Inter Miami with Lionel Messi scored vs the LA Galaxy to tie the game to start the 2024 season

It was the opening night for the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson vs Inter Miami headlined by Lionel Messi.  Messi has already played one game this year as they won There was a lot of hype with Messi coming to the MLS midway through last season for Miami but it seems to be paying off.  Miami also signed his past teammates, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba from last year and added longtime partner, Luis Suarez to play with him upfront all Barcelona teammates. It was a record crowd sellout attendance of 27,642 for an LA Galaxy regular-season match at Dignity Health Sports Park.  The previous regular-season attendance record for an LA Galaxy match at Dignity Health Sports Park was 27,244 (LA Galaxy vs. Seattle Sounders – Oct. 19, 2014). Many celebs were in attendance including David Beckham.

The game started off a bit slow and sloppy with missed passes from both teams as the field was watered quite a bit and the ball was skidding more than I’ve ever seen it. There were not a lot of great chances in the first half, but the best one came from Galaxy midfielder Riqui Puig (pictured below), who also played with Messi at Barcelona before coming to the Galaxy couple years ago. He was by far the best player for LA the whole game making some spectacular long passes, dribbling past defenders and getting some foul calls. He took a clean strike which Miami goalie Drake Callender leaped to tip it out with a great save and the first half ended 0-0.

In the second half, play opened up a little bit more with some other scoring chances before the galaxy finally broke through on a cross pass from Mark Delgado to Dejan Jovelic (pictured above with Messi in headline photo) to make it 1-0.  It looked like the game might end that way before Galaxy midfielder Delgado got his second yellow card of the game that took him out and gave Miami an advantage of one extra player.  That second yellow card was later rescinded a couple days later but the damage was already don.  It wasn’t till the 92′ minute when Alba was released down the left flank by Lionel Messi. Alba quickly played a centering pass into the middle of the penalty area to Lionel Messi, whose sliding shot was fired into the top left corner cross passing from Alba. to Messi, who scored on his eighth shot of the game to tie that one to one.   Six LA Galaxy players made their debut for the club in the draw against Miami. Goalkeeper John McCarthy, defender Miki Yamane and forward Joseph Paintsil each started in their debuts, while defender John Nelson and forwards Miguel Berry and Gabriel Pec each appeared in their debuts as second-half substitutes.

 

That’s how the game ended.  LA coasch Greg Vanney was very happy with his team’s effort and play.   LA GALAXY POSTGAME QUOTES
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH AND SPORTING DIRECTOR GREG VANNEY
On his thoughts on what the guys did out there:
“I was very pleased with the work of the guys. I thought especially for a first game and a season and then a number of guys. We probably had between Dejan [Joveljić], Riqui [Puig], obviously Joseph [Paintsil] – those guys didn’t get much time in preseason either, so they came out. I thought everyone, but I thought they were very good. Trying to get in sync in terms of organizing a press and how to get pressure to them was going to be tough just because, again, those guys haven’t had much time on the field together. I thought we did a really nice job of just condensing the field, making it difficult for them. From a defensive standpoint, I thought the back line, everybody stood tall for a lot of the game. John made a couple of big saves, which you’re going to have to make against a team like this. With the quality that they have, you have to make a save. I thought we left a few opportunities on the table. That probably can be the difference when you are playing a team with the quality that they have. You have to finish your chances for sure when you get those opportunities. I’m really proud of the group. I look forward because I see what this team is capable of even on a night like tonight, and knowing the guys are still coming together and getting healthy and all that kind of stuff, I really am excited about the group we have.”

On his thoughts on the atmosphere tonight and how to get to a point where every game is like this:
“It’s interesting. I said that before the game. I was, like, one day every night is going to be like a night like tonight where every game is a spectacle of sorts. I think the league just has to keep growing. You have to keep getting top players because that’s what people want to see. The quality of soccer continues to get better, but I think this is a sign that progress is being made. It did have a sense of a final, so that was great. Players love to play in this type of environment. You see the game that you saw tonight partly because of the atmosphere that’s created by everything and everyone that’s going around, and it just gets all of the resources of all of the players out there at the highest level. You know, concentration and work rate and all those things. Then you get a really interesting game out of it. I don’t know. I can’t tell you how long, but I feel like we’re moving in that direction. We see it through different times last year. We certainly saw it in the Rose Bowl when it was LAFC and us. That night had a feel of a final and a spectacle, and it was in the middle of the season. There’s ways and there’s moments for it, and I hope more and more of these nights continue to come.”

