Soccer <\/p>\n
The Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire roadshow heads up to the City of Angels, home of what\u2019s become the best rivalry in MLS over the past seven years: El Tr\u00e1fico (9 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n This has always been a \u201cthrow the records away\u201d type of affair, which is especially good news for defending MLS Cup champions LA Galaxy<\/a>. The hosts in this one, they set a record last weekend by going 12 games without a win to start a season, which is now 13 after a late, heartbreaking 3-2 loss<\/a> at Philadelphia<\/a> midweek.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, LAFC<\/a> have turned things around a bit over the past month after a rough start of their own, but have yet to really kick it into fifth gear. Maybe Wednesday\u2019s commanding win<\/a> over Seattle<\/a> is the switch being flipped?<\/p>\n Huge rivals. Dire straits. A whiff of desperation. What more could you want?<\/p>\n Editor’s note:<\/strong> Matchday 14 features a Sunday Night Soccer doubleheader, starting with Inter Miami CF<\/a> hosting Orlando City SC<\/a> (7 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n LA Galaxy<\/strong><\/p>\n LAFC<\/strong><\/p>\n Remember when they started the year by hanging a banner celebrating their record sixth MLS Cup triumph? Seems like a distant memory.<\/p>\n The Galaxy are the most successful team in MLS history, and they were supposed to use last year\u2019s win to build back toward the glory days of the early 2010s, meaning there was supposed to be some amount of progress this season. Sure, Puig would be out at least until mid-summer, but that meant it was a chance for the collective to do the heavy lifting.<\/p>\n None of it has worked. This hasn\u2019t been one step back to take two steps forward. This has been one step back to “oh my god, we\u2019ve fallen off a cliff.”<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just the record, which, you know, is historically bad. It\u2019s that the underlying numbers say the record is a 100% fair representation of how this team has played \u2013 both American Soccer Analysis (going back to 2013) and FBRef (going back to 2018) have this year\u2019s Galaxy as the worst MLS team in their respective databases. It has been almost unimaginably bad.<\/p>\n A win over the noisy neighbors would give the fans at least a moment\u2019s respite from their misery.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n LAFC haven\u2019t really bullied anyone yet this year, which is surprising, because even on their worst days over the past few years, they struck hard, struck fast and showed no mercy. And their standard of success from Day 1 can be matched by few teams in the league\u2019s history.<\/p>\n What does that look like? Well, since Steve Cherundolo became head coach in 2022 it\u2019s:<\/p>\n They are arguably the best MLS team of the half-decade.<\/p>\n But since hoisting that Open Cup trophy last September, things haven\u2019t been great. First they were handled by the Seattle Sounders<\/a> in last year\u2019s playoffs, then they got off to a slow start in the league, and then they got smushed by Messi<\/a> & Friends in the second leg of the CCC quarterfinals. Along the way, Cherundolo announced he’s departing the club<\/a> after the season.<\/p>\n A dominant, signature win in the local derby sure would be a nice way to start climbing back to the mountaintop.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n LAFC: Mirror mirror on the wall, which center forward gets the call?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jeremy Ebobisse<\/a> is the most consistent goal threat. Nathan Ordaz<\/a> is the snuggest fit systematically, uber mobile, industrious and impactful on both sides of the ball. Olivier Giroud<\/a> is Olivier Giroud, even if the production hasn\u2019t so far matched the pedigree.<\/p>\n Ebobisse got the call midweek\u2026 and scored a banger. Ordaz came off the bench against Seattle and maybe should have had a one-shoe assist (the goal was called offside). Giroud was inches away from his first open-play goal in MLS.<\/p>\n So who does Steve Cherundolo go with? It feels like rotation is the name of the game, and that might work just fine for LAFC as long as Denis Bouanga is the fulcrum around which everything revolves.<\/p>\n LA Galaxy: Are we looking at a historically bad season?<\/strong><\/p>\n Let\u2019s zoom out on the Galaxy\u2019s last three matches, all losses\u2026<\/p>\n Lose without allowing a shot<\/a> (and lose both remaining DPs to injury). Lose 7-0<\/a> in a rematch of the last game you won (incredibly, MLS Cup!!!). Lose on a last-second goal<\/a> (right before El Tr\u00e1fico to stay winless in 13).<\/p>\n I am a cynical optimist, which is to say I hope for the best but show no signs of surprise when the worst happens. The worst \u2013 defending champs last in the Shield race, playoff chances three of six feet in the ground after a third of a season \u2013 is fully in focus for this Galaxy group.<\/p>\n How bad could it get? Well, let\u2019s think historically, sticking to the post-shootout era (2000 on) and excluding a truncated 2020 season:<\/p>\n For reference, the Galaxy are currently on pace for 7.84 points. Now, do I think that\u2019ll happen? No, LA will win at least one game. Could they end up among this group of historically bad teams? The cynical optimist in me says, \u201cHopefully not, for their sake, but I wouldn\u2019t rule out the possibility!\u201d<\/p>\n They\u2019ve got 21 games to escape that fate, starting Sunday against their biggest rivals.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n To be fair to head coach Greg Vanney, he\u2019s had to shuttle guys in and out of the lineup all year. That includes Reus, Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil<\/a> (those DP wingers mentioned above), some goalkeeper musical chairs, and backline leaders Maya Yoshida<\/a> and Miki Yamane<\/a>. There\u2019s no clear replacement for Delgado in central midfield, either.