The Los Angeles Galaxy will try to continue their late push for a playoff berth on Wednesday night when they visit the Western Conference-leading Vancouver Whitecaps.
The Galaxy (7-9-8, 29 points), who are 2-1-1 in their last four matches, enter the contest in 12th place in a very tight Western Conference, just two points behind seventh-place Colorado (31 points).
LA comes in off a 2-1 victory over visiting New England on Saturday. Marco Reus scored on a penalty in the 11th minute and Robert Taylor added another goal 22 minutes later to give the Galaxy a 2-0 lead. Carles Gil broke up the shutout for New England with a penalty kick in the 96th minute.
The Galaxy are one of six teams who have between 29 and 31 points. San Diego is ninth and in the final playoff spot with 30 points.
“We still have 10 (games) to go,” LA coach Greg Vanney told the Orange County Register. “I know it’s really tight in the West. You’ve just got to get on a little bit of a run.”
“There’s no excuses anymore,” Galaxy defender Maya Yoshida added. “Now we have to get results. … Only we can change our situation on the pitch.”
It won’t be easy.
Vancouver (13-5-4, 43 points), which holds a three-point lead over the second-place Houston Dynamo, is 8-3-1 at home and has a plus-28 goal differential, tops in the West and second only to Nashville (plus-30) in MLS. The Galaxy, by comparison, are minus-6.
The Whitecaps outscored Sporting Kansas City and FC Dallas by a combined 8-0 margin in back-to-back wins before losing to visiting St. Louis City, 3-1, on Saturday. Forward Emmanuel Sabbi scored his fourth goal of the season in the second minute to give Vancouver a quick 1-0 lead, but St. Louis answered with three goals in a 22-minute span later in the first half to pull off the upset.
Sabbi said he expects Los Angeles to “come with the heat.”
“They have very good players, they have technical players, they have fast players,” Sabbi said. “We know it’s going to be a hard game, and we have to do what we do best, and not shy away from it because the last game didn’t go so well. We’re going to do what we do, and hopefully get a win.”
The two teams played to a 1-1 draw in their first meeting on May 2 in Carson, Calif.
–Field Level Media
