In the 7th El Traffico, the LA Galaxy got news that Javier Hernandez won't be in the lineup due a calf injury which mean both he and Jonathan Dos Santos were out. Despite being huge underdogs, LA managed to score twice, one on an own goal and one on a retaken penalty (when LAFC GK went off his line too early to make the save - but no yellow card like in the Women's World Cup, just a retake). With a 2-1 lead heading into halftime, the wheels began to fall apart. Diego Rossi scored his 2nd right before the halftime whistle off a LA GK save. LA tried again and in the second half, Carlos Pavon scored but he was maybe a half step offsides and six minutes later LAFC took the lead for good. For good measure, Rossi scored twice more (to finish with a tourney high 4 goals and 1 assist) to embarrass their neighbors, 6-2. This was the second straight 8-goal El Traffico, both won by LAFC who now have tied the series at 2-2-3. 40 goals in 7 matches (5.7 goals per match) and this was the first without Zlatan.
LAFC is virtually in the Knockout round with 4 pts and a +4 goal differential, almost definitely will be the top 2 or top 4 3rd place finishers while LA is virtually out with 0 points and a tourney worst goal differential of -5. LA would have to beat HOU by 2 to take 3rd place and then hope 3 points is enough.
While teams that have qualified for the Knockout round could rest players for their last group match, don't forget these group matches do count in the regular season standings so a loss would not be acceptable.
11 got POR and 8 got LAFC. 5 went 2-0 while Deutschland = Koenig went 0-2. The top 2 remain the same and four points separate first and last.
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