LA Galaxy Fall Flat in 2-0 loss to San Diego FC in Season Opener
The LA Galaxy celebrations hit reality following loss to expansion side San Diego City FC
The championship celebrations didn’t last long at Dignity Health Sports Park, as the LA Galaxy lost 2-0 to San Diego FC on Sunday night.
After an opening ceremony celebrating the Galaxy’s 2024 MLS Cup victory with a banner reveal and Riqui Puig showcasing the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy - the Galaxy returned to the realities of the MLS season.
The visitors opened the scoring after a relatively mundane first half between the two sides. Hirving Lozano recovered a heavy touch from Emiro Garces inside the box. The Mexican forward laid the ball off into Anders Dreyer, whose shot was fired past Novak Mićović in the 52nd minute. San Diego was ready to pounce when the LA made a mistake or poor decision during the process of the build-up.
The Galaxy struggled to create chances but began to commit numbers forward as that game began to wear on. Despite getting more attacks in the final third, the Galaxy couldn’t find the breakthrough goal.
San Diego found the dagger goal needed to solidify all three points away from home in the third minute of stoppage time. Dreyer finished off a counter-attack to record his second of the night and give San Diego its first win in MLS play.
“I believe that the Galaxy are always going to get everybody's best shot. Everybody wants to beat the Galaxy. And you know, because of the club that it is, that's something you deal with all the time. I think being the champion, for sure,” said Head Coach Greg Vanney during his postgame presser.
San Diego looked motivated to beat the Galaxy and was confident in its style of play. While the Galaxy looked like it was never able to function in unison- especially in the attack.
“I felt like we weren't very dynamic in the front half of the field, and when we were getting forward and getting into forward positions, we weren't really turning or advancing possessions into attacks. I felt like it was a little bit stagnant and not as dynamic as what we've seen obviously in the past,” said Vanney.
“We were not great in possession, and then we were not dynamic ahead of the possession that would turn normal possessions into attacks and dangerous opportunities. I don't think it's normal. I think it's this group; it's going to be the growing pains of this group and not having a guy like Joe [Paintsil] changes how dynamic you are at the top and others,” he added.
The missing impact of Puig and Joseph Paintsil due to injury was visible on the night. The Galaxy struggled to add that extra dimension of vertically that was present in last year’s team, especially in moments of transition. The lack of verticality is a habit Vanney wants the team to avoid adopting as the season goes on.
Another aspect of LA’s lack of attacking cohesion is the chemistry that is still developing within the team. Lucas Sanabria and Christian Ramirez made their debuts on the night but consistently failed to be on the same page with their teammates.
“I think we're on several different pages at times and just lacking that last little ball or the patience to have that last ball. Sometimes when it's so wide open, the back line is so spread, it seems like you need to rush it, but we don't. It’s just a matter of getting an understanding of each other,” said Ramirez following the match. The former Columbus Crew striker failed to record a touch in the box and shot during his 64 minutes of action.
'“I think the more we can move for each other and understand in the buildup the spots that we need to be in to expose teams, getting there early, especially when teams are going to come press our back line, it just comes with games,” he added.
Given the added eyeballs of primetime, the Galaxy didn’t make the impression they wanted to on a national audience. There is still work to be done for this Galaxy team to get back to a championship level but both Vanney and Ramirez left the press conference room at improvements will be coming.
“We just have different understandings of the transition moments and when to keep possession and maybe not go all the way back to the goalkeeper. But that will come. There's no need to rush and overanalyze. We'll look at the film and then be better next time,” said Ramirez.