Match Preview - LA Galaxy
Game Info
Kickoff: 12:54pm CT
Watch: Apple TV/FOX
Location: Q2 Stadium - Austin, TX
All-Time H2H Record
Austin FC has an all-time record of 2W - 1D - 5L against LA Galaxy.
Despite the one-sided nature of that record, this head-to-head matchup has had some extra spice to it ever since Austin FC fan-favorite Diego Fagundez was traded to the Galaxy late in the 2023 season as the first major move in Rodolfo Borrell’s roster rebuild. The two teams met a month later in an emotional rain-delayed match at Q2 Stadium that ended as a 3-3 draw due to a late ATX collapse, conceding twice after the 88th minute.
The home leg of this series last season was one of Austin’s most complete performances in 2024, a 2-0 clean sheet victory with a midday kickoff time similar to the one set for this coming Saturday.
The return leg in LA was the penultimate match of the regular season, where tempers flared after Mark Delgado took his cleats to the knee of Osman Bukari in the 60th minute (a play that’s conveniently left out of the league’s highlight package), shortly after Austin equalized the game at 1-1. Delgado was shown yellow by head official Ted Unkel for his ejection-worthy challenge and that apathy by Unkel ultimately led emotions to boil over in stoppage time with the Galaxy leading 2-1. Guilherme Biro was shown red for a challenge on Riqui Puig in the closing moments.
To add to the spicy story lines coming into Saturday, these teams had an additional dust-up at the Coachella Valley Invitational this preseason, when Fagundez and Oleksandr Svatok got into a bout of shoving and scratching (something that Fagundez oddly claimed as a positive outcome for himself on social media).
Tensions will be high between these two clubs this weekend!
LA GALAXY Recent Form
The Galaxy are arguably the most storied club in league history. One of the original ten MLS teams when the league launched in 1996, they’ve won the most MLS Cup titles (six championships with ten total appearances in the final) and are the current defending MLS Cup Champions.
In the formative years of the club, the Galaxy played their home matches at the Rose Bowl before moving to their current stadium, Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, CA following the 2002 season. In addition to their six MLS Cup titles, the Galaxy have won the Supporter’s Shield four times, the Western Conference eight times and also have two US Open Cup titles.
The club is the most recognizable MLS team on a global scale due to their boundary pushing signings over the last two decades. The “Designated Player” rule is in place because of the Galaxy’s ambitious acquisition of David Beckham in 2007. Their “Mount Rushmore” of additional high-profile players includes USMNT legend Landon Donovan (who is the all-time goal scoring leader for the club), Robbie Keane, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez. For good measure, they’ve also got Marco Reus on their current roster.
In 2023 the Galaxy were at their lowest point in club history. They had missed the playoffs in five of their last seven seasons, including 2023, and had failed to win anything of note throughout the tenure of both Ibrahimović and Hernandez. Through the final portions of 2023, there were massive fan-organized boycotts, leaving Dignity Health Sports Park a relative ghost town. During that time, then Senior Vice President of Player Personnel Will Kuntz (who had joined the club that April after six seasons with cross-town rival LAFC, serving as their Assistant General Manager) kick started the Galaxy’s ascent back to league powerhouse with the acquisition of Diego Fagundez.
Well, that’s not exactly true. The real beginning of the Galaxy’s rebuild was the arrival of former FC Barcelona wunderkind Riqui Puig during the summer transfer window in 2022. Puig, who is currently sidelined with an ACL injury sustained in last season’s Western Conference Final, made his La Liga debut at age 19 and racked up 42 total appearances with Barcelona before coming stateside. Over his first season and a half in LA the team was still tethered to the declining Hernandez along with a failed DP stint for Brazilian winger Douglas Costa.
But it was the Fagundez trade that was the first strong signal of renewed ambition for the club. While that move alone wasn’t enough to vault LA into the 2023 playoffs (they actually finished below Austin FC that season), it was a sign that they were committed to shaking things up. Kuntz was made the team’s general manager in December of that offseason and the signings began to flood in.
Two of the most important acquisitions across the entire league coming into the 2024 season were the attacking duo of Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil, who cost the Galaxy a combined $19 million. Paired with Puig, the Galaxy immediately raised their level on the offensive side of the ball, scoring 21 goals in their first eight matches of the season. While their defense still ended up in the bottom half of the league in terms of goals conceded, they were still massively improved over their league-worst 67 conceded in 2023, thanks in part to the addition of long-time Premier League center back Maya Yoshida settling in as the leader on the Galaxy back line.
