Two Western Conference foes coming off painful losses to Eastern Conference squads square off in SoCal on Sunday with the LA Galaxy hosting the Seattle Sounders.
The Galaxy fell on the weekend to Toronto FC, 5-3, extending their winless streak to seven games, while the Sounders saw a nine-match winning run, and a 12-match stretch without a loss, end with a 1-0 home loss to the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday.
This is the second meeting this season, with the Sounders cruising to a 5-0 victory over the shorthanded Galaxy on August 18 on goals by Chad Marshall, Harry Shipp, Cristian Roldan and Raul Ruidiaz, as well as an own goal by Servando Carrasco.
Seattle are unbeaten in their last six games against the Galaxy (3W-3D). The Galaxy have scored just four goals in those six games, per Opta.
LA Galaxy
The Galaxy (10-11-8) rallied from a three-goal first-half deficit to level, only to concede twice more in a 5-3 loss to TFC at BMO Field on Saturday night.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a stunning goal — the 500th of his storied career — to start the comeback late in the first half. Ola Kamara and Rolf Feltscher scored four minutes apart to level the match 3-3 before the hour mark. But Jonathan Osorio and Jay Chapman struck for TFC and the Galaxy fell six points below the playoff line in the West.
“It’s a great goal, it’s a good time to score right before halftime so it gives you a little momentum going into half and in the locker room,” Dominic Kinnear said of Ibra’s spinning stunner. “You just want to make sure you jump on that and take it out in the second half and we didn’t.”
· Suspended: None
· Suspended after next caution: D - Michael Ciani, D - Jorgen Skjelvik, F - Zlatan Ibrahimovic
· International duty: None
· Injury Report: None
Projected Starting XI
(4-3-3, right to left)
GK: David Bingham — Rolf Feltscher, Davve Romney, Jorgen Skjelvik, Ashley Cole — Jonathan dos Santos, Giovani dos Santos, Perry Kitchen — Romain Alessandrini, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ola Kamara
· Notes: Ibrahimovic has four goals+assists in five appearances since August 1, as many as he had in the Galaxy’s last win – a 4-3 victory over Orlando on July 29 … LA are winless in their last seven games (4L-3D). They have allowed an average of 3.3 goals per game over that span.
Seattle Sounders FC
After defeating the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place to win the Cascadia Cup, Brian Schmetzer said the club’s winning streak would come to an end at some point. It just happened sooner than he hoped.
Seattle (13-10-5) fell to 10-man Philadelphia, 1-0, at home Wednesday night, their first defeat since June 30. Fafa Picault scored the lone goal in second-half stoppage time after Jack Elliottwas sent off for his second bookable offense late in the second half.
“We’re very proud of what this team has accomplished,” Schmetzer said. “We put ourselves in a massive hole, and we’ve climbed out of it. There’s still work to do, but winning nine games in a row is an accomplishment that was a big one. We all knew it was going to end at some point, we all knew. The fashion it ended in is what makes it sting.”
· Suspended: None
· Suspended after next caution: D - Jordy Delem
· International duty: None
· Injury Report: OUT: F - Jordan Morris (torn ACL), Felix Chenkam (herniated disc), M - Henry Wingo (concussion); QUESTIONABLE: F - Raul Ruidiaz (ankle injury)
Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Stefan Frei — Kelvin Leerdam, Kim Kee-hee, Chad Marshall, Brad Smith — Gustav Svensson, Osvaldo Alonso — Cristian Roldan, Nico Lodeiro, Victor Rodriguez — Will Bruin
· Notes: The Sounders have conceded 11.09 goals below their xGA total on the road this year. No other team has allowed better than 5.17 goals below their road xGA total. … The Sounders have not allowed a team to score multiple goals since the start of July.
All-Time Series
· Overall: LA Galaxy 9 wins, 31 goals … Seattle Sounders FC 7 wins, 32 goals … 9 draws
· At LA: Galaxy 5 wins, 17 goals … Sounders 3 wins, 14 goals … 4 draws
· Last meeting at LA: LA Galaxy 0, Seattle Sounders FC 0 (July 29, 2017)
Officials
Referee: JC Rivero
Assistant Referees: Cameron Blanchard, Mike Rottersman
4th Official: Armando Villarreal
VAR: Edvin Jurisevic
