Match Preview presented by O4 Water: LA Galaxy prepared to face Sporting KC

CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy head into their clash with Sporting Kansas City on Sunday eager to continue their push up the MLS table.

Los Angeles are unbeaten in their last five games and presently sit just four points back of Supporters’ Shield leaders FC Dallas with five matches remaining on the regular-season docket. For a team that has endured a spot-start season to date, the Galaxy are right where they want to be heading into Sunday’s clash at Children’s Mercy Park.

“The team has been improving a lot in the last third of the season. I think everyone is playing good,” Giovani dos Santos, who has scored or assisted on each of the team’s last seven goals, said. “I think the chemistry between us is getting much better every single game. Everyone is working for each other every single day.”

While the Galaxy have solidified their playoff seeding over the last month, Kansas City have struggled as of late. Sitting at fifth place in the Western Conference with 39 points, head coach Peter Vermes’ group have only one win in their last five matches.

Despite their dip in form, Sporting boast an impressive array of talent including striker Dom Dwyer who leads Kansas City with 13 goals this season. As Los Angeles search for their first win ever at Children’s Mercy Park, Galaxy boss Bruce Arena is mindful of Kansas City’s stars.

“They’ve got a good goal scorer in Dwyer as well as good midfielders in [Roger] Espinosa, [Benny] Feilhaber and [Graham] Zusi to name a few. It’s a good collective group of players,” Arena said. “They’ve got a good team.”

As the Galaxy look to make up ground in the Supporters’ Shield chase, Arena’s men are placing great importance on Sunday’s match in Kansas City.

“This game means a lot. From now on, every game means a lot. We just need to keep that same concentration in the last five games,” midfielder Ema Boateng said. “When you get into the playoffs, you want to be playing your best games, so we’re getting guys back from injury; we’ve got to make the most out of our chances.”

• The night before welcoming son Cassius Cruz Dwyer into the world, Dom Dwyer netted his 13th goal of the season, though Sporting Kansas City was forced to settle for a 3-3 draw with the Houston Dynamo at Children’s Mercy Park.
• On the day when Landon Donovan made his return to active MLS duty, Giovani dos Santos scored a pair of goals and added a pair of assists as the Galaxy extended their undefeated streak to five games with a 4-2 win against Orlando City SC. Dos Santos has a goal and/or an assist in eight of his last 10 games, dating back to July 23, with seven goals and six assists in that span. Dos Santos has played a part in each of the Galaxy’s last eight goals.
• The teams are meeting for the third time this season, having played to draws in the first two. SKC’s Brad Davis and the Galaxy’s Giovani dos Santos traded first-half goals as the clubs finished in a 1-1 draw May 1 at Children’s Mercy Park; they reached a scoreless draw June 2 at StubHub Center.
• The Galaxy have not won in Kansas City since 2007; Sporting have won four of their eight home games since, with four draws. Sporting’s last win against the Galaxy in Carson came in 2010 – the last victory by the visiting team in the series; the Galaxy had won three home meetings in a row with KC before this year’s draw.

Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at www.LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com