallas kicked off their three-game road trip on Wednesday night with a 3-1 loss to the LA Galaxy.

LA got two goals from Dejan Joveljic, including one penalty kick before halftime to secure the win. Riqui Puig added an insurance goal in the second half stoppage time after FC Dallas went down to ten men when Nkosi Tafari picked up a second yellow card.

Patrickson Delgado scored his third goal in seven days after scoring the equalizing goal tonight.

Joveljic got LA on the board in the 4th minute. Mark Delgado helped set up the goal with a long ball to Gabriel Pec, who then laid the ball off to Joveljic at the top of the penalty box for his first goal of the night.

Delgado tied it up in the 22nd minute for FC Dallas on another wonderful strike from the Ecuadorian. Paul Arriola played Marco Farfan out along the wings. Farfan sent a low cross into the penalty area that Delgado got a foot on and immediately redirected into the top part of the goal.

The hosts nearly got the lead back in the 30th minute as Goalkeeper Maarten Paes was whistled for a foul in the penalty area. Paes saved LA’s first penalty kick, his second penalty save of the season.

The Galaxy received another attempt from the penalty spot in the second half as they regained their lead on a penalty kick in the 66th minute from Joveljic.

FC Dallas was reduced to ten men for the game’s final few minutes as Tafari earned a second yellow on the night. LA made Dallas pay for that in stoppage time as Puig scored the Galaxy’s third goal.

Instant Reaction: Wednesday night games on the west coast suck. I’ll just say that right off the top here. FC Dallas responded well after going down a goal but the Galaxy have a lot of talent up top that is tough to contend with. The stat line isn’t pretty either, with LA picking up three goals, two penalty kick attempts, 25 shots and nine on target. FCD has a meager 9 shots total, with five on target and one goal.

You could tell late in the match that they looked tired and a bit gassed from the number of games they’ve had to play recently, too. Let’s just move on quickly from this one, shall we?

Man of the Match: Paes ended the night with six saves, including one penalty.

What’s next for FC Dallas: Another game in LA comes up this weekend, as FC Dallas takes on LAFC on Saturday night.