LA Galaxy’s defeat to Portland Timbers was not a reality check said head coach Greg Vanney, but he lamented his side being their own worst enemy in their seventh loss of the season.

The Galaxy were beaten 4-2 at Providence Park last time out, seeing their lead at the summit of the Western Conference table cut to five points by Real Salt Lake following their victory.

While Vanney’s side have already secured their place in the playoffs, the Galaxy head coach was keen to eradicate those recent mistakes during the final five games of the campaign.

"I don't know if it's a reality check. I think everybody understands the challenges of this league and competing on the road, and they're a good team,” Vanney said.

“We create our problems with how we lose the ball, in rushing and forcing attacks and things that need to be allowed. We need to allow ourselves to develop. We did such a good job of that the other night (vs. LAFC) specifically in the second half.

“Tonight, for sure through the first half of the game and some stretches in the second half when we were chasing the game, impatience is sometimes our biggest enemy. That's ourselves undoing ourselves.

“We have to recognise this again as we come to the end of the season and go to the playoffs, because it's these things that hurt ourselves.”

Vancouver, meanwhile, continued their impressive MLS form with a 1-1 draw against Houston Dynamo and have now lost just one of their last 10 league matches.

The Whitecaps also set a new club record of 25 points from their games away from home, leaving them in sixth place in the Western Conference standings.

Ahead of their trip to Dignity Health Sports Park, head coach Vanni Sartini is expecting a tough encounter, but is confident his players can keep their run of form going this weekend.

“I think that against the Galaxy, we need to be pressing in a way that is intelligent because if we put being relentless ahead of being organised, they can break our press and kill us,” Sartini said.

“We need to be willing to play a game where they may have more possession than us, but not defending in our final third because we have seen the quality that they have.

“The key for me is to try and have the ball as much as we can because we will be doing something that they hate. Maybe then we can sneak a victory – that would be fantastic.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

LA Galaxy – Joseph Paintsil

Paintsil scored his ninth goal of the season for the Galaxy on Wednesday after Dejan Joveljic (14), Gabriel Pec (12) and Riqui Puig (10) have already reached the 10-goal mark for LA in 2024.

No team in MLS history has had four 10-goal scorers in a single regular season campaign.

Vancouver Whitecaps – Brian White

White came off the bench to score the equalising goal in Vancouver’s draw at Houston on Wednesday.

The goal was White’s fifth as a substitute for the Whitecaps, equalling Pedro Morales for the most in regular season play in club history.

MATCH PREDICTION: LA GALAXY WIN

The Galaxy won each of their first seven home matches against Vancouver from 2011 through the end of the 2014 season. Since 2015, however, the Galaxy have just four wins in 12 home matches against Vancouver in all competitions (D3 L5).

However, the hosts have won 11 of their last 12 matches at Dignity Health Sports Park (D1), including the last nine in a row. The Galaxy have lost only one of its last 23 league matches in Carson, dating back to June 2023.

But Vancouver are unbeaten in seven straight away matches in all competitions (W4 D3) dating back to the start of July, the longest road unbeaten run since the club joined MLS in 2011. The Whitecaps have allowed multiple goals in only one of those seven matches.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

LA Galaxy – 46.9%

Draw – 26.4%

Vancouver Whitecaps – 26.7%

Greg Vanney hit out at a "purposeless" first-half display from his LA Galaxy side after their 2-0 loss to FC Dallas.

The Galaxy, who are third in the Western Conference, have now lost two of their last three games following that defeat to Dallas last time out.

They host the Colorado Rapids, who are one place and five points behind them in the West, next.

And Vanney wants a more aggressive performance.

"We were purposeless in the first half," Vanney said after the Dallas defeat, as reported by The Galactic Tribune.

"It's like we were going to win the game putting together ten thousand passes and going nowhere and that is what we said at half time.

"We were down 2-0 because we deserved to be down 2-0. We had three shots in the first half, all of them from 25 yards away.

"It just comes down to the overall aggressiveness of our group."

Wingers Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil could not wield their usual influence on proceedings in the first half against Dallas, though Vanney believes the Galaxy stumbled on a solution after the break.

He added: "In the second half, we were able to get [Pec and Paintsil] better looks.

