Tag: LA Galaxy

L.A. Galaxy vs. San Jose Earthquakes, live stream, channel, time, lineups, how to watch MLS

How to watch the California clash between the #LAGalaxy & the #Earthquakes.

The California Clasico is coming to Major League Soccer this weekend.

On Sunday, the San Jose Earthquakes head down to face the Los Angeles Galaxy for a 6:30 p.m. PT (9:30 p.m. ET) MLS kickoff.

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Surprisingly out of form, the Galaxy are looking to crawl out of the basement of the Western Conference as they sit in 13th place with just six points. But L.A. is fresh off a 3-1 win over the Seattle Sounders in a midweek cup clash.

On the flip side, San Jose is the their best form at this point of the season with 18 points, good for a fourth-place position. The Earthquakes’ attacking approach is fun, but they’ve allowed 14 goals (11 on the road), which is the most of any team in the top seven.

Ahead of a pivotal matchup for both teams, here is everything you need to know to stream the action:

L.A. Galaxy vs. San Jose Earthquakes

  • When: Sunday, May 14
  • Time: 6:30 p.m. PT
  • Location: Dignity Health Sports Park (Los Angeles)
  • Watch: Apple TV

Major League Soccer Starting Lineups

Galaxy possible starting lineup:
Bond; Calegari, Caceres, Coulibaly, Aude; Alvarez, Delgado, Puig, Edwards; Chicharito, Judd

Earthquakes possible starting lineup:
Marcinkowski; Marie, Mensah, Beason, Trauco; Yueill, Gruezo, Monteiro; Espinoza, Ebobisse, Cowell

[afflinkbutton text=”Watch San Jose Earthquakes at LA Galaxy” link=”https://apple.co/42ztpoN”]

Major League Soccer Odds and betting lines

Premier League odds courtesy of Tipico Sportsbook. Odds were last updated Friday at 4:00 p.m. ET.

L.A. Galaxy (-125) vs. San Jose Earthquakes (+280)

Draw: (+260)

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Chicharito is sick of his Galaxy teammates not facing the media

After fans voiced their discontent, the striker could only say “they’re right”

After another dismal defeat for the LA Galaxy, Javier “Chicharito” Hernández hit out at teammates who weren’t doing what he was doing at the time: facing the press.

The Galaxy fell 3-1 at home to the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night, dropping their record to 1W-6L-3D as they sit 13th out of 14 teams in the MLS Western Conference.

Chicharito was at the podium after the match at Dignity Health Sports Park and he didn’t hold back his opinion that one of his teammates should have been there instead.

“We need so many things to change starting from, I believe that more people need to come [speak to the media] to face things,” the Mexican forward said. “We’re the same people speaking, always. That’s a thing that needs to change too, you know? We always speak in here, the same guys. So I think that should change in the beginning, and then on the training ground other stuff needs to change.”

One of the league’s most storied franchises is in the midst of one of their worst ever runs, with fan protests rampant in 2023. After another subpar performance on home ground saw his side greeted with more fan anger, Chicharito could only say that he agreed with their point of view.

“We’re LA Galaxy, man. When I say we need to behave and understand that – they’re giving you the chance to be the greatest,” Hernandez said. “You’re in the greatest f—ing organization in the USA. At the least, you give everything. And if teams are better than us, I can take that, I can take those losses. I can take that.

“When El Tráfico happened we were way better. We beat ourselves. We were the better team and we lost. I take those ones. These ones, at home? Against a [conference] rival? Man, no. Not good enough. Not good enough. And yeah, the fans were right this time. They’re right.”

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Galaxy misery continues as LAFC fans, players run riot at Dignity Health Sports Park

In a season full of lows, this one had to sting the most for the Galaxy

Dignity Health Sports Park, the home of the LA Galaxy, looked and sounded like it got a new tenant on Sunday: the Galaxy’s crosstown rivals LAFC.

LAFC fans took over swaths of their rival’s stadium in El Tráfico, a game that fully displayed the gulf between the two teams on and off the pitch.

For the first time in its history LAFC won a game at its rival’s home ground, as a Carlos Vela double helped the visitors to a 3-2 win.

For LAFC, the result continued an undefeated start to the MLS season that has also seen the club reach the CONCACAF Champions League semifinal.

