The last-place LA Galaxy rallied from two goals down on the road late in the second half to earn a sensational 3-3 draw against recently surging LAFC on Saturday night, with Maya Yoshida's header leveling the game on literally the last touch of the game.
In any of the world's far more historic crosstown derbies, it would instantly qualify as one of the all-time great editions played. But in El Trafico, it's just another in a near-endless stream of fantastically entertaining fixtures.
El Trafico doesn't have the history of Celtic-Rangers, City-United, River-Boca or even Sounders-Timbers. But when you scour the globe for rivalries that consistently deliver in terms of excitement and drama, you'll be hard pressed to find many better than Southern California's modest contribution to the category that is still only 26 games old.
El Trafico tale of the tape
Record
- Overall: LA Galaxy leads, 10W-7D-9L
- MLS Regular Season: LA Galaxy leads, 8W-7D-6L
Goals per-game
- Overall: 4.35
- MLS Regular Season: 4.10
Top Goal-Scorers
- Carlos Vela: 12
- Denis Bouanga: 10
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic: 9
- Tie, Dejan Joveljic and Diego Rossi: 6
Those gaudy numbers might make you think these are two teams to simply aren't as disciplined as some of their league rivals. That couldn't be further from the truth.
The Black-and-Gold won the 2022 MLS Cup and Supporters' Shield, reached three finals in 2023, and won the U.S. Open Cup in 2024. The Galaxy shook off their long drought by winning the 2024 MLS Cup.
In most derbies, a two-goal fightback would be quite rare. In El Trafico, the Galaxy's was their second such comeback in as many seasons.
Put another way, El Trafico is so entertaining that even the draws are typically exciting. Five of them have featured at least four goals, and Saturday's draw was the third in the fixture to finish 3-3. Those five matches have featured three lead changes and three two-goal comebacks.
It's unlikely that the LA Galaxy will be able to rebound from their 16-match winless run to such a degree they can reach the postseason. And with the new Leagues Cup format, the sides can't meet in that competition unless they reach the semifinals.
So we're probably stuck waiting until 2026 for the next El Trafico fixture. But at least we know the wait for the return of one of the world's most consistently entertaining derbies will be worth it.