Tosaint Ricketts scored in the 74th minute following an exceptional run and cross from Ali Adnan, and the Vancouver Whitecaps held on to spoil Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez's home debut in a 1-0 victory over the LA Galaxy on Saturday night at Dignity Health Sports Park.
The fullback Adnan was also part of an excellent defensive effort against the talent-laden Galaxy, who had only one effort on target all night.
Just moments after going behind, LA were reduced to 10 men when Joe Corona received his second caution after giving the ball away to Russell Teibert and then stepping on the midfielder's foot.
David Bingham saved Lucas Cavallini's late penalty to keep LA within striking distance into stoppage time, but the Galaxy were beaten once again by Vancouver after losing to the Whitecaps to close their home 2019 slate.
Aleksandar Katai flashed an early header wide, but otherwise the Galaxy had little to show for their possessive dominance before going down a man. If anything, the Whitecaps were unlucky not to lead at the break after Andy Rose's flashing header struck the crossbar.
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Goals
- 74' - VAN - Tosaint Ricketts | WATCH
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: It's still very early days, but Hernandez has yet to register an effort on target 180 minutes into his MLS career. As has been much discussed, the Mexico national team's all-time leading scorer is a considerably different player from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who led the Galaxy line the last two seasons — more versatile defensively but also a bit more dependent on service going forward. But manager Guillermo Barros Schelotto has to find a way to get him more involved quickly.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: Adnan had a couple of bombing first-half runs that fizzled out in the final third, but this time he took the ball even further into the penalty area before finding Ricketts near the penalty spot, who still had quite a bit to do to find the far corner.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: Tosaint Ricketts. In addition to his goal, the veteran was everything you need out of a counterattacking forward, providing solid link-up play and winning fouls, including a penalty his fellow forward struck directly at Bingham with a chance to ice the match.
Up Next
- LA: Saturday, March 14 at Inter Miami (2:30 pm ET | FOX, MLS LIVE on DAZN in Canada)
- VAN: Saturday, March 14 vs. Colorado Rapids (10 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in the US, TSN1 in Can)