Conversely, the Galaxy are still looking for their first win and continue to be roiled by fan protests against president Chris Klein and technical director Jovan Kirovski.

That discontent was on display high above the stadium on Sunday.

Inside the stadium, the upper sections were successfully commandeered by huge numbers of away fans.

“It’s definitely a gift for the fans,” said LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo after the game. “3252 [LAFC’s supporters group] and the rest of our community, family at LAFC has done such amazing work over the first five seasons, and this has been a long time coming.”

In a season full of lows, this one had to sting the most for the Galaxy.

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Please enjoy this spectacularly dumb red card from Martin Caceres

It’s important to remember that video reviews are for referees, not for players

In the pantheon of dumb red cards, the second yellow for taking one’s jersey off after scoring is usually top of the list.

But on Saturday night, LA Galaxy defender Martin Cáceres introduced a new, possibly even dumber category: the second yellow for interfering with a referee during a VAR review.

It’s important to remember that video reviews are for referees, not for players. The referee, not the player, is called over to the monitor to review a play. Players don’t get to watch the replay and tell the referee what they think. The video control room is staffed with referees, not with players.

Cáceres is a veteran, and probably knew all of this. And yet, the Uruguayan defender still managed to earn one of the all-time dumbest (and funniest) red cards in MLS history in a 3-0 away defeat to the Houston Dynamo.

With LA down 1-0 in the second half, referee Alex Chilowicz was called over to the monitor to check out a potential penalty against the Galaxy.

Cáceres, who, it should be emphasized, has 116 caps for Uruguay and has featured in four World Cups, decided that Chilowicz needed a little help.

As it turned out, Chilowicz did not need a little help.

The Galaxy went down a man and two goals after the penalty was awarded and Houston converted. From there it was simply damage control for the visitors, who also saw Douglas Costa sent off in stoppage time for slamming Brooklyn Raines to the turf with the ball out of play.

Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney, as you might imagine, was not enthused with the unforced errors from two of his most experienced players.

“Yeah, it’s unacceptable. They know it’s unacceptable,” Vanney said in his post-game press conference. “They apologized to the group, but it’s not acceptable. It can’t happen. These guys are veterans in our team. They’re supposed to be leaders in our team. They need to set examples. They need to, again, control their emotions, and we need them available always, and they understand that, and it’s not acceptable.”

Vanney is right to be upset but for the neutrals, discovering a new category of dumb red card is nothing short of a resounding success.

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A furious Greg Vanney helpfully demonstrates the handball rule

Vanney had some choice words about the referee’s interpretation of a silhouette

Does anybody actually know what the handball rules are?

Sure, the rules exist, and are written down in an official capacity. But there always seems to be debate anyway.

Case in point: Saturday night’s game between the LA Galaxy and the Seattle Sounders.

Seattle took a two-goal lead in the first half, but the Galaxy pulled one back in the second half and were putting on tons of pressure late as they pressed for an equalizer.

As the game entered its final minutes, Mark Delgado received the ball on the side of Seattle’s box and put in a cross. With his arms behind his back but his elbows extended out, Sounders defender Nouhou blocked the cross with his elbow in the box.

The Galaxy furiously protested but no handball was called, and there was no VAR review either.

The game ended in a 2-1 Seattle win.

Vanney was less then enthused at his post-game press conference, standing up to demonstrate Nouhou’s arm positioning while explaining why, in his opinion, the Galaxy were robbed of a penalty.

“This is in the silhouette,” Vanney said with his arms at his side.

“This is not in the silhouette, this is a handball,” he said, arms on his hips as he approximated (and exaggerated) Nouhou’s arm position.

“Three games in a row, these guys don’t know what handball is. It’s getting to be obscene,” Vanney said. “Honestly, it’s ridiculous. And the game is about margins. They have VAR. They’re the only entity in the entire game that gets a ‘redo.’ None of us else get a redo. They get a redo. And it’s three times they can’t get it right. That’s their job. That’s their job.”

The “silhouette” that Vanney referenced is part of a 2019 update to the handball rules from IFAB (International Football Association Board), which stated that a handball would be awarded if “the ball touches a player’s hand/arm which has made their silhouette unnaturally bigger.”

