CARSON, Calif. -- The LA Galaxy have taken points in 11 of their last 12 games to vault into playoff position in the Western Conference, but they're reeling a tad, allowing leads to disappear in a loss and two draws over the last two weeks, and head into Saturday afternoon's meeting with the Seattle Sounders (4 pm ET | ESPN — Full TV & Streaming Info) missing five starters, including all three Designated Players and star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Brian Schmetzer's team is streaking, with five straight victories and an eight-game unbeaten streak, and they'll be brimming with confidence in the critical Western showdown.
The Sounders are following the path that took them to the last two MLS Cups: Start slow, bring in some midseason additions, then take off on the sprint.
Galaxy head coach Sigi Schmid is well-versed in Seattle's start-slow-finish-strong trend: He was fired as Sounders coach two years ago, just before they started on their tear toward the MLS Cup title.
He sees parallels with this year's Sounders team.
“They've done a good job in terms of always bringing in pretty good reinforcements at midseason,” said Schmid, who was in charge of Seattle from their 2009 MLS debut through July 2016 and started his second stint as Galaxy coach not quite 13 months ago. “[Forward] Raul Ruidiaz is a good reinforcement, and they brought in [Brad] Smith, the fullback they signed. So they found a couple of good pieces to add to their team.”
Ruidiaz, a Peruvian standout signed as a Designated Player from Morelia in late June, has bolstered an attack that suffered from the absences of Jordan Morris and then Clint Dempsey. Smith, an Australia-born left back acquired last week on loan from Bournemouth, provides heady play on the flank but is listed as questionable for the match.
They follow in the footsteps of playmaker Nico Lodeiro, the catalyst of the championship run two years ago, and Kelvin Leerdam, who shored up the right-back post before last year's march into the final.
Lodeiro is in strong form this summer, and he's contributed five goals — three from the penalty spot — and three assists during the current unbeaten streak.
“With Clint Dempsey being injured, they miss, obviously, a very talented, quality player,” Schmid noted before LA flew Thursday afternoon to Seattle. “But with him being out, it simplifies their game, because their game runs through Lodeiro. Everybody knows the ball's going to go to Lodeiro, it's not going anywhere else, and everybody makes their movement off of that.”
That's no secret, but slowing him down isn't so simple.
“We've just got to stop their No. 10,” midfielder Sebastian Lletget said. “Lodeiro is always going to be [pivotal] man for them. He's always been that guy they go to. So as long as we shut him down and we're tight on him, and we have guys who can do that. I think we'll be OK.”
That assignment will fall primarily to holding midfielder Perry Kitchen and whoever partners him — Servando Carrasco is likely — in place of injured Jonathan dos Santos in an expected 4-2-3-1 alignment.
Schmid spoke to Lodeiro on WhatsApp, he said. “I said take it easy on us.”
