Quick takeaways from the LA Galaxy's 3-0 preseason loss to Charlotte FC
The LA Galaxy begins the Coachella Valley Invitational with a loss. Here's some takeaways from Wednesday afternoon's game.
The rain in SoCal went away on Wednesday afternoon but not the LA Galaxy out of the losing column as they suffered a 3-0 defeat to Eastern Conference side Charlotte FC.
The Galaxy kept a clean sheet in the second half but couldn’t keep the goals out for 90 minutes. Enzo Copetti scored first from a long ball that got past the outstretched leg of defender Chris Mavinga and put him in a one-on-one situation with Novak Micovic - Copetti finished the opportunity.
The second goal came off LA being unable to play out of the back and turning the ball over near the outskirts of their penalty box. The visitors would make sure to capitalize on that opportunity. Charlotte scored their third goal of the game through a free kick shot on goal.
As a reminder: THIS IS JUST A PRESEASON GAME.
All of these observations are about a team barely getting into form and without some of its best players on the pitch (Gaston Brugman, Gabriel Pec, Dejan Joveljic). Now that we got that out of the way, here are some thoughts from this preseason game.
Welcome back Riqui
Midfielder Riqui Puig made his return to the pitch for the first time in 2024. The Spanish player arrived at preseason camp later than the rest of his teammates as he was getting treatment for his ankle (he missed games near the end of the ‘23 season because of an ankle injury).
He was in the starting lineup for LA wearing his new number 10 kit. Puig would drop deeper into the midfield when the Galaxy began to build out from the back and eventually did move higher up the field when the attack progressed.
Despite not having much fitness or sharpness due to his inactivity, Puig was his normal self on the ball - quick turns, picking out his teammates with precise passing, and looking to get involved in the attack. His impact is clearly visible and should only grow as he continues to improve his fitness and build chemistry with his teammates.
Puig and fellow midfielder Gaston Brugman are key to LA’s ball progression. The two need to use the preseason to get back into match fitness and ready for the season.
Absent Striker Play
Dejan Joveljic’s hip injury has the Galaxy playing with Miguel Berry and Aaron Bibout up top. In LA’s last two games, both Berry and Bibout haven’t been impact players in the attack.
Joveljic - who is entering his third full season with the Galaxy- has the faith of the club as the striker who can lead the line despite an underwhelming 2023 campaign. Playing preseason games without him doesn’t help the Galaxy attack build some momentum as they were hoping he could get into rhythm during the matches in Coachella.
Berry hasn’t provided many glimpses of starting quality even though he’s had few clear-cut chances. Bibout had a goal called off in the last game but like Berry, he hasn’t had any major threats to the goal.
LA struggled to get their strikers to score at the start of last season, so far it seems likely that it might happen again.
Starting defense isn’t the issue
Look I get that seeing a 3-0 loss would indicate the Galaxy still has problems in the backline but that is somewhat deceiving.
Yes, there were some bad giveaways and goals that should’ve been avoided but that was once all of the starters had left the pitch.
John McCarthy, John Nelson, Eriq Zavaleta, Maya Yoshida, and Miki Yamane were the defensive unit for the game. Despite there being three changes to the backline, they looked good out there and didn’t give up much for Charlotte.
In his first start, full back Nelson played well and you could notice a good connection with Diego Fagundez on that left flank. With Yamane on the other side, Charlotte didn’t create much danger from wide positions.
The noticeable breakdowns came once the subs for the starters came in. Chris Mavinga and Julian Aude started in LA’s last game but came off the bench. The rest of the team were players with little to no MLS regular season playing time.
The starters did well to keep Charlotte out of the scoreboard and that should acknowledged. I’d start to worry if LA conceded goals early into the match. Until then, the backline shouldn’t be viewed as in a crisis this preseason.