ESPN rules expert Dale Johnson added in a 2020 thread on Twitter:

It’s all about the silhouette, the area of the body. If the arms are not within the silhouette, no matter what movement you are making, they are considered to be making the body “unnaturally bigger”. Your natural shape does not have your arms away from the body.

Did Vanney have a point? That may depend on who you ask. What isn’t up for debate, though, is the Galaxy are near the bottom of the Western Conference table in the early part of 2023, still looking for their first win after five games.

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The LA Galaxy would prefer Chicharito not offer injury updates on Twitch

The Galaxy striker got out ahead of his club in offering a timeline on his hamstring injury

LA Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney couldn’t contain his annoyance after star forward Javier “Chicharito” Hernández spilled the beans on his injury status during a live stream on Twitch.

The Mexican forward has been suffering from a hamstring injury and declared himself unavailable for Saturday’s game against FC Dallas.

“Am I going to play in Dallas? No, I’m still recovering from my injury. I’m going to be between two to five more weeks out because we have to be very careful with the recovery to avoid relapses,” Chicharito said.

At a press conference ahead of the game in Texas, Vanney admitted that Chicharito’s report on Twitch wasn’t exactly the way he’d prefer his team’s injury news to be revealed.

“I think at the end of the day, players sometimes get out in front of it and want to let fans and other people know how they’re doing,” Vanney said. “But ultimately there is a way and a time and a place to give that, because it’s also about the opposition, game management, game prep, all those kinds of things.

“It’s not earth shattering in this situation, but in different circumstances these things could be very important information that you give to the other team or the opposition that you don’t necessarily want to be doing.”

Vanney also pushed back against his striker’s assessment that he could be out for more than a month, saying he’s hopeful the timeline could be as little as 10 days.

“With Javier, he’s in the treatment phase, then he’s gotta go through return-to-play [protocol],” Vanney said. “I don’t know exactly … 2-5 weeks is a long range. Our anticipation with the grade 1 hamstring strain is 10 days to a couple of weeks.”

Chicharito scored 18 goals in 32 regular season games for the Galaxy in 2022. The club will make its season debut against FC Dallas after last week’s opener against LAFC at the Rose Bowl was postponed due to severe weather.

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LA Galaxy-LAFC match at Rose Bowl postponed due to severe weather

The game was set to be the marquee event on MLS opening weekend

Saturday’s special edition of El Tráfico at the Rose Bowl has been postponed due to inclement weather.

The rivalry match between the LA Galaxy and Los Angeles FC was set to break the MLS single-game attendance record of 73,019, with more than 70,000 tickets already sold.

But with heavy rain falling and the chance of lightning and flooding, the match had to be postponed.

“Due to safety considerations resulting from inclement weather and forecasted thunderstorms in the Los Angeles area, Major League Soccer, the LA Galaxy and LAFC today announced that the 2023 MLS regular season match scheduled for this Saturday, Feb. 25 between the LA Galaxy and LAFC at the Rose Bowl Stadium will be postponed to a later date,” MLS announced. 

The teams would later say the match had been moved to July 4.

The game was set to be the highlight of MLS opening weekend as the 2023 season kicks off on Saturday. LAFC is the reigning MLS Cup and Supporters’ Shield winner, while the LA Galaxy would be returning to the stadium they called home for their first six years in MLS.

The rivals have two other games already on the calendar: April 16 at Dignity Heath Sports Park and on September 16 at BMO Stadium.

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Julian Araujo’s odyssey of a transfer to Barcelona is complete…sort of

Araujo is off to Barca, but some questions remain unresolved

Julián Araujo’s move to Barcelona required taking the scenic route, but he finally got to where he was going.

The Mexico defender’s transfer from the LA Galaxy to Barca has finally reached an end point, with the MLS side announcing Friday that the 21-year-old is in fact heading to Cataluña.

“Julián joining FC Barcelona is a great story of a young kid from Southern California coming into the LA Galaxy academy, through LA Galaxy II and excelling with the first team,” said Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney. “We wish Julián all the best in the next phase of his career.”

Per Barca, Araujo will join their B team, Barcelona Atlétic, after signing a contract that runs through June 2026.

Araujo’s path to this point is a long one. Rumors connected him to a European move, or possibly to Club América, but as deadline day approached in January, the situation came into view. Barcelona, having sold Héctor Bellerín to Sporting CP on deadline day, was now short-handed at the position and had the California native in their sights.

