Match Preview - LA Galaxy
Game Info
Kickoff: 9:39pm CT
Watch: Apple TV
Location: Dignity Health Sports Park - Carson, CA
All-Time H2H Record
Austin FC has a 3W-1D-5L record against LA Galaxy.
These two teams met for the first time this season back in mid-April, a 1-0 home win for Austin FC that included a missed penalty kick by Brandon Vazquez, who later scored the winning goal. The game was also highlighted by a rogue red card given to Brendan Hines-Ike in second half stoppage time and multiple post game dust ups between players on both teams.
Those extra curriculars were an extension of the pandemonium that unfolded when the two teams last played in California last October. Tensions rose after a Mark Delgado tackle to the knee of Osman Bukari was not penalized by the referee before Guilherme Biro was thrown out for a hard tackle on Riqui Puig minutes later. Tempers continued to flare after the final whistle and even spilled over into the preseason matchup between these two teams when Diego Fagundez and Oleksandr Svatok got into it over a physical tackle. Given this recent history between the two sides we should expect some similar “fireworks” on Wednesday.
LA Galaxy Recent Form
If you pay even a minimal amount of attention to the rest of MLS outside of the Austin FC universe then you are well aware that the defending MLS champions are straight up not having a good time in 2025. After GM Will Kuntz pushed the team’s salary cap to the limit in 2024, culminating in a record sixth MLS Cup for the club, the team is paying the price in 2025.
We covered much of the situation the Galaxy are in back in April when we previewed the home leg of this series, so let’s talk about where the defending champs are since we last saw them.
While the club still sits tied for the wooden spoon with CF Montreal, Los Angeles has been much better of late relative to their place in the table. They’ve earned 11 points from their last six matches, which isn’t mind blowing in a vacuum, but when you consider they have 15 points total from their 22 league matches, it’s easy to gain some perspective on the recent improvement.
The team got their first league win of 2025 back on May 31, a 2-0 road win over Real Salt Lake. In the five games since, they’ve earned road draws against St. Louis City SC and rivals San Jose Earthquakes along with back to back victories over a shorthanded Vancouver Whitecaps team and then over DC United on Saturday by a 2-1 scoreline. As I remarked to E on Sunday’s Episode 240, the Galaxy have been beating the teams they are “supposed” to beat, and Austin FC may fit that bill currently.
The Galaxy’s recent uptick isn’t just due to an easy portion of the schedule, they’ve also gotten healthy in the summer months. No player has had a larger impact on the team’s ability to generate goals than Marco Reus, who was in and out of the lineup back in the spring. His more consistent availability has done wonders for this team, at least relative to where they were at the end of May. The former Dortmund star leads the team in goals (5) and assists (7).
DP winger Joseph Paintsil has also regained match fitness after being in a similar spot to Reus early in the season. He’s starting to find his goal scoring form again, with three goals and an assist in his 13 starts. Opposite him on the right wing is Gabriel Pec, who is still a far cry from his 2024 MVP candidate form with just three goals and three assists, but has been finding space for shot attempts more frequently with the presence of Reus and Paintsil. Of course there’s Fagundez, who has been an iron man of sorts for the Galaxy this year as the player with the most league appearances. Interestingly, he’s got four goals but no assists, which is what he was known for at his peak in Austin back in 2022.
At the back, things are still as bad as ever for LA. They’re fourth worst in MLS in xGA and have conceded the most goals of any team in the league. They’re bottom half in interceptions, successful tackles, clearances and possession won in the final third. They will give up high quality chances to any opponent throughout the course of 90 minutes
Austin FC Recent Form
Saturday’s scoreless home draw against New England Revolution wasn’t a “bad” game, but it was frustrating at best for both the team and the Verde and Black faithful. Still plagued by the inability to finish clear chances, Austin FC dropped points at home for the seventh time in 11 games this season.
With Brandon Vazquez absent due to his knee injury ATX played more direct and vertical, which led to a more exciting brand of offense up until the point of actually scoring goals. Myrto Uzuni continued to bewilder everyone with his inability to find the back of the net to the point where the player deactivated his social media accounts, apparently due to negative comments from fans. A quick aside to say if you do this, fuck you.
To put our typical North End positivity on the situation, consider this. The team was coming off a midweek match against San Jose that required 120 minutes and a penalty shootout. Because of this Austin FC rotated some key positions and players against the Revs, creating some new personnel combinations that haven’t had a ton of game action together. The fact they were able to generate five “big chances” per Opta was a promising result when you consider the lack of creation against the Quakes and even going back to the toothless loss against Seattle Sounders in late June.
We should see the first choice options who were rotated Saturday, like Owen Wolff, Guilherme Biro and Oleksandr Svatok, get back into the starting unit for this one. Fans are also clamoring for a start from Robert Taylor, who was the subject of fan discussion after the weekend due to comments from head coach Nico Estévez about players needing to “deserve to start.” We’ll see if Taylor has earned that right in Nico’s eyes late on Wednesday evening.
This game is as important as ever for Austin FC. This is the final fixture for the club until the team hosts the MLS All-Star game and surrounding festivities next week. A loss would likely drop the Verde and Black below the wild card line, while a win could see them climb as high as 7th place before the break.
With some fans declaring the season “over” or saying they just want to “focus on the US Open Cup,” both of which I vehemently disagree with (we can “walk and chew gum at the same time,” no?), there’s no better time to pick up your first ever win at Dignity Health Sports Park than Wednesday night.
Injury Report
ATX:
Brandon Vazquez (Out - Knee)
LAG:
Riqui Puig (Out - Knee)
LA Galaxy Players to Watch
Marco Reus - It might not come as a surpsise to some that the 36-year-old midfielder is dicing up MLS defenses. While the team hasn’t had success this season, Reus is lethal statistically, ranking in the 90th percentile or above in the majority of offensive metrics over the last calendar year. With how pourous the ATX midfield has been at times in 2025, he’s likely going to cause fans of the Verde and Black to clench multiple times during this one.
Joseph Paintsil - While I consider Pec to be the more talented of the two DP wingers, Paintsil is the one with the clear chip on his shoulder coming into this match. He had to be pulled off the field after the match in April at Q2 Stadium, clashing first with Austin players before a lengthy shouting match with ATX fans near the visitors tunnel. He’ll be on his customary left side on Wednesday night, Mikkel Desler will have his work cut out for him.
Austin FC Keys to the Game
Keep Shooting - Look, nobody really believes this team can score consistently at the moment. After a two game stretch to begin the month of June that saw multiple ATX goals in both matches, Austin FC has reverted back to their previously displayed desolate offensive performance. Saturday’s five big chances do give me hope that the stylistic change forced upon them by the Vazquez injury can ignite a flurry of goals in the upcoming stretch of games against poor teams. That won’t happen if they continue to be woefully bad in front of net. But you can’t score goals without taking shots, so eyes forward. Keep shooting, Myrto and Co. They’re going to fall at some point and the Galaxy defense will give you multiple chances to convert.
Predictions
ZG - 2-1 Austin FC
E - 0-2 LA Galaxy
