Galaxy can draw closer to clinching West's top seed vs. Whitecaps

Field Level Media|published: Fri 20th September, 21:17 2024

Sep 18, 2024; Portland, Oregon, USA; LA Galaxy forward Gabriel Pec (11) dribbles downfield during the second half against the Portland Timbers at Providence Park. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Galaxy will try to edge closer to securing the top spot in the Western Conference on Saturday night when they host the Vancouver Whitecaps in Carson, Calif.

The Galaxy (16-7-7, 55 points) took charge of their West fate by rallying from two goals down to a 4-2 victory over LAFC last Saturday in a meeting of what was then the conference's top two sides.

But Wednesday night's 4-2 loss at Portland opened the door again for LAFC as well as Salt Lake, which moved into second with its own win to narrow its gap to five points with a match in hand.

Despite Gabriel Pec's 12th goal and Joseph Paintsil's ninth, the Galaxy at times looked disjointed in attack and couldn't overcome Evander's two-goal, one-assist performance.

"Through the first half of the game and some stretches in the second half when we were chasing the game, the impatience is really sometimes our biggest enemy," Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. "That's ourselves undoing ourselves. And then sometimes we look back and we wonder where the guys are and why they're not closer and more aggressive."

Vancouver (13-8-7, 46 points) begins the weekend sixth in the West but only a point behind the fourth- and fifth-place sides with at least a match in hand on both.

Brian White came on with a half-hour to play in a 1-1 draw at Houston on Wednesday and scored his team-leading 13th goal to tie the match in the 73rd minute.

That helped the Whitecaps stretch an unbeaten run to four matches overall and five as an away side. And to coach Vanni Sartini -- who changed his team's defensive shape at halftime -- the effort and result was an example of a squad that can be dangerous even when the general flow of the match favors the opponent.

"I asked the guys to stay in the game because that was the most important thing," Sartini said. "Because every time that we had the ball, even in the first half that we didn't play well, every time we felt that we could've scored, every time."

--Field Level Media

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