Sounders aim to protect home mark against road-weary Galaxy

The Seattle Sounders look to keep defending their home fortress when they host the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday.

The Sounders (7-1-3, 24 points) are unbeaten in their last 22 home matches (16-0-6) across all competitions, including a 4-0-1 mark during the 2026 regular season. Beyond just their home form, the Sounders enter Saturday with a 6-0-3 record in their last nine MLS matches.

Scoring efficiency could be the only flaw within this great start, as only six teams have scored fewer than Seattle's 17 goals. Despite outshooting opponents 78-37 over their last three matches, the Sounders came away with two 1-1 draws and a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes.

"We've put a lot of balls inside the box. I think we've done a good job in transition moments," Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer said. "I think our possession has been pretty good. ... It's just we had two kind of sour results (the two draws) that I don't think should poison the well."

The Galaxy (4-5-4, 16 points) have scored at least once in each of their last 23 regular-season games, but translating the offense into consistent results has been the larger challenge. Wednesday's 3-1 loss to Sporting Kansas City was LA's second loss this season to Sporting KC, who sit at the bottom of the Western Conference.

"I thought we were low on the intensity level. ... I felt like we couldn't get out of our hotel rooms," LA coach Greg Vanney said on Wednesday, in a reference to the Galaxy's schedule.

The stretch of three road matches in eight days saw the Galaxy travel from Atlanta to Kansas City to Seattle.

"Time on airplanes, time zone shifts left and right. ... I think you're trying to make the best of a difficult situation when it comes to the travel part of this week," Vanney said.

Marco Reus and Gabriel Pec (each with four goals and four assists) share the Galaxy's team lead with eight goal contributions. Joao Klauss leads Los Angeles with five goals, but is out until at least August 1 due to foot surgery.

Paul Rothrock leads the Sounders with four goals. Albert Rusnak (three goals, four assists) and Jesus Ferreira (two goals, five assists) share the team lead with seven goal contributions.

--Field Level Media