On whether today was fun for him:
“For sure. I love it. Playing against a team like that with players like that is a big challenge, trying to organize your group and set them up. I thought the game was there for us too. I was, again, really pleased with the guys, and it was fun for me.”

His thoughts on Mark Delgado’s yellow cards:
“Really, really soft. Really soft. It’s tough on a game like this just where there are so many people here to watch the game, and it’s a big spectacle too. You have to be careful with handing out soft yellows, and it ultimately changes the game, right? Changes the game big-time. You don’t want to give Messi any more space than is already out there. He certainly took advantage of that, but that’s unfortunate. Hopefully we don’t see that too much.”

His thoughts on Dejan Joveljić’s performance:
“Good. It’s a little bit of a tough game at times because you’re trying to organize getting pressure to them, and sometimes you’re in between. Riqui [Puig] was in lockdown [Sergio] Busquets mode, so then it became a lot of work for Dejan [Joveljić]. Sometimes getting between the two center backs and trying to get pressure, so became some work on that side. Again, I don’t think we have to use him too much in link-up play. I don’t think that’s going to be our primary use of him, but I felt like he got into some good spots. I felt like his movements were good. I think he’s going to find more opportunities. Again with our wingers and with the way we’re playing and the speed we’re playing, opportunities are going to show up. So I think it’s a good solid start for him, and again, he didn’t have much of a preseason because he missed a fair number of the minutes, so really getting up to maximum speed and sharpness is something he still is working through, but in general, I was pleased with his presence.”

His thoughts on the backline:
“I was really pleased with them. It’s not an easy team to play against, and the more time they have on the ball, the more difficult they are to play against. In terms of managing your gaps and managing the width, I thought they did a good job. I thought Edwin [Cerrillo] did a good job of trying to protect them and trying to take certain things away. The group collapsed and dealt with stuff. Maya dealt with a lot of crosses today that he was able to clear and intercept. I thought they played like what you would expect, two very experienced center backs that have seen a lot of things over the years and have helped to organize and read plays and deal with situations. You didn’t see any, for lack of a better word, ‘little kid stuff.’ It was two mature guys who really kind of understood the situation and dealt with scenarios very well.”

On whether he was surprised with the intensity of the game:
“Not really. I think you have Miami, who is Miami, and our guys were looking forward to lining up against Miami, so that brings a little bit of intensity to the situation. I think Miami is playing the Galaxy, which if you probably look at the slate of games that they have, there are a few of them that probably get their attention, and this is maybe one of them. I think that some of the calls early were maybe a touch soft, which maybe gets guys a little bit frustrated and wound up, and then you get into it a little bit more. I think different things kind of come into the game. You catch somebody the wrong time, the wrong way. I think the game picked up a little bit when Messi and Edwin were having some words. Then I felt like the intensity found just a little bit of a different level after that. They started pressing a little bit more, and I felt like the game clicked on a little bit. No, I’m not really surprised. Two highly competitive teams that are good and wanted to win today, so I think that’s — I like it. I think that’s the way you want to get into a season and get ready to go.”

On injury updates on Julian Aude and Gaston Brugman:
“Yeah, Julian, I think he was more cramping than anything. He said he didn’t — his terms were, “I didn’t break the muscle.” I think he was just cramping. With Gaston [Brugman], he’ll be ready to go. He was ready to go tonight. I was just concerned with, to be honest, just the amount of defending we were doing and just him getting the confidence to be in challenges and tackles and situations like that. I just wanted to get him a little bit further along for that. I know he is going to be pissed because everybody wants to be in a game like this, but I felt like if we could get him one more week of live tackles and playing and training, then he’ll be even more ready for the long haul of the season.”

