{"id":942877,"date":"2026-07-18T07:32:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T07:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/942877\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T07:32:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T07:32:29","slug":"match-report-galaxy-fall-in-return-to-mls-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/942877\/","title":{"rendered":"Match Report: Galaxy Fall in Return to MLS Action"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>LOS ANGELES (July 17, 2026) \u2013<\/strong> The LA Galaxy (5-6-5,\u00a020\u00a0points)\u00a0fell to LAFC\u00a0(8-5-3,\u00a027\u00a0points)\u00a03-0\u00a0at Dignity Health Sports Park.\u00a0After a tightly contested opening stretch, LAFC broke the deadlock\u00a0in the 26th minute\u00a0and added a second goal late in the first half to take a 2-0 advantage into the break. The visitors then capped the scoring with a third goal in the second\u00a0half.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>LAFC\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Mark Delgado,\u00a026th minute:<\/strong>\u00a0LAFC played a ball into the box from the right wing, and after it deflected off multiple players, Delgado\u00a0scored from close range to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>LAFC\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Denis Bouanga,\u00a045+1st\u00a0minute:<\/strong>\u00a0After a lengthy VAR review, LAFC was awarded a penalty kick, and\u00a0Bouanga\u00a0calmly slotted his attempt\u00a0into\u00a0the bottom-left corner, just beyond the reach of\u00a0Mi\u0107ovi\u0107, to double the\u00a0lead.<\/p>\n<p><strong>LAFC\u00a0\u2013 Son Heung-Min\u00a0(Mark Delgado),\u00a057th minute<\/strong>:\u00a0Son and Delgado linked up on a transition chance, with Son finishing into the bottom-right corner after a return pass to put LAFC ahead 3-0.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>New signing Robert Taylor made his LA Galaxy debut, entering as a substitute in the 65th minute against LAFC.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Defender Emiro Garc\u00e9s returned to action after being sidelined with an injury suffered during the Galaxy\u2019s road match against Sporting Kansas City on May 13.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Defender Juli\u00e1n Aude made his first appearance since April 23,\u00a0where\u00a0he sustained an ankle injury against the Columbus Crew.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Midfielder\u00a0Marco\u00a0Reus\u00a0captained his 10th of 16 league matches\u00a0for the Galaxy this season and has now donned the armband in six consecutive MLS Regular Season contests.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The LA Galaxy will have a quick turnaround as they return to action on Wednesday, July 22, hosting St. Louis CITY SC at Dignity Health Sports Park. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. PT in the Galaxy\u2019s second match in a nine-day span.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Match:<\/strong>\u00a0LA Galaxy vs\u00a0LAFC<\/p>\n<p><strong>Venue<\/strong>: Dignity Health Sports Park; Carson, California<\/p>\n<p>LAFC:\u00a0Mark Delgado,\u00a026\u2019\u00a0<br \/>LAFC:\u00a0Denis Bouanga,\u00a045+1\u2019<\/p>\n<p>LAFC:\u00a0Son Heung-Min\u00a0(Mark Delgado),\u00a057\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<br \/><strong>Lineups<\/strong>\u00a0<br \/><strong>LA Galaxy:<\/strong>\u00a0GK Novak Mi\u0107ovi\u0107; D\u00a0John Nelson\u00a0(Juli\u00e1n Aude, 65\u2019), D\u00a0Justin Haak, D Jakob Glesnes, D Miki Yamane\u00a0(Robert Taylor, 65\u2019); M Edwin Cerrillo\u00a0(Emiro Garc\u00e9s, 65\u2019), M Lucas Sanabria, M Elijah Wynder; F Joseph Paintsil\u00a0(Ruben Ramos Jr.,\u00a081\u2019)\u00a0F\u00a0Erik Thommy\u00a0(Harbor Miller, 22\u2019), F\u00a0Marco Reus\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<br \/>Substitutes not used:\u00a0JT Marcinkowski,\u00a0Maya Yoshida, Isaiah Parente, Chris Rindov<\/p>\n<p><strong>LAFC<\/strong>:\u00a0GK Hugo Lloris; D Yevhen Cheberko\u00a0(Kenneth Nielsen,\u00a075\u2019), D Ryan Porteous, D\u00a0Aaron Long,\u00a0D Ryan Hollingshead;\u00a0M\u00a0Eddie Segura, M\u00a0Mark Delgado, M\u00a0Mathieu Choiniere\u00a0(Jude Terry, 85\u2019);\u00a0F\u00a0Heung Min Son\u00a0(Tyler Boyd, 76), F\u00a0Denis Bouanga\u00a0(Jeremy Ebobisse, 85\u2019), F\u00a0Jacob Shaffelburg\u00a0(David Martinez, 66\u2019)<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<br \/>Substitutes not used:\u00a0Thomas Hasal, Ryan Raposo,\u00a0Sebastian Nava,\u00a0Nkosi Tafari<\/p>\n<p>LA:\u00a0Edwin Cerrillo\u00a0(caution)\u00a034\u2019<\/p>\n<p>LA: Jakob Glesnes (caution) 45+2\u2019<\/p>\n<p>LA: Harbor Miller (caution) 80\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Assistant Referees: Jeremy Hanson, Jose Da Silva<\/p>\n<p>Fourth Official: Elijio