The LA Galaxy are without their star scorer and can’t search abroad for a replacement. But they can still stretch a modest unbeaten run to three games when they host Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday night in Carson, Calif.
The Galaxy (3-9-4, 13 points) earned a gutty 1-1 draw at St. Louis City on June 11, coming from behind to earn a point on Daniel Aguirre’s first goal of the season.
That result came just four days after LA striker Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez suffered a torn right ACL in a 3-2 U.S. Open Cup defeat at Real Salt Lake.
“I think the group is, in a way, just rolling up our sleeves, and we have to deal with whatever we have to deal with now,” Galaxy manager Greg Vanney said after the draw with St. Louis. “The games are coming and they’re going, and we’ve got to take points, and we don’t have time to get too caught up in things that are happening.”
Chicharito has led the Galaxy in scoring each of the previous two seasons. And sanctions imposed earlier this year as a result of roster violations incurred during the 2019 season mean the Galaxy won’t be able to bring in a replacement from abroad during the secondary transfer window, which runs July 5 to Aug. 2.
Kansas City (5-9-5, 20 points) might be able to relate after playing all of last season without striker Alan Pulido and attacking midfielder Gadi Kinda.
Both saw the impact of their respective injuries linger into the start of this season, and it was only when the duo got healthy that Kansas City put some wins together.
But SKC have posted a 5-2-2 record since the start of May to climb up the Western Conference standings.
Pulido scored his team-leading fifth goal of the season on Saturday night with an early penalty kick. But SKC fell to LAFC 2-1 after Denil Maldonado leveled the match early in the second half and Carlos Vela scored a 90th-minute winner.
“We deserved more, but now the focus is on the next game,” Kansas City midfielder Erik Thommy said. “We play on Wednesday and we have to regenerate as fast as possible. Next game we can do better.”
–Field Level Media