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to be a team that wins with chemistry and cohesion when that\u2019s been the story of your first three months. It’s meant they\u2019ve sat in a low block pretty often, which hasn\u2019t gone great:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2014 Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 3, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n But then when they come upfield with the ball \u2013 which is really what Vanney wants from his side; he\u2019s always been a possession-oriented coach \u2013 they\u2019ve had\u2026 well, they\u2019ve had some real problems:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Galaxy are dead as soon as Garces lets da Costa turn. pic.twitter.com\/vY6mW7LIUQ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) April 28, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n All of this culminated in last weekend\u2019s 7-0 loss<\/a> at the New York Red Bulls<\/a> in a rematch of last year\u2019s MLS Cup. It was a big game, and an absolutely massive no-show, one that Vanney finished by getting his squad in a circle and reading them the riot act<\/a> after the final whistle. Don\u2019t see that very often!<\/p>\n Which is to say things are exactly as bad as they look. LA had probably their best attacking performance of the year against Portland<\/a> a few weeks back, but you can see in the clip directly above that it didn\u2019t lead to a good outcome, and it was probably their worst defensive performance before the trip to RBNY. In between they managed to lose a game in which they didn\u2019t allow a single shot<\/a>. And on Wednesday, they took a 2-0 lead\u2026 then utterly collapsed.<\/p>\n So there is absolutely nothing that is off the table here. The Galaxy\u2019s form tilts things one way; their desperation tilts them another; LAFC\u2019s counterattacking bent sends things in a third direction; the nature of El Tr\u00e1fico, and rivalries in general, opens up a fourth possible path.<\/p>\n Really, I have no idea what we\u2019re going to see. Which is the appeal of El Tr\u00e1fico in the first place, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n You\u2019ve heard me say this before: back in the day, LAFC were the preeminent possession team in MLS. They didn\u2019t just win games; they dominated them by using the ball to create aesthetically pleasing passing sequences that, with shocking regularity, ended with them finding a gap to run through or a soft spot to run to. And once they were in those gaps or soft spots, goals followed.<\/p>\n Under Cherundolo, the aesthetically pleasing passing sequences were pared down as they became a more direct and pragmatic team. Over the past two years that has veered toward much<\/em> more direct and \u201cpragmatic to the point that it isn\u2019t actually pragmatic anymore, it\u2019s just predictable.\u201d Are you comfortable with the idea of sacrificing both possession and field position for space to counter into? Okay, sure. That\u2019s one thing.<\/p>\n It\u2019s quite another thing to shift into that mode to the virtual exclusion of all other phases of play, which is what LAFC have too often done in big games. That includes their second-leg CCC loss to Miami<\/a>, and last week\u2019s 2-2 draw<\/a> up in Vancouver<\/a>. LAFC blew multi-goal leads in both because they haven’t shown the ability to put their foot on the ball and control games.<\/p>\n Cherundolo knows this and says he’s working to rectify it, so at times LAFC have rediscovered some facility with the ball. That has maybe accounted for some of the early-season choppiness this year, a choppiness exacerbated by that rebuilt midfield. Delgado is a very good player, as are Timothy Tillman<\/a> and Igor Jesus<\/a>. There is not a visionary passer among them, though, which means their transitions from pure possession to full attack can sometimes be laborious, and other times far too linear.<\/p>\n So at times it really feels like it\u2019s Bouanga on the break, set pieces or nothing.<\/p>\n At other times, however, there has been visible progress:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Really excellent patience from LAFC here to draw Houston upfield, then hit the gas.<\/p>\n Using the ball to create what is essentially a transition opportunity via possession… it’s a beautiful thing. pic.twitter.com\/GqqkUujTfY<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2014 Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) May 4, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n Miami, Vancouver and Columbus<\/a> would all be thrilled to have that in their highlight reel. And look, last weekend the Galaxy made the Red Bulls look like 1970 Brazil, so there will probably be a few chances for Cherundolo\u2019s men to knock some passes around in the final third.<\/p>\n And the defense remains solid, though a bit more error-prone than in past seasons. The biggest reason for that is personnel, as Jes\u00fas Murillo spent most of last season playing at something close to a Best XI clip, and replacing him this year has not been easy. Neither Eddie Segura<\/a> nor Marlon<\/a> have really grabbed the job with both hands, while goalkeeper Hugo Lloris<\/a> has looked like a guy who\u2019s maybe approaching the end of the line.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n They scrapped the 4-4-2 diamond after last week\u2019s disastrous result at RBNY. Gonna guess it\u2019ll be a 4-2-3-1 again, though Vanney will have to get creative with the wingers depending on Pec and Paintsil’s readiness.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n I thought the center forward job officially belonged to young Nathan Ordaz, but veteran Jeremy Ebobisse made quite a statement on Wednesday. Both, of course, have outperformed Olivier Giroud. Ebobisse and Giroud are more classic target forwards than the type of mobile No. 9 Cherundolo has traditionally preferred, which is what Ordaz is.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
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LA Galaxy<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
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LAFC<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
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