Arreguin<\/p>\n<p>All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial<\/p>\n<p><strong>LA Galaxy Postgame Quotes<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>LA Galaxy Head Coach Greg Vanney<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On how the team started and what he liked and\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0like in the match:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They came in and sat in a lower block, obviously recognizing we don&#8217;t really have a 9. Sat quite low. I felt like we were\u00a0forcing things to\u00a0Joe a lot. And the game needed to loosen up. Joe is the one who might be able to create some danger. But if we just keep going to Joe, then they organize to\u00a0defending\u00a0Joe. And we just\u00a0didn&#8217;t\u00a0build\u00a0the speed.\u00a0We&#8217;re\u00a0passing the ball, but we\u00a0weren&#8217;t\u00a0getting anywhere. We\u00a0weren&#8217;t\u00a0creating attacks. We\u00a0didn&#8217;t\u00a0build speed into our attacks. Even in opportunities in some of those interactions, after we passed,\u00a0we&#8217;d\u00a0stand. And after we\u00a0passed, we need to run, run for the depth, change speeds, things like that. Try to turn some of these possessions into\u00a0attack, not just passing the ball around.\u00a0So\u00a0I feel like that was a large section of the first half and just kept coming &#8212; even when [the ball] came out, we kept coming back to the right. And\u00a0so\u00a0it&#8217;s\u00a0not like we overplayed it clearly.\u00a0Weren&#8217;t\u00a0able to build speed.\u00a0Weren&#8217;t able to put balls in dangerous areas enough.\u00a0Obviously, they were low. They were dense. They\u00a0weren&#8217;t\u00a0coming out. They were looking for moments for transitions. And like they usually\u00a0play\u00a0us, for mistakes, things like that. The first goal, for me, should never happen when you have a center back, Mark being a small player in the box, one-on-one, we should win that duel. We should win that. We were two-on-two in the box. We\u00a0weren&#8217;t\u00a0overloaded.\u00a0It&#8217;s\u00a0a cross we would love to prevent. But at the same\u00a0time\u00a0you have\u00a0match-ups\u00a0that you should envy in the box, and we should be able to deal with it. And we\u00a0don&#8217;t.\u00a0And on a day where you need to be near flawless defensively, because we&#8217;re probably not going to create a ton of chances, in my opinion, you need to be really good on the defensive side of things.\u00a0And hope &#8212; not\u00a0hope, but\u00a0look for the game to open up as the game sort of progresses. But we gave up that goal, then we gave up a penalty.\u00a0Yeah, and then the third goal, we give away on a ball that\u00a0we&#8217;re\u00a0there to secure. We just kind of touch it backwards into the\u00a0space\u00a0and it just springs them into a transition.\u00a0So, again, I feel like it&#8217;s on the day, and I knew this, that we were going to probably have to be really clean defensively.\u00a0That means even in the moments that we were in possession, that we\u00a0can&#8217;t\u00a0turn over the ball and let them spring their attacks on us. But we need to be\u00a0really good\u00a0defensively because I felt like we\u00a0wouldn&#8217;t\u00a0have as many chances as we\u00a0maybe sometimes\u00a0get. I feel like we were going to have to manufacture real chances through the course of the meeting.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>On how he plans to create chances in upcoming matches:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Robert gives us something.\u00a0He&#8217;s just not really fit yet.\u00a0He\u00a0hasn&#8217;t\u00a0played a game in a while. And he showed up just last week, training-wise, so we knew we had a limited amount. But I feel like he gives us something a little bit different out there. But,\u00a0yeah, and the other thing is just as a group we need to &#8212; the ball needs to move a little quicker. We need to rotate from one side to the other faster. We really overplayed one\u00a0side\u00a0especially in the first half. And I felt like it just became so predictable that it was easy for them to organize the defending over on that side, right? It was hard for Joe to build speed because it was just so dense over\u00a0there.\u00a0So\u00a0some of it obviously is adapting as a group and recognizing the game. The second is obviously continuing to tweak. If we have another winger, a Robert, I can use Joe at the 9, we can do some other things. But I feel like we needed something on the width today. And Harbor&#8217;s just coming back.\u00a0He&#8217;s\u00a0only\u00a0been in\u00a0training for a few days.\u00a0So\u00a0we really were a lot of midfielders, fullbacks at the moment.\u00a0And Marco &#8212; so it was, again, as guys get a little bit healthier and so on and so forth, and eventually as guys will start to come in, we have to build out of it.