As the Los Angeles Galaxy look to reign in some inconsistencies in MLS play, Sporting Kansas City will be out to deliver any result they can when the teams meet Saturday at Carson, Calif.
Amid a busy early-season schedule, the Galaxy are getting the job done in CONCACAF Champions Cup play but are 1-1-1 (four points) in MLS action. While they have a 3-0 victory over Charlotte FC, there was a 4-1 loss at Colorado last Saturday.
The four-goal loss was a big blow to the Galaxy’s revamped defense that had allowed just two goals in four games across all competitions before the Rapids exposed the back line.
Los Angeles rebounded with a 3-0 victory over Jamaica’s Mt. Pleasant in Champions Cup on Wednesday as Gabriel Pec delivered all three goals. Pec’s partnership with new striker Joao Klauss is showing promise. Klauss has four goals in three MLS games.
“Gabe is continuing to grow and find ways to slip in and play off of a striker,” Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney said. “We haven’t always had the striker that you could play off (the) way that Joao does it and I think it gives us something a little different and gives Gabe a different piece to work with.”
Sporting KC (0-2-1, 1 point) are tied for last place in the Western Conference in the early going and have just two goals, both from former Galaxy forward Dejan Joveljic.
Sporting KC opened with a 3-0 road loss to the San Jose Earthquakes and fell 1-0 at home against San Diego FC last Saturday. Only the Portland Timbers have allowed more goals in the Western Conference than the six SKC has surrendered.
Midfielder Lasse Johnsen is expected to make his Sporting KC debut. The Norway native was acquired from Sweden’s Malmo FF last month and had a week of training with his new team after finally squaring away his visa.
“I don’t think we need to change. Lasse is a player that can help us get better in what we want to do,” Sporting KC head coach Raphael Wicky said. “He’s a very calm player and technically very gifted. We may have to move around a few positions but that was the plan from the beginning.”
–Field Level Media
