Late Drama at Dignity Health: Gabriel Pec's 87th-Minute Winner Lifts Galaxy Over Dallas, Keeps Faint Playoff Hopes Alive

CARSON, Calif. — With their season teetering on the brink, the Los Angeles Galaxy turned to late-game heroics and found salvation. Gabriel Pec’s curling strike in the 87th minute sent a sparse but hopeful crowd at Dignity Health Sports Park into rare October celebration on Sunday night, clinching a dramatic 2-1 victory over FC Dallas and snapping a bruising stretch of setbacks that had threatened to render the end of the campaign meaningless.

For a Galaxy side mired in the unfamiliar depths of 15th place—the basement of Major League Soccer’s Western Conference—tonight was about more than revenge, more than pride. Just eight days removed from a dispiriting defeat in Frisco, the Galaxy answered with a gritty, if uneven, performance that may not rescue their season, but at last provided a glimmer of resilience in a year so often defined by its absence.

The match turned on a moment of ill discipline as much as invention. FC Dallas, riding the momentum of recent results and clinging to the West’s last playoff spot, saw their night unravel almost before it began. Logan Farrington, Dallas’s energetic forward, was shown a straight red card in the 16th minute for a reckless challenge, leaving the visitors with a man disadvantage and a mountain to climb for more than 70 minutes.

From that point, the Galaxy’s responsibilities multiplied: with numbers came expectation, and in the opening half it took them time to wear down a suddenly reshaped Dallas back line. The breakthrough would arrive just before intermission, as Elijah Wynder, the Galaxy’s industrious midfielder, pounced in the 42nd minute with a cool finish at the edge of the area after a slick sequence carved through the Dallas defense.

But if Galaxy fans have learned anything this season, it is to measure hope carefully. Dallas, undeterred by the deficit and the numerical handicap, found their own inspiration after the break. Anderson Julio, a recent revelation for the Texans, leveled the score in the 52nd minute, latching onto a cross that caught the Galaxy defense flatfooted. His run and angled finish silenced the home support and reignited the playoff conversation for the visitors.

With the result hanging in the balance, the final half-hour became a test of nerve. The Galaxy pressed forward, dictating possession but laboring to create clear chances as time ran perilously low. Dallas dropped deeper, defending with the desperation of a team that understood what was at stake—just one point separating them from slipping out of the postseason picture.

And then, with three minutes left in regulation, the moment arrived. Gabriel Pec, who had been muted for much of the contest, found a pocket of space on the left. Cutting inside onto his favored right foot, he unleashed a swerving shot that beat a sprawling Maarten Paes and found the far corner. Galaxy players rushed to embrace Pec while the stadium, stunned for so many nights this fall, remembered how to roar.

For Los Angeles, the victory offers a rare reprieve. It is just their sixth of a season plagued by setbacks—both self-inflicted and structural. Their form had cratered in recent weeks: a 1-2 away loss to Dallas last week, preceded by a dispiriting 2-3 home defeat in the Campeones Cup against Toluca, and a 2-3 stumble versus FC Cincinnati before that. Only a 4-1 thrashing of Sporting Kansas City on September 28 hinted at the potential so rarely realized in 2025.

Tonight, though, the Galaxy’s win does little to remedy their position at the bottom of the table. With 24 points from 32 matches (5 wins, 9 draws, 18 losses), they remain mathematically alive but are now dependent on a constellation of results elsewhere—a precarious hope for a club accustomed to postseason certainty.

FC Dallas, by contrast, leave Southern California with their grip on 8th place suddenly tenuous. They remain on 41 points (10 wins, 11 draws, 11 losses), clinging to the edge of the playoff boundary but with little room for error. The upcoming fixtures will demand a hardened resolve, particularly after surrendering a man advantage and squandering the chance to put further distance between themselves and the chasing pack.

The narrative between these two sides has been a shifting one this autumn. Their previous meeting on October 4 saw Dallas emerge with a 2-1 victory on home turf, riding goals from Petar Musa and Patrickson Delgado to flip the script after an early Diego Fagúndez strike for LA. Tonight, it was the Galaxy’s turn to play spoiler, bending but never breaking after Julio’s equalizer threatened to deepen their woes.

For Galaxy manager Greg Vanney, the performance offered a note of delayed vindication—proof that his team, though battered, is willing to fight, at least to the end. For Dallas's Nico Estévez, the inquest will focus on discipline and missed opportunity, as Farrington’s ejection transformed a winnable fixture into a long, defensive siege that ultimately failed.

With just two matches remaining, the stakes only intensify. For Dallas, every point is precious in the chase for playoff survival; for Los Angeles, each game becomes an audition for the future—of the squad, of the coaching staff, and of the club’s still-revered identity.

Tonight, though, one truth is certain: even in the longest season, there is room for one more twist. And at Dignity Health Sports Park, the Galaxy at last authored a chapter worth remembering.