When all was said and done last season, the Galaxy were champions again. But now, they’re paying the price of Kuntz’s “all-in” strategy with the roster. They entered the offseason way over the cap, resulting in four major trades to shed salary, ultimately gutting their midfield.
LA traded the 2024 MLS Cup MVP, Gastón Brugman, to Nashville SC and then shipped Mark Delgado to LAFC, the first ever trade between the two clubs. As striker Dejan Joveljić came off his career year scoring 15 goals and dishing out four assists, he aged out of the U22 Initiative and became too expensive. In turn, the Galaxy moved him on to Sporting KC in exchange for $4 million in the first MLS cash-for-player trade after the rule was introduced this offseason. They even had to trade homegrown center back Jalen Neal to CF Montreal.
The tear down didn’t stop there however. The team was so far up against it from a salary cap perspective that they had to place midfielder Sean Davis, who was the return from Nashville SC in the Brugman trade, on waivers just two months after they acquired him. As crazy as all of that is, keep in mind that they won the cup last year. Though the bill has come due in 2025, it was all worth it.
The Galaxy did make some additions through all of that offseason madness. They replaced Joveljić with former Columbus Crew striker Christian Ramírez and added Danish center back Mathias Jørgensen (aka “Zanka”), who arrives with more than 500 appearances across Europe’s top leagues. They even bought a former teammate of Damian Las, 21-year-old midfielder Elijah Wynder, from Louisville City FC.
But with Puig out with the ACL injury until the latter parts of this season, Paintsil picking up an injury that kept him out until earlier this month and the midfield talent a shell of its former self, the Galaxy currently find themselves dangerously close to the “Wooden Spoon”, which is unofficially given to the worst team in the league at the end of the season. They have yet to win a match and sit on three points, only above CF Montreal in the Supporter’s Shield standings, a team that began their season with seven straight road matches.
LA has shown signs of life in recent weeks though. They drew Houston Dynamo 1-1 last weekend after conceding early and then going down a man once Zanka was shown red. A classic Diego Fagundez free kick goal saved a point for the shorthanded Galaxy. That draw came on the heels of a valiant effort in the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinals against Tigres of Liga MX. The Galaxy fell 3-2 on aggregate over the two-leg series.
They’ll arrive at Q2 shorthanded on their back line, with Yoshida nursing a hamstring injury and Zanka suspended. But from the last injury update head coach Greg Vanney gave before the Houston match, Reus is on the good side of questionable to make his return from a knee injury that has kept him out for the last eight matches across all competitions. His potential availability combined with an in-form Fagundez pulling the strings for a healthy front line of Pec, Paintsil and Ramírez is a personnel grouping that should still strike some fear in the hearts of the Verde faithful.
It’s a desperate team coming to Austin on Saturday, expect the Galaxy to play their hearts out.
Austin FC Recent Form
Depending on how we want to define “recent,” this section could go almost anywhere. Austin FC has earned ten points from their last five matches, a pace that would equate to 68 points over a full season. But with the taste of a 5-1 ass-whooping still lingering, it’s hard to blame any ATX fans who may be entering this weekend’s match with a high degree of skepticism.
Until last weekend’s debacle, the Verde and Black had been the best defense in MLS through the first seven weeks of the season. The impressive numbers on that side of the ball coupled with the hottest six-game start in club history was enough to distract some fans (including myself) from the lack of goal scoring. But as Vancouver’s Brian White netted more goals in 83 minutes than Austin had conceded over the first 630 minutes of the season, it became apparent that things are not as rosy in central Texas as they may appear.
But as bad as the performance at BC Place was, the sky is not falling. Austin FC still sits in sixth place in the Western Conference, just two points behind second place Minnesota United (who is on the schedule twice next month). This weekend’s match will put us over the quarter mark of the regular season schedule and even if Austin were to pick up no points against LA, they’d still be on pace for 49 points in 2025, which would be the second highest mark in club history. As I said at the beginning of Episode 215 on Sunday, “we’re fuckin’ fine.”
That said, if we’re walking out of the Q on Saturday afternoon with a second consecutive loss, my face is going to contradict that statement. We discussed why we perceive the Galaxy to be rounding into some better form when previewing this match on Episode 216 and as we noted there, just because we understand that LA is better than their record shows doesn’t mean that the full weight of the fan base isn’t going to come down on this Austin team if they don’t bounce back at home.
