Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his team-leading 17th and 18th goals of the season, and the LA Galaxy snapped a two-match slide with a 2-0 victory over FC Dallas on Wednesday night in Carson, Calif.

Cristian Pavon contributed his first assist in his second appearance for the Galaxy since signing on loan from Argentine club Boca Juniors last week.

Pavon also earned a penalty kick late, converted by Ibrahimovic to seal the match.

Ibrahimovic remains third in the MLS goal-scoring ranks behind Los Angeles FC's Carlos Vela (23) and Atlanta United's Josef Martinez (20).

His latest pair lifted the Galaxy (13-11-1, 40 points) up three spots to third in the Western Conference standings, ahead of Real Salt Lake on the first tiebreaker of total wins.

Dallas (10-10-6, 36 points) was shut out for the third time in four matches, hurting its precarious position near the Western Conference playoff line. With Portland's victory later Wednesday, Dallas fell one point outside of the seventh and final playoff spot.

One game after being held scoreless despite taking an MLS-record 14 shots in a 2-1 loss at D.C. United, Ibrahimovic opened the scoring on his fourth attempt of the game against Dallas in the 68th minute.

Jorgen Skjelvik played a ball that sliced through Dallas' back line and found Pavon on the left, and Pavon dragged a cross toward the penalty spot. From there, Ibrahimovic guided in a one-touch finish inside the left post and beyond goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez's dive.

It was 2-0 about 14 minutes later when Pavon lured Reggie Cannon into a foul inside the penalty area. Gonzalez and Ibrahimovic appeared to exchange words near the penalty spot before Ibrahimovic converted the PK.

Afterward, Ibrahimovic stretched out both arms and, while celebrating with teammates, appeared to have a few more words for the goalkeeper.

Santiago Mosquera could've given Dallas the lead in the 16th minute when he worked free following a corner kick, but David Bingham palmed Mosquera's half-volley onto the crossbar.

On the other end, Ibrahimovic had the Galaxy's best opportunity before halftime, slicing between two defenders before Matt Hedges slid to deflect his effort from 10 yards out for a corner.

As has been the case most of the season, Ibrahimovic made the difference Wednesday, erasing a dreadful first half — he missed on a third of his passes, the worst percentage of anyone on either team — with his 17th goal of the season halfway through the second.

He then tacked on a penalty-kick score in the 82nd minute to put the game away, giving him five of the Galaxy’s last six goals.

In games in which Ibrahimovic scores, the Galaxy are 10-2. When he doesn’t, they’re 3-9.

The first score was set up by newly acquired playmaker Cristian Pavon, who gave Dallas problems all night. The sequence started with Pavon bringing the ball up the left wing, deep into the Dallas end.

Jorgen Skjelvik was motioning for the ball near the end line so Pavon sent it forward for the defender, who delivered a perfect cross in the center of the box for Ibrahimovic, who finished cleanly with his right foot.

The assist was Skjelvik’s first in four months while Pavon’s was his first in MLS.

The Argentine, who arrived on a free loan just 11 days ago and was playing his second MLS game in 75 hours, also set up the second goal 13 minutes later, drawing a foul from Reggie Cannon in the penalty area.

Ibrahimovic had no problem slotting that one home either, giving him five penalty-kick goals in as many tries this season.

“He played well. He gets along with Ibra. But he needs more time,” Schelotto said of Pavon, whom he coached at Boca Juniors in the Argentine first division.

Although the Galaxy (13-11-1) dominated possession for most of the first half-hour, Dallas (10-10-6) came closest to scoring, with Santiago Mosquera putting a right-footed try from the edge of the six-yard box off the bottom of the cross bar in the 14th minute.

Dallas came out quickly in the second half, too, with Michael Barros narrowly missing wide of the right post 30 seconds after the intermission.

Those two narrow misses would prove costly when Ibrahimovic put the Galaxy ahead to stay in the 68th minute. . But Lletget, who called the result “a very important game in crunch time” insisted nothing’s been settled yet.

Major League Soccer (MLS)
LA Galaxy vs PC Dallas
15th.08.2019