LA Galaxy came back from being 3-1 down, again, on the road to Austin FC to earn a point in stoppage time, as Michael Barrios scored in the 94th minute for the Western Conference team.
The late-night contest didn't kick-off until nearly three hours after the original start time due to a weather delay, and it may have been worth the wait - at least for the Galaxy supporters.
The home side got out to a 2-1 lead at halftime after goals from Alexander Ring and Ethan Finlay, as the latter restored Austin's lead after Riqui Puig converted from 12 yards out.
Austin then extended their advantage to 3-1 thanks to a 75th minute strike from Emiliano Rigoni, his fifth of the 2023 MLS campaign.
However, even with 15 minutes left to play in normal time, the game was far from over. LA forward Dejan Joveljic came off the bench to to trim Austin's advantage to one in the 89th minute before fellow substitutes Barrios and Jonathan Perez combined for the equalizing goal.
Perez blew past a couple of Austin defenders before sending in a curling cross to the back post, which Barrios met with a headed effort to seal a point for the Galaxy.
"We just need to do a better job, you know, starting off the games," Perez said after the game. "I think we just need to do a better job, the team, individually, you know do our roles so we can start winning the games because right now it's very crucial because we need every point right now to make [the] playoffs."
"The whole team, everyone, everyone, we all believe in each other, we all have faith that [we] will make the playoffs and just right now, we just kind of make the same mistakes again. We just need to go after, you know, when the game's running, we need to win games," he added.
The Galaxy, in 13th place in the Western Conference table with 34 points, have five games remaining the regular season to qualify for the postseason: at home against the surging Portland Timbers, away at Seattle Sounders, on the road at Minnesota United, at home vs Real Salt Lake and their final game comes at home against FC Dallas.
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This article was originally published on 90min as LA Galaxy rescue point on the road in 3-3 draw with Austin FC.