It’s not the first time this year that we’ve suggested that the next match on the docket is the one for the ATX attack to break out. But with Yoshida and Zanka sidelined for a Galaxy back line that has already conceded 15 times in eight games, the advantage on that side of the pitch is strongly in the home team’s favor. With the Copa Tejas opener for our favorite team looming next weekend in Housotn and a jam-packed May schedule to follow, this Saturday’s match feels like it could be an inflection point for the 2025 version of Austin FC.
No matter the offensive output in this game one thing must happen and that’s the defense picking themselves up off the mat and re-committing to the principles that led to four clean sheets in the first seven games. Almost every player wearing a heartbeat kit last weekend was caught ball-watching at one point or another. They’ll be challenged by another talented front three of Pec, Paintsil and Ramirez, with the motivated Fagundez pulling the strings behind them. I’m not demanding another clean sheet (although we’d of course take that), but a return to the overall defensive solidity that has been this team’s calling card has to happen or else we’re in for a bumpy ride.
As such, I’ll be eyeing the defense closely in the opening minutes of this match. Given the talent on the wings for LA it would not be shocking to see a similar defensive structure to what we saw in the road win over LAFC, when ATX brought immediate double teams to Denis Bouanga and Cengiz Ünder when they were on the ball. An identical treatment for Pec and Paintsil could be in the cards.
Offensively, I could care less who gets on the scoresheet. I just want to see multiple goals scored for the second time this season, especially against a shorthanded Galaxy defense. Austin FC is on pace for just 25.5 goals scored through eight matches though they’ve unsurprisingly generated more chances at home, with 61.4% of the team’s expected goals recorded at Q2 Stadium in 2025.
Last weekend’s result can be written off as a mere hurdle in the midst of a promising season with a convincing win over a winless team on Saturday. Anything short of that and the broader narrative surrounding the new look Austin FC will continue to spin in a negative direction.
Injury Report
ATX:
Mikkel Desler (Out - Hamstring)
LAG:
Riqui Puig (Out - Knee)
Zanka (Out - Red Card Suspension)
Maya Yoshida (Out - Hamstring)
LA Galaxy Players to Watch
Gabriel Pec - While I personally believe there’s at least one player on the Austin FC roster that can match the output of Pec at the MLS level, none of them have shown it. He’s an MVP-caliber talent that put a resume to match that on display in the Galaxy’s run to their sixth MLS Cup last season, racking up 28 total goal contributions in 33 appearances. He’ll be the responsibility of Guilherme Biro down that left side of the defense and Austin fans shouldn’t be surprised to see double teams sent his way early and often.
Joseph Paintsil - The 27-year-old Ghanian national teammate of Osman Bukari, Paintsil arrived to MLS last season with a bang, contributing ten goals and seven assists across his 29 appearances. He’s yet to record a goal contribution this season, but that’s largely due to an injury that kept him sidelined for the first seven games across all competitions. He’ll line up opposite Pec in the Galaxy attack and while he’s not quite as dangerous as Pec has proven to be in this league, he’s still likely to command some double teams from the Austin FC defense.
Diego Fagundez - The former Austin FC midfielder has returned to Q2 twice since being traded late in the 2023 season, but that didn’t stop him from telling LA media after scoring the equalizer in last Saturday’s draw against Houston that this match means a little bit more to him than normal. While he’s mostly been in a reserve role during his Galaxy tenure, Fagundez is playing a larger part in 2025 with Brugman and Delgado no longer with the team along with Puig and Reus injured. He has earned the trust of head coach Greg Vanney and was wearing the armband against the Dynamo. I expect to see him don the armband again on Saturday with revenge on his mind.
Austin FC Keys to the Game
Bounce Back - With Ilie Sanchez sidelined the last few weeks, Brendan Hines-Ike has taken on captain duties. In the post match press conference following the blowout loss to Vancouver he said, “we’re ashamed about how we represented our city today and we’ll make sure that these things don’t happen again.” That’s all well and good, but then he went on to say that the loss was “a test for us as men to see what we’re about, what we’re about as a team.” If that’s true, then we’ll see an emotional bounce back from the home side on Saturday. Talking about how to respond is one thing, now it’s time to show it.
Revenge Suppression - When Diego Fagundez was a member of Austin FC he was universally beloved. But he’s no longer on our team and for 90 minutes he will be trying to inflict pain on everyone wearing Verde and Black within a 100 mile radius of his location. I’m calling for full-on revenge suppression from the home team on Saturday. I do NOT want to see Diego show up on the scoresheet, no matter what the final tally is.
Predictions
ZG - 3-1 Austin FC
E - 2-1 Austin FC
