LA Galaxy vs. Orlando City SC | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

LA Galaxy vs. Orlando City SC
2018 MLS Regular Season — Week 22
StubHub Center — Carson
July 29 - 9:30 pm ET
WATCH: FS1, TSN2

After rallying from another two-goal first-half deficit to spoil LAFC’s first El Trafico win, the LA Galaxy have a short turnaround, but a much shorter trip than Orlando City SC for Sunday’s StubHub Center showdown.

The Galaxy are now unbeaten in their last eight following the dramatic 2-2 draw at Banc of California Stadium Thursday night and are 6-1-4 since mid-May. Meanwhile, the Lions limp into Carson off their 11th loss in 12 games following a 2-0 home defeat to New York City FC.

The first three games between LA and Orlando have been won by the home team. Since scoring four goals against Orlando in 2016 in their lone meeting in LA, the Galaxy have scored four goals at home just twice, both this season, per Opta.

LA Galaxy

The Galaxy (9-7-5) fell in a two-goal hole and rallied late to stun LAFC. If that sounds familiar, yes, it happened again, but this time the teams settled for a share of the points in a 2-2 draw Thursday night at Banc of California Stadium.

After Carlos Vela and Lee Nguyen gave the hosts a 2-0 lead inside of 20 minutes, Romain Alessandrini pulled the Galaxy to within a goal in the 82nd minute and Ola Kamara leveled four minutes from full time, picking off an ill-advised long pass back to goalkeeper Tyler Miller from Andre Horta for his ninth goal of the season.

“I think that we were in the locker room with a better feeling than them,” Kamara said. “When we are winning the locker room is a lot happier than it is now. We wanted to come here and win and take it to them in their own stadium. I think we are going to leave this game a lot happier than them.”

Suspended: M - Romain Alessandrini
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: D - Rolf Feltscher (shoulder surgery); QUESTIONABLE: F - Bradford Jamieson (undisclosed injury)

Projected Starting XI
(3-4-1-2, right to left)
GK: David Bingham — Dave Romney, Michael Ciani, Jorgen Skjelvik — Sebastian Lletget, Perry Kitchen, Jonathan dos Santos, Ashley Cole — Giovani dos Santos — Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ola Kamara

Notes: Seven of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s 12 goals this season have come in the final 30 minutes of games, tied for the most in that timeframe. Orlando has conceded 23 goals in final 30 minutes of matches, the most of any MLS team. … The Galaxy are now unbeaten in their last eight league games (4W-4D), averaging 2.6 goals per game. They have not gone nine straight unbeaten in MLS play since 2016.

Orlando City SC

The chances to pull back into the game were plentiful after halftime and Orlando (7-13-1) was unlucky not to score with numerous chances caroming off the woodwork. But when it was over, the Lions were left to rue a 2-0 loss to New York City FC, their second straight and 11th in their last 12 games.

NYCFC capped a dominant first half with a pair of goals five minutes apart as Maxi Moralez and Anton Tinnerholm struck late in the first half. Orlando tried valiantly and appeared to have the Cityzens on the ropes, but couldn’t find the needed goals and finished with 10 men after center back Shane O’Neill was sent off in the 83rd minute for a rash challenge on Moralez.

“Overall, throughout the 90 minutes there’s some lovely passages of play, but I’m serious, I want to win and this is really frustrating for myself, for the staff and for the players,” James O’Connor said. “We’re not just saying it, we want to win so when you don’t win, it’s really frustrating. That’s probably the biggest thing.”

Suspended: D - Shane O’Neill
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: GK - Mason Stajduhar (Localized Ewing Sarcoma), D - Lamine Sane (quad injury), D - Jonathan Spector (hamstring injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Earl Edwards Jr. — RJ Allen, Chris Schuler, Amro Tarek, Donny Toia — Uri Rosell, Yoshi Yotun — Chris Mueller, Josue Colman, Sacha Kljestan — Stefano Pinho

Notes: On Thursday, Dom Dwyer and Yoshi Yotun became the sixth pair of teammates to each take 6+ shots in a MLS match this season. … Orlando has lost 11 of their last 12 MLS matches (1W). They have been outscored 33-10 in those games.

All-Time Series

Overall: LA Galaxy 1 win, 5 goals … Orlando City SC 2 wins, 8 goals … 0 draws
At LA: Galaxy 1 win, 4 goals … Orlando City SC 0 wins, 2 goals … 0 draws
Last meeting at LA: LA Galaxy 4, Orlando City SC 2 (Sept. 11, 2016)