By Justin Ruderman
Defending MLS Cup champions LA Galaxy are off to an ideal start in Leagues Cup 2025 with a 5-2 rout of border rivals Tijuana at Dignity Health Sports Park on Thursday night.
Blink and you’d miss the action in a blistering match that turned into more of a track meet than a football match. No matter how much possession LA held, Xolos would counterattack, only to leave space in behind their own back line and get hit in transition themselves.
By the 15th minute, Mauricio Cuevas took advantage of this pace of play, slowing things down with a cutback to draw a handball penalty on Alán Vega. After a short VAR check, Matheus Nascimento opened the scoring from the spot with his third goal of the season. However, 16-year-old wonderkid Gilberto Mora wasted no time responding with a guided finish from the edge of the box to equalize.
Seemingly, that would only cause the Galaxy wingers to attack the space behind Tijuana’s backline even harder for the rest of the half. After Joseph Paintsil drew and had his penalty saved by Xolos goalkeeper Antonio Rodríguez, Gabriel Pec struck from the opposite wing, cutting inside on his left foot to curl in a stunner from well outside the box. He almost scored a second, too, hitting the back of the net on a slick counter before seeing the offside flag raised on Paintsil and settling for the single-goal halftime lead.
That allowed Mora, once again, to equalize with a pinpoint finish from long range on the stroke of an hour. The young starlet was not to be contained by Galaxy, but luckily for LA, Xolos couldn’t stop them either.
The hosts continued to punish Tijuana in transition as Nascimento set up Paintsil for the winner inside the box before Paintsil did the same for Marco Reus. Finally, the Ghanaian completed his brace in stoppage time for good measure, securing all three points for Galaxy in a thrilling 5-2 victory.
REACTIONS:
- LA Galaxy manager Greg Vanney
- “We were getting chances. We were able to get to dangerous areas. We get the third. Now they've got to push the game a little bit more again, extend themselves to try to get back into the game, and that then opens up for, again, more transition for us.”
- "I think there is a lot more balance between the two leagues now than there has probably ever been. If you probably look across the results and all of the games in this first round, it's probably pretty balanced in terms of draws and wins on either side.”
PLAYERS OF THE MATCH:
- LA Galaxy:
- Matheus Nascimento: The 21-year-old netted the first penalty of his professional career, plus the winning assist. Celebrating a milestone in his Leagues Cup debut.
- Tijuana:
- Gilberto Mora: Picking up where he left off against MLS opponents after scoring the lone goal for LIGA MX in the All-Star Game, this teenage phenom netted a stunning brace in LA.
GAME NOTES:
- Matheus Nascimento is starting to find his form in his debut season for LA Galaxy, with his goal and assist on Thursday night pushing him to seven goal contributions in his last nine matches.
- Three goals in two games for Gabriel Pec? The reigning MLS Newcomer of the Year is kicking into gear at the perfect time.
- In 19 games across all competitions this season, Joseph Paintsil had six goal contributions. On Thursday night, he added another three. That’s a 50% increase on his season total in one night!
- Gilberto Mora continued to knock major achievements off his career checklist with his first professional brace. Of course, it won’t be the last.
- After Round One of Phase One, Galaxy sit third in the MLS table on goal difference. Four teams qualify for the knockout stages from each league.
CARDS/INJURY REPORT:
- None
LOOKING AHEAD:
- LA Galaxy stay at home on Sunday to host Concacaf Champions Cup winners Cruz Azul.
- Tijuana head to Colorado for a matchup against the Rapids on Sunday night.
