‘Chicharito’ Hernández rescues LA Galaxy in home opener

Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernández picked up where he left off last season and scored a goal in stoppage time to give the Los Angeles Galaxy the 1-0 win against the defending champions New York City FC at the Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday. This was the second consecutive season that the Mexican international scored in the season opener for the team with the most league titles (5).

The game was tied 0-0 when Raheem Edwards took the ball from a NYCFC player just outside the box and gave a through ball to Hernández. The captain of the LA Galaxy cut inside to avoid the sliding tackle from Maxime Chanot and placed the ball in the top right corner to celebrate with the 25,174 fans that were present in the first game of the 2022 MLS regular season.

A collective win according to Hernández

“Like always, the effort of the team was incredible. You can see the players NYCFC has like [Valentín] Castellanos, Maxi [Rodríguez], and why they were the champions last year, they did an incredible job. NYCFC are also playing in the CONCACAF Champions League and it was amazing winning the three points,” said Hernández after the game.

“I want to give everyone the merit, the fans, the players that started and the ones that came in from the bench. It was a victory for LA Galaxy, not Chicharito. We are going step by step, it was only three points, we don’t want to think we are the best because losses are going to come and we need to have a humble attitude. The most important thing is knowing where we want to go,” he added.

‘Chicharito’ has proven to be a lethal striker when given the opportunity throughout his entire playing career. The Mexican international had a bad season in 2020 with the Galaxy, but the next campaign he bounced back by scoring 17 goals. The former Manchester United striker doesn’t want to focus on how many goals he scores this season, but more on how far the team can go because their objective is to win the MLS Cup.