On whether there anything he’s working on specifically this season from a mental point of view with the players in terms of closing games:
“The first thing is to keep all 11 guys on the field. That would have helped us I think closing out tonight, but yeah, we’ve been talking about it. We worked on being in a little bit lower block and having to protect our goal at times. Because we were down a man, it was hard to be any more aggressive stepping out and trying to get to them because the repercussion of that is you have Messi with space behind your line, so you have to sit and try to be compact as best you can for tonight. It’s definitely something that we know we need to be better at than last year, but I don’t think that’s going to be a problem, but I think it’s something we definitely have talked about and focused on, and that’s just generally defending, but seeing out games is a part of that for sure.”

On having a good group of players that are integrating well together and who thoughts on the goalkeeper competition for the starting role:
“Talking about the team and the group, I’m really excited about this group because I think we have, I think for the first time, a really nice balance between guys who want to play in between the lines and guys who want to play and go to goal and get behind and take people on one-on-one, and your team always has to have balance. You can’t have a bunch of guys who want to come and get the ball at their feet. You have to have guys who want to run and want to play on the run and play on the move. Having a player like Ricky, who can skate through spaces and can get to the next line, having guys who can run is going to benefit him. It’s going to benefit Dejan. It’s going to benefit the whole team. I’m excited about it because it’s going to be tough for teams to clog up the middle of the field on us because that’s what everybody did when they came here in the past or played us last year. Just create against density in the middle of the field and see if wings can actually beat you. Now we can beat you on the wings, and that’s what I feel like we’re going to be. Now you have to make a decision. You have to defend the full width of the field, and that’s going to open up real opportunities for everybody. So I’m excited about this group. Again, I think it’s an athletic league. I think it’s a league that requires you to have guys who can do those types of things, and I think we’re in a good spot. Today was just a sample of where I think we can get to with this group. As far as the goalkeepers, John is the starter right now, but we really believe in Novak’s potential. John has a really great presence behind the group and his experience and leadership and communication is important. Novak is still gaining that sort of confidence in behind the group, but he has a really high ceiling too. I really like the two guys that we’ve got back there. I feel really confident with both of them. We’ll want to bring along Novak this year for sure, but John gives us a lot of stability and a lot of leadership. I really appreciate his personality. That’s one of the things that I feel like is really good inside of our locker room and also inside of our team.”

On what the message is for the group to keep this level of intensity for the rest of the season and the long haul:
“That’s it. I think tonight is a night that — this is why I like these types of games early. They set a standard for you. When you play against Miami, they require you to set a standard or else you’re going to get blown off the field. So our work rate, our defensive concentration, the speed at which the ball was moving, all the things that — the speed at which we were transitioning I thought, all of those things should be a standard for us. Now the question is, can we do this week in, week out and get a little bit sharper and take our chances a little bet better and keep improving as a group and integrating guys into the system? It’s important given also just where we’ve been last year, I don’t think you’re going to have to motivate a ton of these guys. They know what last year felt like, and they certainly don’t want to be in that. So I think the guys are going to be excited to get out and play, and I think they genuinely enjoy each other and feel like they have some real pieces to do some stuff. I think they’ll like forward to each of these matches.”

On whether this was the best back line performance during his tenure here:
“It’s fair. I haven’t thought that deeply about it yet, but I think it’s got to be up there because I think it was very clean. It was very without too many, if any, real errors against a team that asks a lot of questions of you on the defensive side of things and are very clever the way they mover and players that are, Messi in particular, just so precise with the things that he can do that you can’t be one step out or one step off or you could pay. I think you have to give the credit — a lot of credit to the guys. Again, they were really locked in and connected, and they did a nice job of reading situations together as a group. You would have to put it up there without question.”

On what he saw out of Joseph Paintsil and Gabriel Pec today:
“They have some similarities in that they are both pretty direct. I would say [Joseph] Paintsil is a little less direct, will pop in between the lines sometimes, will play, whereas [Gabriel] Pec is quite direct. He’s looking to go behind. He is going to drive forward. I think they have some qualities. Pec, Paintsil a little bit more, occasionally will come in between the lines, like I said, and come inside and invert it. So today he played on the right, which his strong foot is his right foot, so definitely he was driving a little bit more to the outside. But as he slides over to the left at times and I think when they’re on their inverted side, if you will, I think you’ll see Paintsil probably slide inside from time to time. Not a lot. I want them both to be pretty wide and to go afternoon the full backs.”

 

 

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