For 89 minutes on Sunday, it appeared that the LA Galaxy would have to settle for a scoreless draw against New York City FC in their 2022 season opener. But thanks to a transcendent moment by Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez to add to his lore, the Galaxy edged past the defending MLS champions, 1-0, to start their season on the right foot.
Even though Chicharito's offensive heroics provide the lead for the match's narrative, Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney saw the team's total defensive effort as key to the success. "I thought the most important thing [was] ... we defended our goal, we defended our box, and we defended our hearts out. If we do that, we're going to be fine."
While acknowledging that the team perhaps needed to be better on the offensive side of the equation — observing that it "needed to be a little bit sharper, a little bit bigger at times" — Vanney continued to praise his team's overall defensive effort.
"I mean, 1-0 against the team that's played two competitive games in Champions League, who have started a little earlier than us, who played 'til the final day last year and won a championship ... to come out here and defend the way we did and play the way we did for 90 minutes, I'm super proud of these guys," Vanney said. "This is a good step for us, learning how to win games like this and becoming a better group."
Raheem Edwards, who got the game-winning assist and debuted at left back for his new club, said that Vanney's message about the importance of defense has been consistent through the preseason.
"We knew from last season that the defense ... the team defending as a whole wasn't good enough," Edwards said. "So that was something that we honed in on preseason. We made sure that we're tight as a unit, compact and communicating, setting ourselves up for the best way possible to defend the goal. And I thought today was pretty good. Maybe one or two chances that they had, but nothing too much."
"It's good to keep the zero," he continued, referring to the clean sheet they registered, adding, "we look forward to building on it ... and making it hard to play against us."
But for all the defensive heroics the Galaxy managed against the reigning Golden Boot presented by Audi winner Taty Castellanos and the rest of the Cityzens' attack, it was Chicharito getting his 20th MLS goal that turned one point into three. Addressing Mexico's all-time leading scorer's game, Vanney noted, "for Javi, the fight to hold up balls, to bring people in the equation, the continuous work for 90 minutes to make a difference in the 90th minute is sometimes the life of a forward. He just kept working through it, and he kept competing for the entire game, and he found his moment and he made the difference."
In ESPN's post-match broadcast interview, Jillian Sakovits asked Chicharito about his confident declaration he'd be the first player to score for the Galaxy in 2022.
"The effort of the team, it was incredible," Chicharito gushed, making clear that he didn't want to take individual credit for the win, praising the quality of their opponent before declaring, "It was a victory for the LA Galaxy, not Chicharito."
That praise for his teammates extended in the post-match press conference, where he credited Edwards with springing him toward goal. "He's a left back and that's the pass of a No. 10," Chicharito said of his new teammate. "I want to praise him so much because that's the talent that we have. That's how well we want to give everything to other teammates."
Of course, as Chicharito pointed out in his interview with Sakovits, it's ultimately just one down and 33 games to go for the hosts. The Galaxy narrowly missed a trip to the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs in 2021, taking their postseason bid deep into Decision Day, but missing out on a shot at MLS Cup for a second straight season after drawing Minnesota United FC. Vanney's certainly aware of that, even with the good feeling about this match still fresh.
"It's a really long season and we felt that last year," Vanney noted. "We were in it for 33 games and 85 minutes, and then at the end, not. So, game one is you work a lot through preseason, everybody, every one of our guys, even the guys who didn't play tonight, helped to prepare this group for this game. For me, the first game is always a preseason effort, preparation, victory and everybody contributes to that. But it's also a work in progress. All the teams across the league are very much a work in progress in the first game and are trying to become their final best version of themselves over the course of a season."
For the Galaxy, that will mean having a continued emphasis on defensive effort – but having a finisher like No. 14 in the squad certainly doesn't hurt.
