Minnesota United and the LA Galaxy look to rebound from disappointing defeats when they meet on Sunday night in Southern California.
Minnesota’s 3-1 home loss to Vancouver on Wednesday was its fifth in a row after a promising start to the season.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy (11-4-7, 40 points) were appalled with their first-half performance in Thursday’s 2-1 defeat to Los Angeles FC.
“We were purposeless in the first half,” LA coach Greg Vanney said. “It’s like we were going to win the game putting together 10,000 passes and going nowhere. We were down 2-0 because we deserved to be down 2-0.”
The Galaxy got back into the game on Gabriel Pec’s seventh goal of the season, set up by an exceptional run through the box by Miki Yamane. But LA couldn’t find a way to rescue a point and fell three points behind LAFC in the race for the top spot in the Western Conference.
On Wednesday night, the Loons (8-8-5, 29 points) mounted a strong response after falling behind by two goals early. Bongokuhle Hlongwane halved Minnesota’s deficit with his sixth goal of the season after Joseph Rosales’s penalty shot was saved.
But Sebastian Berhalter’s second-half tally for Vancouver put the match out of reach, despite the Loons creating most of the chances.
“It’s a very difficult one to sum up in the sense that, I think in the grand scheme of this difficult run that we’re on and the circumstances that surround it, there’s big elements of that performance that are looking close to where we were when we are at our best,” Loons coach Eric Ramsay said. “So I think that’s what makes this doubly disappointing.”
Minnesota has been one of the teams most impacted by Copa America, with Costa Rica’s Alejandro Bran the only one of four call-ups who could be available to return on Sunday. Striker Teemu Pukki (knee) and midfielder Wil Trapp (rib) have also been out due to injury.
The Galaxy are closer to full strength, with only defensive midfielder Gaston Brugman the lone likely injury absence.
–Field Level Media