The clubs agreed to a reported $4 million deal for Araujo, but amid the chaos of the transfer window closing, a delay Barca has blamed on a computer error saw the relevant paperwork submitted 18 seconds past the deadline.

Barcelona appealed unsuccessfully to FIFA, and then said they would approach the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the hopes that the move could go through anyway.

“We wanted him for the second team. We want him and we’ll look for a solution, via the Court of Arbitration for Sport or he can play in another team for five months and then join us,” said Barca director of football Mateu Alemany.

In the meantime, Vanney told the Los Angeles Daily News that Araujo was “in limbo,” adding that the Galaxy hadn’t seen a final ruling or any documentation informing them as to whether he was off to Barcelona, or if he could still play for them in the meantime.

Questions still unanswered

It’s not entirely clear what changed to pave the way for Friday’s announcement from the clubs. MLSsoccer.com reported that the CAS appeal was denied, which would leave Araujo with no path to be registered by Barca this season.

However, by completing the transfer of his playing rights anyway, the possibility of Araujo playing for the Galaxy until this summer would, at the very least, require the clubs to reach a loan agreement for an MLS return.

Per LAG Confidential, the Galaxy have said that Araujo couldn’t even participate in preseason work with them during the ordeal, but even the reasons behind that are currently unclear. Did Barcelona have Araujo’s International Transfer Certificate already? Or were the Galaxy simply complying with a request from Barcelona while the appeals worked out?

It is possible that Araujo’s transfer is truly done and dusted, but that Barca simply won’t be able to register him until the next transfer window opens on July 3. There’s nothing preventing him from signing his contract, training with Barcelona, being paid, and just not playing in any official games for the Spanish giants or their B team.

However, it’s obviously not ideal for a player at Araujo’s age to just sit out five months of matches when completely healthy. Barcelona’s acknowledgement that the transfer is done would instead point to the club bringing him in to train while sorting out a place that they can loan him to until the summer. The European transfer window may be closed, but that doesn’t prevent teams there from loaning or transferring players away, and there are countries with open transfer windows all over the world.

Until Barca figures out what their solution is, though, Araujo’s status being “in limbo” remains the case. With the contract being signed, the circumstances have certainly changed, but at the moment at least, he’s still a man without a club that he can legally take the field for until July.

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LAFC beat LA Galaxy 3-2, El Trafico remains the best thing in U.S. men’s soccer

The LA rivalry never, ever fails to deliver

There’s nothing quite like Major League Soccer, and within MLS there’s nothing even remotely like El Tráfico.

LAFC and the LA Galaxy always deliver utterly wild games, and their Western Conference playoff clash was right up there with the best of them. A back-and-forth match saw LAFC — who took the lead three different times — pick up a stoppage-time winner from Cristian Arango to emerge 3-2 victors.

The pre-game story was about who wasn’t there. Gareth Bale was left out entirely for LAFC, while Juventus legend Giorgio Chiellini ended up playing roughly three minutes as a last-gasp substitute.

This being El Tráfico, though, something bonkers was sure to come along to change the subject. Fortunately, Riqui Puig delivered just 12 minutes in, in the strangest fashion. Puig burst into the LAFC box and went down under very modest contact. He wasn’t going to get a call, and Jesús Murillo was pretty displeased with the former Barcelona midfielder’s pursuit of a penalty.

Murillo offered some harsh words. Puig? A headbutt…or at least an attempt at a headbutt? Fox Sports 1 never got a truly conclusive angle of Puig at least  making a solid attempt at shutting Murillo up with his forehead.

Referee Allen Chapman had a huge choice to make, and opted to ignore the whole “that’s a headbutt” side of things, giving Puig a yellow card and the Galaxy a huge break.

With the game properly amped up in the overheated tradition of this particular rivalry, it was time for goals. Despite spending much of the early exchanges fending off long spells of Galaxy possession, LAFC broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute. It was their best sequence of the half by far, as LAFC connected over a dozen passes before Carlos Vela produced a splendid through ball. Slashing between the center backs, Dénis Bouanga had no trouble firing past Jonathan Bond.

Still, the Galaxy were looking confident, and got level through their rivalry ace Samuel Grandsir. The French winger has taken plenty of flack from Galaxy fans for a lack of production, and for good reason. Against anyone other than LAFC in 2022, he has a meager two goals and three assists.

