When Sacha Kljestan returned home from the Galaxy’s last road game, he was greeted by a drawing his daughter made of her father preparing to take a penalty kick.
In the picture, 7-year-old Vera depicted a thickly muscled Kljestan towering over the 8-foot-tall goal. That’s not so much a lack of perspective as it is an accurate portrayal of the larger-than-life role the veteran midfielder has taken as a player-coach in his team’s push for its second playoff berth in five years.
“He’s huge for us,” coach Greg Vanney said.
Kljestan and the Galaxy came up big again Saturday night, rallying from a two-goal, first-half deficit to score a 2-2 draw with FC Dallas at a half-empty Dignity Health Sports Park.
Sebastian Lletget, a second-half substitute, scored in the 83rd minute to give the Galaxy the point it needed to remain in fifth in the Western Conference standings.
Javier “Chicharito” Hernández, who was roughed up all night, scored the Galaxy’s first goal on a penalty kick in the 65th minute, his 14th of the season.
Jesús Ferreira and Franco Jara scored for FC Dallas.
The draw extended the Galaxy’s unbeaten streak to four games and pushed them four points ahead of eighth-place Real Salt Lake. The top seven teams qualify for the postseason.
If the Galaxy (13-11-7) hopes to protect that margin, Kljestan’s veteran leadership will be important.
“He understands how we want to play. He understands what I’m asking [from] guys. He understands how to organize people within the game,” said Vanney, whose next team games are road matches against Kansas City and Seattle, the top two teams in the conference.
Kljestan came on Saturday with the Galaxy chasing the game in the 69th minute, making the 307th’s appearance of his MLS career, nearly 100 more than anyone else on the Galaxy roster. It was also a career-high 15th appearance off the bench. And he immediately provided a spark.
“You get to a point in your career where it’s not always about you. Now it’s about the team and it’s about whatever you have to do to contribute to the success of the team,” Vanney said.
“He’s clearly in that space that he knows that. And he’s been the most unselfish guy that I’ve been around in a while.”
Maybe. But Kljestan, 36, also wants something for himself, namely a playoff berth and a chance at his first MLS title.
“We’re in a good position right now, but we’re not guaranteed to qualify for the playoffs yet,” he said before Saturday’s game “Every play matters. Every point matters. Every goal matters right now.”
“I just feel that when I’m on the field, I’m able to still make a difference,” he continued.
“Whether that’s in the attacking third or just being an organizer and being a communicator. Now is the time of the season where the coach has to find guys that he can really depend on. And I think he can depend on me.”
But Kljestan, who grew up in Huntington Beach the son of a Bosnian Serb father who once played professionally in Sarajevo, knows that after 12 years in MLS and five seasons in Belgium he’s much closer to the end of his career than to the beginning.
So he has already begun work on his B coaching license, because if he’s going to be asked to coach, he might as well get paid for it.
“I’m definitely going to stay in soccer, 100%. This is my life. This is what I know,” he said.
“It would be nice to have some type of player-coach role towards the end. Hopefully the Galaxy will help provide that for me.”
One more shot at the playoffs would be nice too.
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