Resurgent Galaxy continue their strong start with victory over Austin FC

When the Galaxy brought Greg Vanney back to be their coach last winter, it was with the hope he could return the team to the success it enjoyed when he played for them.

Five games into that reunion, everything seems to be going to plan because with Saturday’s 2-0 win over Austin FC, the Galaxy matched their second-best start in 15 years. And once again it wasn’t so much the win as it was how the Galaxy won that marked Vanney’s influence.

In all four victories the Galaxy (4-1-0) have survived more than they’ve triumphed and Saturday was no exemption.

The goals, one in each half, came from Sebastian Lletget and Javier “Chicharito” Hernández while the shutout was the first in MLS for Jonathan Bond.

For Lletget, the goal was his first of the year while Hernández’s insurance tally in the second half gave him a league-best seven for the season. The seven goals are also Hernández’s most in season since 2017-18 when he scored eight times for West Ham.

Lletget put this team in front to stay in the 35th minute, running onto a long through ball from Daniel Steres in the Galaxy end. Lletget and Austin defender Hector Jimenez tangled going after the ball, with Jimenez going to the turf and Lletget regaining his balance in the center of the box before lifting a right-footed shot over Austin keeper Brad Stuver.

Jimenez, who played on two MLS Cup winners with the Galaxy, never did get up, leaving the field on a stretcher and going straight to the locker room with what appeared to be a knee injury.

Steres would have a big impact in the second half as well, stepping in front of a Kekuta Manneh shot headed for an open net, protecting both the lead and Bond’s shutout.

Galaxy midfielder Sebastian Lletget, top center, celebrates with teammates Samuel Grandsir, bottom center, and forward Javier “Chicharito” Hernández after scoring in the first half against Austin FC.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

And the Galaxy could have had more, but Stuver made a diving stop on Hernández’s penalty try in the 26th minute. Hernández also wasted two other chances, the best coming in the seventh minute when he put a shot from close range over the bar.

The Galaxy got their first look at newly acquired winger Kévin Cabral, who came on for the Lletget in the 62nd minute and proved dangerous in his brief trial, briefly bringing the crowd of 7,193 to its feet when he found the back of the net in the 85th minute. But the goal was erased on an offside call referee Kevin Stott confirmed with the VAR.

Cabral, who joined the Galaxy from Valenciennes of the French second division, is the sixth player to make his MLS debut in the season’s first five weeks.