Against their biggest rivals, though? Grandsir entered the match with one goals and four assists in three total meetings this year, and picked up another goal by smashing home after Eddie Segura’s poor clearance attempt fell to him.

The tempo seemed to drain out of the game at halftime, though it was probably just El Tráfico taking a break before coming back for the big finish. Things stayed weird, though, especially when Vela signaled for a substitution tracking back from a corner kick. Once Steve Cherundolo moved to bring Kwadwo Opoku on for him, there was confusion as the captain seemed to want to stay in, and then very reluctantly trudged off.

Normally that would be a massive storyline, but with what was to come, it will likely end up forgotten. First, LAFC took the lead through Bouanga, who tapped in at the back post after Ryan Hollingshead’s low cross was glanced to him by Opoku’s lunging touch.

The Galaxy needed a goal desperately, but in Dejan Joveljić they had the best player for the situation. Already an MLS record holder thanks to his eight goals as a substitute in 2022, it took the Serbian striker just 86 seconds after subbing on to tie things up.

Victor Vazquez tried to slip Chicharito in, and Joveljić actually appeared to intercept the pass. However, instead of helping LAFC, he just sized up his angle and curled a tremendous shot past Maxime Crepeau to tie things up in the 85th minute.

But this is El Tráfico, and if there’s time for something to be wild, it’ll be wild. LAFC won a corner kick three minutes into stoppage time, and Kellyn Acosta’s back-post service found Bouanga unmarked at the back post. Bouanga tried to sneak in a shot to give himself a hat trick, and though Bond managed to react in time to keep it out, he couldn’t stop Arango from stabbing the rebound home, sending Banc of California Stadium into bedlam.

Watch all the goals from LAFC’s El Tráfico win

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LA Galaxy solve Nashville SC puzzle, advance to face LAFC in MLS playoffs

Goals called back couldn’t stop the Galaxy from a confident win

Despite finding themselves in a game that suited Nashville SC, the LA Galaxy have their first playoff win in three years.

A Galaxy side that has often struggled to cope when things get tough were kept to just seven shot attempts at home by Nashville, but showed real resolve to get a 1-0 playoff victory. The Western Conference’s fourth seed, managing a tactical battle with possession and patience, advanced thanks to just the second professional goal of defender Julián Araujo’s career.

Referee Armando Villarreal was a major factor, as he had to chalk off goals for both sides. First, Randall Leal ripped an eight-yard shot past Jonathan Bond in the 37th minute after Teal Bunbury beat Séga Coulibaly to a header. Villarreal, however, signaled for a foul on Bunbury, who seemed mystified by the decision.

Early in the second half, it was the Galaxy protesting a call. Riqui Puig lead a clinically-run counter, feinting to freeze Walker Zimmerman before slipping Chicharito in for an angled finish over Joe Willis. Chicharito danced in celebration, but VAR spotted some clear contact before the break forward between Julián Araujo and Hany Mukhtar.

After a three-minute check, Villarreal saw the angle he needed, calling the goal back and keeping the game scoreless.

The Galaxy responded with complaints, but also with added energy, and Villarreal had no issues with the next time they put a ball past Willis. Moments after LA had hit the woodwork, Samuel Grandsir and Douglas Costa produced a clever exchange on the right, with Costa crossing for Araujo — making a clever long run from the right flank to the back post — to nod home just his second professional goal.

Puig slashed through the Nashville midfield again only to be denied a highlight-reel goal by Willis, but from there the teams swapped their stereotypical roles: Greg Vanney brought in Derrick Williams to go to a 5-4-1 formation, while Nashville began leaving plenty of numbers forward in hopes of an equalizer.

The Galaxy had to sweat it out in the final moments, with Jacob Shaffelburg firing just wide and Zimmerman nodding the final touch of the game to Mukhtar, only for the ball to bounce just barely out of the German MVP candidate’s reach.

A win for the Galaxy sets up a titanic edition of El Tráfico in the Western Conference semifinal on Thursday, October 20, as they’ll head across the City of Angels to take on LAFC. While the Galaxy have the historical edge in their city derby, their one and only playoff meeting saw LAFC win a 5-3 thriller back in 2019.

Watch the goal that sent the Galaxy through

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