Sorry y'all. Looks like Trickhog has ran off to be the moderator for his new club, Tottenham, so you get me instead... Riqui's back, buy no Paintsil for this one. Important match to get some separation especially since the goats will still have a game in hand after. Assuming Diego gets the start for Joe and it'll be a front 3 of Pec, Dejan, and Diego with Puig, Gaston, and Mark in the middle.
Gotta say this game is a little bigger than a normal El Traffico. Odds are quite good that the winner of this game wins the West and gets home field advantage thru the playoffs until the final. And maybe even in the final if Miami doesn’t make it out of the west. Big game.
I know you throw out the rule book for derbies, but before the summer tournament I would have said on paper LAFC are favorites. They’re more consistent over 90 minutes and like the previous two games this season could easily be 2 goals up at halftime. They’re solid enough defensively to keep the lead even if LA does their usual play for 45 minutes tactic. They dropped 4 points against a mid-table Houston in back-to-back matches though. Maybe playing in three competitions is taking a toll.
I think LAFC play 7 games in 21 days or something like that. We have 6 games left and they have to play 9 games in the same amount of time.
Hard to overstate how big of a match this is. I would say over the course of the season, LAFC has been the best team in the West but this is a huge opportunity for us because I believe that if we win this game, we will finish ahead of them. Add to the fact that they beat us twice this year and eliminated us in each of our last two play- off appearances, a win would go a long way to helping our mentality should we eventually meet them in the playoffs wherever that is played.
Here is what the bracket would look like if the Audi #MLSCupPlayoffs started today. 👀 pic.twitter.com/cGyd9OGtKi— Major League Soccer (@MLS) September 10, 2024 Nothing easy in the West under this scenario. All teams that have either had great seasons (LAFC, LAG, RSL, Vancouver, Colorado) or playing great now (Seattle, Portland, Houston) and then also Minnesota lol
While the very top of the East is deadly, the West is way deeper this year and the 8-9 teams in the West are still dangerous teams come playoff time.
Yep, I had the same thought. ...and yet, they're still well positioned to finish first in the West. LAFC currently have two (2) matches in hand. After our match, we'll have five matches remaining while they'll have seven, which is enough for them to possibly finish top in the West. However, they have to do the work and play those two matches in hand, and they won't be pushovers: 9/28 Away to FC Cincinnati 10/13 Away to Vancouver Just a few fun facts that add to the magic of the match-up we know as the LA Clásico, which never fails to disappoint. A win against them on the 14th will be huge in our efforts to finish first in the West.
Interesting stat. Wonder what LAFC has been doing to stifle him and how Reus might counter that Riqui Puig has created zero chances in his last three games against LAFC.The Black and Gold has been able to make him a non-factor in the final third. Puig has the talent and team to bounce back this weekend. This is the biggest game of the year for Puig#LAGalaxy pic.twitter.com/L9DnTu6YVK— Alex Ruiz (@AlxRuiz15) September 11, 2024
It's a Ted Unkel game #LAGalaxy vs #LAFCREF: Ted UnkelAR1: Corey RockwellAR2: Ryan Graves4TH: Victor RivasVAR: Kevin StottAVAR: Mike Kampmeinert https://t.co/4DIQkulfX8— Damian Calhoun (@DamianCalhoun) September 11, 2024
My recollection is that LAFC tries to outmuscle and foul Puig and indeed the rest of the Galaxy. That they counted on the referee on to not issue early yellow cards or strictly follow the guidelines against persistent infringement especially when committed by multiple players from one team against a single player from the opposing side. Even worse, they rely on the observation that referees are reluctant to impact a game by issuing a second yellow with a follow-on red card. This just makes LAFC's outstanding defense even better.
Galaxy are gonna need to want this game more. Last game we were passive and let LAFC be more aggressive and then we couldn't turn it on when we needed to. This game really needs the "first, tackle, first foul, first shot, first goal" Arena approach.
Yes on Jovelic; no on Aude .@LAGalaxy coach Greg Vanney said F Dejan Joveljic will be ready for whatever is needed of him in Saturday’s game with @LAFC but D Julian Aude is another 1 1/2 weeks away from playing— Kevin Baxter 🇺🇦🏳️🌈 (@kbaxter11) September 11, 2024
So...... ---Fagundez--------Dejan--------Pec -------------Puig--------------Reus -----------------(BrugDelgadirrillo) Nelson---Neal----Yoshida---Yamane -----------------McCarthy Is that the starting lineup or do we start Reus on the bench? And then which 1 (or 2) of Brugman, Delgado and Cerrillo start and which come off the bench?
Will he even more imperative that the team doesn't look to Riqui all the time. Seems like a grew Gs should start Reus and go full steam ahead from the start. Should start Brugman who can help connect from the back to Reus when the goats are cancelling out Puigee.
For those who like to watch other games while you’re watching the Galaxy play #LAGalaxy can clinch a playoff spot this weekend. Observe the rhyme and check out the scenarios: pic.twitter.com/48xN5OAmrw— Damian Calhoun (@DamianCalhoun) September 12, 2024
Pretty remarkable that if we had drawn instead of lost the two previous El trafficos (both 2-1 losses) we’d be 10 points up on them in the standings.
IIRC, didn't the Gs also have some unfortunate calls or lack of calls go against them start of the season that cost them maybe around 4-6 points?
The 2 bad calls and 4 points lost from the start of the season that come to the top of my mind are: The yellow card against Dalgado in the Miami game where he was called for tripping Sergio Busquets in the 87th minute, but replay showed that he never touched him and Busquests dived. This was his second yellow and the red forced the Galaxy to play a man down and made Miami's it a lot easier for Miami to level the game and harder for the Galaxy to win. -2 points. The clear dive by Bouanga in the first LAFC game and bogus penalty call that ended up being the winning goal. -2 points.