LOS ANGELES — A nod to the Los Angeles Football Club’s past preceded a look at its future.
Following a press conference on Wednesday addressing Carlos Vela’s re-signing following his 10-month stint as a free agent, LAFC hosted Austin FC in need of points and a boost off of its disappointing outcome against the Galaxy last weekend.
With Vela, 35, watching from the stands, earning cheers from the fans each time he was shown on the scoreboard video screen inside BMO Stadium, 18-year-old David Martínez’s introduction quickly capitalized on his opportunity to make a difference.
Martinez’s goal in the 62nd minute tied the score at 1-1, and was good enough for his club to take a point on a night that could have delivered much more than that.
Once FC Dallas fell to Real Salt Lake, LAFC could have clinched its sixth playoff berth in seven seasons with a win. That will have to wait. LAFC also missed a chance to make up three points on the first-place Galaxy, which lost at Portland.
The match was slow to find a rhythm, and what should have been a scoreless opening half resulted in a 1-0 deficit at the break on the last kick before the whistle.
A poor giveaway by defender Aaron Long near the box was immediately played to Austin’s Jáder Obrian, who calmly finished his sixth goal of the season on the visitors’ only shot on target through 45 minutes.
LAFC (14-7-7, 49 points) was slow to get much going, as a starting attack of Denis Bouanga, Olivier Giroud and Mateusz Bogusz was unable to engineer much.
Giroud had the best chance before halftime, taking a nice strike that required a diving save from Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver in the 25th minute.
Martinez’s introduction near the 1-hour mark began a sequence of substitutions by LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo that sparked some life into his squad.
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The equalizer developed when Giroud delivered a deft back pass to Eduard Atuesta, who pushed toward the Austin box where he found Ryan Hollingshead, whose cross rolled neatly to a perfectly positioned Martinez six yards in front of goal.
The Venezuelan touched in his third goal in all competitions with the Black & Gold, producing a jolt in the stadium that’s been missing since the end of Leagues Cup competition last month.
Stuver finished with five saves for Austin (9-12-8, 35 points).
More to come on this story.