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The LA Galaxy came from behind twice before a flurry of late goals finished off Seattle Sounders FC 4-2 in a fiercely contested U.S. Open Cup matchup Wednesday night at the StubHub Center Track and Field Stadium.
#LAGalaxy XI: Diop; Garcia, Steres, Leonardo, Romney; Husidic, De Jong; Lletget, Magee, Boateng; Gordon #LAvSEA pic.twitter.com/cWjfidPNoX
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) July 21, 2016
LA fielded a second-choice lineup with Alan Gordon up top and Mike Magee in the playmaker role.
After a near-miss from Emmanuel Boateng early, Seattle went up front off a horrific Leonardo giveaway. The Brazilian telegraphed a pass out of the back, and Michael Farfan pounced on the ball before easily chipping over a stranded Clement Diop for the opener.
However, the Galaxy would bounce back when Alan Gordon crashed the box and emphatically swept a Baggio Husidic cross into the top netting to cap an eventful opening 20 minutes of play.
GORDO BASH! https://t.co/ALswMaUyJW #LAvSEA pic.twitter.com/8UncxFwIHg
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) July 21, 2016
The action didn't let up. In the 27th minute, a dangerous Sounders restart resulted in a header clanging off Diop's left goalpost, but the referee whistled offsides on the play. In the 36th minute, Rafael Garcia drew a crowd before feeding the overlapping Daniel Steres, who's cross was inches away from the onrushing Mike Magee
The second half was more of the same, with both teams looking to pull ahead. Seattle had a real opportunity to win the game when the wily Hercules Gomez ghosted past a flat Galaxy defense and re-directed a cross around an out of position Diop.
GET IN, GIO! https://t.co/ALswMaUyJW #LAvSEA pic.twitter.com/E0AgSYo8ES
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) July 21, 2016
And yet, LA came back once more. Substitute Gyasi Zardes did well to pressure Zach Scott into giving up a costly turnover, and it was the Galaxy's turn to benefit from sloppy defending as Giovani dos Santos equalized.
Improbably, the Galaxy would pull ahead in the 85th minute when a prolonged spell of LA possession resulted in Sebastian Lletget putting an easy finish past a tired Seattle defense.
Three minutes later, Lletget would complete the brace, bending a right footed shot around goalkeeper Tyler Miller to give LA the 4-2 victory.