Match Preview Presented by O4 Water: LA Galaxy eager to get back on track against the Houston Dynamo

CARSON, Calif. – It was an angry and frustrated LA Galaxy team that left the Citrus Bowl last Sunday in Orlando, Fla., following an embarrassing 4-0 loss to expansion side Orlando City.

But the defending MLS Cup champions knew there was only one way to relieve their collective disappointment, and it certainly wasn’t dwelling on the stunning defeat.

“I wanted to play the next day,” winger Stefan Ishizaki said.

Well, the Galaxy didn’t play the following day but they will play Friday when they host the Houston Dynamo (4-4-4, fifth in the West), winners of two consecutive games, at StubHub Center (7:30 p.m., Univision Deportes).

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This will mark their first game at home since a 1-1 draw with the Colorado Rapids on May 2.

The team has gone 0-2-3 since their last win, a 2-1 result over Sporting Kansas City. Four of those matches, including the last three in a row, have been on the road.

“It’s going to be amazing to have a home game finally,” forward Gyasi Zardes said, “just to get our heads straight and prepare for our next opponent.

“It benefits us just from having a nice week of training and we don’t have to travel. We’re here. I think that’s the best part.”

The Galaxy (3-4-5), tied for sixth in the West with Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake, could get some welcome good news with the possible return of striker Robbie Keane, who has been bothered by a strained groin and hasn’t played since going the distance in a 2-0 loss at Vancouver on April 2. The Galaxy won their next two games during his absence but then went 0-2-3.

To say the Irish international is anxious to get back in the swing of things is putting it mildly.

“I think you know me well enough now that I don’t enjoy weekends off,” he said. “I prefer to be playing.”

Keane, who resumed full training just this week, could return to a Galaxy team clearly struggling because of injuries. Keane cautioned this is not the time to abandon ship, however, and he definitely hasn’t lost faith in his teammates.

He revealed there was a team meeting earlier in the week in which “a couple of things were said.”

“I said something to make sure they were back on track, you know?” Keane added.

The reigning MLS MVP still believes the Galaxy will recover, despite what has happened lately.

“It’s very important as a group that we stick together and move forward and start getting results on the board,” he said. “It happens because we’re the champions; people are expecting a lot more from us and we do ourselves. We know we haven’t been good enough, but the players are looking forward to these coming games and we hope to get a full squad that’s fit and ready.

“Then I think you’ll see a different team.”

Added Ishizaki, “I feel like the whole team is more mad and more determined after the last game to really go out there and show what we can do.

“We know what we need to do to get better.”

The LA Galaxy and Houston Dynamo meet for a second time this season when the Western Conference clubs face off in the second match on Viernes de Fútbol at StubHub Center. The Galaxy saw their overall and road winless streaks extended, now five games in a row without a win, following a decisive 4-0 loss at Orlando City on Sunday. The Dynamo have won back-to-back games for the first time this season after their 3-1 home win vs. the Portland Timbers.

• The Galaxy saw their overall road winless streak in MLS league and postseason play extended to 13 games following a 4-0 defeat by Orlando City on Sunday afternoon at the Citrus Bowl – the club’s heaviest defeat since a 5-0 loss to New England in 2013.
• The Dynamo have won back-to-back games for the first time this season as Will Bruin struck for his sixth career MLS multi-goal game in a 3-1 win against the Portland Timbers on Saturday evening at BBVA Compass Stadium.
• The teams are meeting for the second time this season. The Galaxy’s Robbie Keane and the Dynamo’s Nathan Sturgis traded goals in the opening 11 minutes as the clubs reached a 1-1 draw, March 21 at StubHub Center.
• The Galaxy’s last league victory against the Dynamo came May 25, 2011, a 1-0 win in Carson, but LA have beaten Houston in two MLS Cup Finals since then, played at StubHub Center in 2011 and 2012. The Dynamo had won four consecutive league meetings between the teams before the draw in first encounter this year. The Dynamo have come away with points on their last two regular season trips to StubHub Center.

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REFEREE: Ismail Elfath. AR1 (bench): Ian Anderson; AR2 (opposite): Marco Arruda; 4th: Alejandro Mariscal
Elfath MLS Career: 47 games; FC/gm: 25.6; Y/gm: 3.1; R: 13; pens: 12

SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: HOU: Kofi Sarkodie, Ricardo Clark
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: LA: Juninho … HOU: Jermaine Taylor
DISABLED LIST: LA: Brian Perk (season-ending injury)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: LA: Bradford Jamieson IV (U.S. U-20s)

HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (19 meetings): Galaxy 6 wins, 19 goals … Dynamo 8 wins, 22 goals … Ties 5
AT LA (9 meetings): Galaxy 3 wins, 11 goals … Dynamo 3 wins, 3 goals … Ties 3

FUTURE MATCH: 7/25: Houston Dynamo vs. LA Galaxy, 8 p.m. CT

• The teams met in three MLS Cup Playoffs over a four-year period, with the Galaxy winning all three times and all in Carson. LA took wins in the 2009 Western Conference Championship (in extra time) and in the 2011 and 2012 MLS Cup Finals.
• Coaches' records:
  Owen Coyle vs. LA: P1 W0 L0 D1
  Bruce Arena vs. HOU: P13 W5 L6 D2

LAST MEETING (MLS)
3/21: LA 1, HOU 1 (Keane 3 – Sturgis 11)
•    The Galaxy took the lead after just three minutes. Jose Villarreal picked off a Houston pass inside Galaxy territory, fed Robbie Keane at the midfield stripe, and he took off on a 50-yard sprint to the Dynamo box, beating a defender just outside the area before firing a shot that goalkeeper Tyler Deric could only get a piece of, with the ball bouncing into the net.
•    The Dynamo answered eight minutes later. From a corner kick, center back David Horst beat his marker at the far post for Boniek Garcia's service and nodded the ball across the goalmouth. Nathan Sturgis caught his marker ball-watching and raced in alone to easily tap home past LA goalkeeper Jaime Penedo.
•    LA GALAXY (4-4-2): Jaime Penedo -  Dan Gargan (Edson Buddle 86), Omar Gonzalez, Leonardo, Robbie Rogers - Stefan Ishizaki (Alan Gordon 68), Juninho, Baggio Husidic (Mika Vayrynen 69), Jose Villarreal - Gyasi Zardes, Robbie Keane.
•    HOUSTON DYNAMO (4-1-4-1): Tyler Deric - Kofi Sarkodie, David Horst, Jermaine Taylor, DaMarcus Beasley (A.J. Cochran 55) - Luis Garrido - Boniek Garcia, Ricardo Clark (Rob Lovejoy 42), Nathan Sturgis (Will Bruin 79), Brad Davis - Giles Barnes.

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