P/I/P Season 30 Game 33 - LA Galaxy vs FC Dallas, 10/11/25, 7:30 p.m. PDT - Apple TV

do we? if we lose the last game other teams could still overtake us, right?

I just checked, while our last match is against Minesota, 7th in overall SS standings, Atlanta and DC United play against each other. I see what you mean. No matter what happens one of them is bound to get the wooden spoon.

A literal Wooden Spoon match. Has that ever happened in MLS History?

 

No, because the two teams behind us (Atlanta and DC) play each other next week.

Actually, with a win against Minnesota (who are way stronger than Dallas), we could catch a couple more teams.

 

Yea I just checked that myself that's wild that the last 2 teams in the full league standings play each other on decision day.

(Although I can actually see a scenario where Kansas City winds up winning wooden spoon though it would be difficult, we would have to beat Minn., DC would have to beat atlanta, but by less than Kansas would have to lose by)

 

I thought same but DC plays ATL so we are ok. If DC wins we pass ATL, if DC loses or ties we remain ahead of them.

 

Yes I just verified that myself

On decision Day
LA G is playing Minn.,
Atlanta is playing DC United
Kansas City is playing Houston

 

Although, based purely on goal difference alone its likely we might wind up getting the wooden spoon. Atlanta and Kansas City have a 3 and 4 goal worse difference than us, it would be a difficult proposition

 

Basically DC would have to beat Atlanta (possible considering both teams are horrendous), we would have to lose against Minnesota (quite possible due to how bad we are and Minnesota are 7th), and the goal difference would have to play out by us losing by at LEAST 6 goals. (Atlanta with 4 goal difference worse than us, so if DC beats them 1-0 that would give Atlanta a -26 GD, we would match it by losing 5-0 (-26 GD), but if we match their GD we would win the tiebreaker on goals scored.

 

First tiebreaker is # of wins. ATL is behind us with 5 wins to our massive 6 wins. So:

If ATL win or draw DCU gets WS based on points, no matter what we do.
If ATL lose they get WS based on either points (if we tie or win) or based on # wins (if we lose).
Impossible for us to get WS.

 

This team is so bad. No way we beat Dallas if not for the Red Card. How Vanney still has a job is beyond belief. Going to these games is not much fun at all, even when we win.....

 

Thanks I kept focusing so hard I forgot about # of wins. This really does prove that DC vs Atlanta really is a Wooden Spoon Championship game.

 

.@LAGalaxy spoil the night for Dallas. pic.twitter.com/dD60QLHyKv

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 12, 2025

 

Likely the Gs place for the Wooden Spoon race. Can't get anything right.

 

We can't even get one trophy from this season. We just get the consolation prize of the Champions league berth

 

When judging Vanney do you consider the impact of the missing DPs? Since everyone seems to love Bruce, look at the amount of time his DPs were available versus the Galaxy's DP.s. Per MLS official stats, San Jose got 6868 minutes from its DPs so far in 2025 while the Galaxy got 4282. The difference of 2586 minutes is almost equivalent to Puig's minutes in 2024 (2539). Effectively they had another DP all season long. FWIW, Paintsil and Pec both missed significantly more time in 2025 then they did in 2024.

IMO, the difference between San Jose's current 11th place in the standings to the Galaxy's 15th place was entirely attributable to this DP absence and not a coaching deficit (Puig had 13 goals and 15 assists in 2024). San Jose's defense, despite Bruce's reputation as a defensive guru, has been only marginally better than the Galaxy's 62 vs 65. Adding Puig's 13 goals would put the Galaxy only 1 behind San Jose and its possible that if he had his same 15 assists the Galaxy would actually be leading the conference in scoring and be second behind Miami in the league.

IMO a win with a squad as depleted as this one, missing Puig (DP), Paintsil (DP), Reus (TAM), Aude (U22), Sanabria (U22), Miller (HG), and Ramos (HG) was hardly a gimme. While you may be right about the Red Card (whether deserved or not) being responsible for the win, that hardly makes up for all of the non calls that the Galaxy have not received.

 

Ok, now do RSL (1 non-productive DP, 2nd highest scorer has 4 goals) and COL.

(Agree we were due a call or two.)

 

PS - It’s true that Bruce hasn’t been able to fix SJ’s defense yet. He’s had about 3 or 4 bad seasons on defense in his MLS career IIRC, going back to ‘96. Actually his defensive acumen goes back further - VA always had strong defenses. I know bc they were a thorn in Duke’s side.

 

It's an interesting argument. Let me ask, do you think the rest of the talent on our team is better than San Jose or RSL or Colorado? Because I think the Galaxy roster has more talent than at least half the teams in MLS even without Puig. I'd argue Vanney was trying to play Puig soccer without Puig and completely failed to adapt the tactics to the team he had. Just one example...Paintsill should have been playing forward from day one and we should have been focused on sitting back and playing the counter. Instead Vanney opted to play wide open soccer all year, knowing he had no Puig, that Yoshida was slow and a year older etc. The early injuries only reinforce my belief. Vanneys 5 years in charge of the Galaxy 54 wins, 56 losses and 39 draws! He is a one trick pony, and when Puig went down, he completely failed to adapt. Arena is still in year one with SJ and that team was a complete wreck when he took over, Vanney is in year 6 and he has basically had complete control. I would take Arena back in a heartbeat, even if he is 80 (?)!

 

Preach, brother!

 

Also when it became abundantly clear that Pec needed help Vanney did nothing. An aware coach would have tried something - moving him around on the field, coach him to quit repeatedly putting his head down, making the exact same train track runs over and over, dribbling into crowds, trying to do it all by himself. But no, he plays exactly the same all season and despite being a best 11 level talent Pec ends up with only 6 goals in 28 games. That’s 2 more than Ramirez, for reference.

Good coaches solve problems. Vanney just sticks to a worn out script that only works if you have stacked lineups with the likes of Puig/Pec/Paintsil/Joveljic or Giovinco/Altidore/Vasquez/Bradley.

I wrote this just in case any of you thought I was on the fence on this one.

 

I would not take Bruce back, you can't go back in time on that one. We had some glory days with him, which I will always treasure.

Your defense is Vanney is admirable, but basically you're arguing that with better luck we would be a mediocre team. Mediocre should have been our starting point after losing Puig. We have talented players, and a winning tradition. We lost players and that hurt, but many teams lose players and find a way, but Vanney struggled for the whole season to fill the gaps.

It all comes down to the defense. It's absolutely crazy that we can watch a game like this, where all we need is a 1-0 win, we're up 1-0, and our team leaves a man wide, wide open in the center of the box for a tap in. There should have been multiple members of the team, not just Yoshida, buckling down the defense and making sure that did not happen. Why is our team caught out of position time and time again? Vanney must know he's incapable at this point, Kuntz must know he's incapable, so hire a defensive coach and make them accountable, and follow their instructions. Yoshida could probably do it given carte blanche. I just find the whole thing mind-boggling.

I do think Vanney did OK this year in developing Wynder and Sanabria, and Aude has improved as well in his 3rd year under Vanney. Cuevas and Cerillo are important contributors that any team could use. The goalkeeper problem got solved, late, and although Garces struggled early and had injuries, he's still a huge talent that is progressing. I also agree with whoever said that Pec needed a better plan this year - he really struggled and the good thing is we probably keep him another year - hopefully next year will be better. Maybe next year we'll have an actual forward, in addition to getting Puig back. I LOL'd when the announcers said Berry has zero goals this year. ZERO!?!

 

Well said.

 

That Dallas goal was a horror show. If I'm being honest, I don't see a difference between Maya and Zanka seasons from a defensive standpoint.