It was the kind of showdown MLS has long dreamed of to sell the league.
Marco Reus, a three-time Bundesliga player of the year, standing over the ball 25 yards from where Hugo Lloris, the most-capped goalkeeper in World Cup history, waited for his free kick. With less than three minutes left in regulation, the league’s most intense rivalry was hanging in the balance.
For Reus, however, the moment felt far from unique.
“I had these kind of situations a thousand times in my career. So I know what I have to do,” said Reus, who then did it, chipping a shot inches over LAFC’s five-man defensive wall and inches wide of a diving Lloris to give the Galaxy a 2-2 draw in Sunday’s El Tráfico.