"One-on-one situations or getting them on the run so they're attacking aggressively, and then they have an impact on the game. We've got to do more of that. I'm not interested in being a possession team for the sake of passing the ball around.

"We need to use possession to put the opposition on their heels to score goals to bury them and make them feel like we're relentlessly coming at them, not so they can set up and be comfortable and turn us over and go the other way."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

LA Galaxy - Gabriel Pec

Pec has been involved in a goal in nine straight home matches (8 goals, 6 assists), equalling the longest single-season streak in Galaxy history (Landon Donovan in 2005, Robbie Keane in 2012).

Keane had a streak of 10 straight home matches with a goal contribution spanning the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

Colorado Rapids - Jonathan Lewis

Lewis has scored four goals in nine career matches against the Galaxy while not scoring more than twice against any other opponent.

All four of those goals were scored at Dignity Health Sports Park, including one in Colorado's 3-1 win at the Galaxy last May.

MATCH PREDICTION: LA GALAXY WIN

Colorado have lost only one of their last seven matches (W5 D1) conceding three goals in that lone defeat (at Los Angeles FC) and conceding a total of four goals in the other six games, not allowing more than one in any of them.

The Galaxy have won seven of their last nine home matches (D1 L1) with the only loss in that time coming at the Rose Bowl against LAFC. LA have not lost at Dignity Health Sports Park since a 4-1 defeat to Dallas last October, avoiding defeat in 10 straight matches in Carson (W7 D3) since.

Colorado, however, have won seven of their last 11 matches against the Galaxy (D3 L1) dating back to 2018. The Rapids had won six of their previous 24 meetings with the Galaxy in all competitions dating back to April 2009.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

LA Galaxy - 53.7%

Colorado Rapids - 22.6%

Draw - 23.8%

LA Galaxy coach Greg Vanney is satisfied with where his team are at in their development, with the next step for him being better game management.

The Galaxy beat the San Jose Earthquakes 4-3 last time out, and they are top of the Western Conference with 18 points from nine games.

Next up is a trip to Austin FC, who have won three of their last four MLS fixtures.

“We want to build some momentum and keep looking at things we can keep improving,” said Vanney.

“Austin are a team that are improving, they’ve figured out a few things with their group.

“All these games on the road are difficult, we’ve got to keep taking steps forward, learning from each of these games, things we can carry on into the next game and be a little better. I’m happy with where we’re at, for sure, and the process continues.”

The Galaxy raced into a 3-0 lead against the ‘Quakes, though Vanney was disappointed with how his side failed to maintain control.

He said: “At 3-0 with an opportunity to see it off into half-time, they score a goal that helps them get back into it, so I think game management is an important piece of that.

“Again, I think inside of that, is choosing our moments when we can really force the opposition to defend in numbers in their half of the field, burn their spirit a bit or really force them to work to get the ball back so they don’t really see a great way back into the game. Sometimes we rush attacks and the game starts to open up – we need to make sure the game stays controlled because we have everything to gain from that scenario.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Austin FC – Emiliano Rigoni

Rigoni scored his first goal of the season last time out, netting in Austin’s 1-0 win over the Houston Dynamo. Fourteen different Austin FC players have been involved in at least one goal this year, tied with Sporting Kansas City for most in MLS in 2024.

LA Galaxy – Joseph Paintsil

Paintsil has a goal and an assist in each of the Galaxy’s last two matches. The last player to do so in three straight MLS matches was Zlatan Ibrahimovic, also for the Galaxy, in September 2019.

MATCH PREDICTION: AUSTIN FC WIN

The Galaxy have won four of their last five matches, including the last two in a row, following a 4—3 win over San Jose on Sunday. However, they have not won three in a row in all competitions since a four-match run in August-September 2020.

Austin, on the other hand, have won three of its last four matches, including their last two at home. Austin’s only three-match home winning streak since the start of the 2022 season came in June-July 2023.

The Galaxy have lost only one of their six matches against Austin FC (W4 D1 L1), but just one of their four wins over the Verde has come in Austin (W1 D1 L1).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Austin FC – 51.2%

LA Galaxy – 23.3%

Draw – 25.5%