OFFICIAL: Ventura County FC aka LA Galaxy II 2025 Season

Former Galaxy player Adam Saldana making a horrible tackle from behind on the son of Greg Vanney (who was in charge when he left the Galaxy) was the play of the match. What a terrible move from Saldana, I'm glad he isn't with the club anymore. And great answer from Dylan Vanney with that free kick.

Not the best game from VCFC, Luis Müller and Ruben Ramos Jr. missed open goals while the defense looked once again shaky. For the second game in a row Nick Sullivan and Luis Müller switched sides mid-game and I'm not sure it suits Müller much, as his direct style of play doesn't match well with playing as an inverted winger. He's probably our best player, you have to play him into his strengths.

A few words on DM Tommy Musto, a former LAFC 2 player who has played every VCFC game this season : I'm not sold on him, he'll do the job as a possession player but he seems very reluctant to make a forward pass. He doesn't look that good at defensive duties too. Decent MLS Next Pro player but I don't see him having what it takes to success at the highest level.

 

Home game against Austin 2 tonight before heading to Vancouver for a Sunday game.

 

🔵 TEAM NEWS 🟡
🙌 Jindaoui back in the main XI
💫 Karani bringing the power
⚽️ Scott strong in goal pic.twitter.com/wnWdyZ7xMr

— Ventura County FC (@vcfcpro) May 14, 2025

 

What a nightmare of a game. The coaching staff chose to rest Luis Müller and Nick Sullivan before the Vancouver away game, which is a choice I can understand. But we seriously lacked some firepower in the final third and Matt Taylor waited too long to make them enter the match (he did just after Austin scored). It was at least ten minutes too late, and it took less than five minutes for VCFC to score after a Müller set piece, but the goal was called back for an offside position which was not that obvious.

Austin scored on an terrible Brady Scott mistake and it's totally unexplainable to me he has looked so bad this year. Overall the defense did fine but probably against a bad Austin side. Harbor Miller was once again excellent, Magana had a couple of clutch tackles and Max Middleby looked OK on defense maybe for the first time in his VCFC career. It's still far from Jason Bucknor, who has missed the past three games (because of an injury ?) and who's a player we're missing a lot right now.

Austin hadn't won a game since opening day and now VCFC have lost 3 of their last 4 games at home. I still think they are a playoff team but they don't have a very deep roster, honeymoon is a little bit over for me.

 

Deserved win for VCFC, who just beat the Whitecaps away for the second time in one month. Central defenders Chris Rindov and Pepe Magana looked good, and once again an excellent performance from Harbor Miller, as good on offense and defense.

Joergio Kocevski was my MOTM as he scored what could have been his third goal in as many games (he did score in the last match but his goal was called back after a wrong offside call), but was also instrumental at destabilising a very packed Vancouver defense with his long balls.

Disappointing game from Luis Müller who looked lackadaisical and not very involved on defense. Both him and Ruben Ramos Jr. weren't sharp in the final third.

VCFC remains on top of the Western Conference but has played more games than anybody else.

 

Crazy game indeed, I would say the shootout win is a good result for VCFC. Offense clicked (as often) but team switched off after every goal scored and our two central defenders were way too passive. Chris Rindov was ridiculous on the second goal but he also saved the team on a couple of plays late in the second half. Mixed performance by Brady Scott, credit to him for the penalty shootout and a couple of saves during the match, but he looked passive on some plays and could have done better on a couple of goals.

Another very good game by Harbor Miller, and on the good news front Jason Bucknor played a couple of minutes late in the match.

I don't know what to do with Luis Müller : the guy is super talented and is probably losing his time in MLS Next Pro, but I feel sometimes he's trying to do a little bit too much and too difficult. The problem is because he's good, it works and he will get the job done, but I think being with better players around him and having to play for them would help him to grow.

 

Game at Portland 2 about to start. It seems Harbor Miller and Ruben Ramos Jr. didn't make the trip.

🔵TEAM NEWS ⚪
🧤Marcinkowski makes his @mlsnextpro debut
✨ Karani returns to the starting XI
🙌 Musto partners Kocevski in the middle pic.twitter.com/HwxiEeedNE

— Ventura County FC (@vcfcpro) June 12, 2025

 

Congrats to our reserves who just won their fourth away game in a row, and who are standing first in the Western Conference. After last game I said our team switched off after every opponent goal, it was the same story once again at Portland (second Timbers goal was scored just after three simple passes on the kickoff after our second...).

While our defense remains suspect, our offense is still scary good : Sean Karani had a great game with a hand on all three goals, while Nick Sullivan had a goal and an assist and is in a good run of form. Sullivan is a guy who knows how to be clutch around the penalty box and while he'll never be a star, I think he could be close to the first team by the end of the year.

JT Marcinkowski couldn't have done much on Portland goals, but was solid in the second half. Very positive game from him.