Zlatan Ibrahimovic made it 15 goals in 17 LA Galaxy appearances after scoring a second-half hat-trick.
The Galaxy found themselves trailing 2-1 at the break after Ibrahimovic teed up Giovani dos Santos for the equaliser to cancel out Orlando’s 18th-minute opener, only for the visitors to restore their lead on the stroke of half-time thanks to Mickael Ciani’s own goal.
LA restored parity again two minutes into the second half when Ibrahimovic rose highest to head home a Dos Santos cross in California.
The topsy-turvy contest continued after Dominic Dwyer made it 3-2 in favour of Orlando in the 54th minute, however, Ibrahimovic took matters into his hands from that moment.
Ibrahimovic found the back of the net with a diving header – set up by Oma Kamara – with 23 minutes remaining before the 36-year-old chested the ball and fired a thunderous half-volley past Earl Edwards four minutes later.
It took Ibrahimovic’s tally to 15 goals in 17 appearances since arriving from United as the Galaxy – who staged a stunning comeback against Los Angeles FC to earn a draw on Thursday – moved within a point of LAFC and seven points of Western Conference leaders Dallas.
15 goals in 17 #LAGalaxy appearances.
Witness @Ibra_official‘s first hat trick in @MLS ⬇ pic.twitter.com/KNGqoOFxHq
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) July 30, 2018
Slumping Orlando, meanwhile, crashed to their third consecutive defeat to be ninth in the Eastern Conference.
In Sunday’s other fixture, in-form Seattle Sounders accounted for New York City 3-1 to snap the visitors’ four-match winning run.