<\/p>\n<p>On how\u00a0he&#8217;s\u00a0managing through the pressure with playoff spots in close contention:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Again, I think we have to be stingy, diligent in how we are defending, how we&#8217;re working defensively.\u00a0We have to maximize our opportunities.\u00a0In the next game, we may create more opportunities than we did tonight. But tonight we were finding it difficult to create opportunities, for sure.\u00a0We&#8217;ll\u00a0look at it, review it, see if we can find\u00a0different ways, get guys who are here, healthy. I think guys who were able to get 30 minutes can play bigger roles in the next game. They just\u00a0haven&#8217;t\u00a0played much lately.\u00a0So\u00a0yeah, I mean, we recognize very clearly where\u00a0we&#8217;re\u00a0at and that we need to grab points here along the way. And\u00a0it&#8217;s\u00a0a busy second half of the season where you\u00a0don&#8217;t\u00a0have a lot of time to give away points and then try to work your way back.\u00a0So\u00a0we&#8217;re all very aware of where we&#8217;re at, but I think for us, again, we still have to approach this one game at a time and reorganize for the next game and look for the best approach to try to take three points out of the night.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>LA Galaxy\u00a0Defender Justin Haak<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On how the defensive line needs to show up given the\u00a0limited offensive\u00a0options:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would also\u00a0add,\u00a0we were a bit unlucky.\u00a0I think the first goal\u00a0ricocheted\u00a0off Delgado, off Jakob,\u00a0back to\u00a0in front of him for the finish. And the penalty balls were bouncing around.\u00a0I&#8217;m\u00a0not aware that\u00a0[Denis]\u00a0Bouanga\u00a0is behind me, and I\u00a0kick\u00a0him. And then the third goal was just a little bit too easy for them. We know how dangerous they are.\u00a0I thought we did\u00a0a great job\u00a0limiting their transition, which is what\u00a0they&#8217;re\u00a0really good\u00a0at. It was a little bit of getting unlucky at moments.\u00a0I think we\u00a0also had the ball bouncing in their box a few times, but it always seemed to fall to them today.\u00a0So,\u00a0I would say a part of it was being a little bit unlucky, but also\u00a0just we\u00a0need to be more aware in those situations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the mentality of the team in the next stretch of matches:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like every game\u00a0has to\u00a0be like a playoff game at this point.\u00a0You know, the teams are close\u00a0around\u00a0us.\u00a0It&#8217;s not too far from the third, fourth place, but it&#8217;s also really close to the 10th, 11th place in\u00a0[the]\u00a0standings.\u00a0So\u00a0we need to treat every game like a\u00a0playoff\u00a0game.\u00a0And this was\u00a0definitely not\u00a0a step in the right direction.\u00a0I think nobody\u00a0is proud or happy with how that game went. We all expected much, much more.\u00a0But\u00a0that&#8217;s\u00a0something that we\u00a0have to\u00a0learn from and do better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On if having a follow-up game in a matter of days helps the team move on quickly:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Yeah, I mean, the best thing to do is put on a good\u00a0performance\u00a0next game.\u00a0So\u00a0I think we\u00a0have to\u00a0take that as\u00a0a positive\u00a0and do exactly that and bring a much better performance on Wednesday.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On if\u00a0he believes he had the ball\u00a0in the penalty called just before\u00a0halftime:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u00a0definitely touched\u00a0the ball, but\u00a0I&#8217;m\u00a0not going to say that\u00a0it\u00a0100 percent\u00a0wasn&#8217;t\u00a0a penalty. I kicked\u00a0him\u00a0too. I\u00a0don&#8217;t\u00a0know. I\u00a0didn&#8217;t\u00a0watch it back if I got the ball first.\u00a0But me and Glesnes were talking, and he thinks maybe if the ref\u00a0doesn&#8217;t\u00a0call it on the field,\u00a0maybe they\u00a0don&#8217;t\u00a0go;\u00a0it&#8217;s\u00a0one of those.\u00a0But I\u00a0haven&#8217;t\u00a0seen the back end. But overall, I could have\u00a0probably done\u00a0better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (July 17, 2026) \u2013 The LA Galaxy (5-6-5,\u00a020\u00a0points)\u00a0fell to LAFC\u00a0(8-5-3,\u00a027\u00a0points)\u00a03-0\u00a0at Dignity Health Sports Park.\u00a0After a tightly&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":942878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,5337,32154],"class_list":["post-942877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-match-report"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116939821144745277","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/942878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}