RECAP: Shattered in the City of Glass; VAN 2-1 LAG
The LA Galaxy are 0-2 in the 2025 MLS season after a 2-1 road loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday, March 2nd.
Greg Vanney will have to manage even more injuries as the team prepares for a quick turnaround and a long flight to Costa Rica for Wednesday’s Concacaf Champions Cup match.
It’s been a rough start to 2025 for the LA Galaxy, following two losses in their opening two matches.
PHOTO: Andre Bannis Photography/LAXSportsNation
Many anticipated a difficult season with a rebuilt squad and without the league’s best player, Riqui Puig. Still, things have been made even more difficult, thanks to an injury list that seems far too long for such an early stage of the season.
Besides their Spanish talisman, the LA Galaxy are now without other important players in Miki Yamane (tight hamstring), Emiro Garcés (tight calf), Lucas Sanabria (fractured collarbone), Joseph Paintsil (quad injury), and Matheus Nascimento (groin strain).
That makes more than half of what would have been Greg Vanney’s starting 11 now unavailable through injury. With this in mind, it’s almost no wonder that the LA Galaxy have looked less than their best in their opening matches.
Greg Vanney considered the injuries and made some necessary changes for the game against Vancouver. Emiro Garcés started as a fill-in at right back in place of Miki Yamane alongside Maya Yoshida and the experienced Dane, Zanka, in his LA Galaxy debut. Elijah Wynder made his first starting 11 in front of them, and Edwin Cerillo and Lucas Sanabria were in the midfield. Miguel Berry earned the start at the 9 spot over Christian Ramirez following the Spaniard’s performance as a substitute in the season opener.
The changes couldn’t add the needed spark in the starting minutes as Vancouver dominated play from the first whistle, so much so that they found the back of Novak Micovic’s net within just two minutes.
Pedro Vite received the ball at the endline, and while Micovic did enough to deflect his initial pass, Sam Adekugbe ran off of Garcés’s shoulder and got to the rebound unmarked for an easy finish.
THAT WAS QUICK! 🌬️
Sam Adekugbe strikes less than 3 minutes into the game for the @WhitecapsFC. pic.twitter.com/DVnmnizWEE
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 2, 2025
Vancouver continued creating chances until the Galaxy finally arrived to play about 15 minutes later. Unfortunately, their possession was ineffective, and they rarely got the ball forward when they did have it. The Whitecaps did an impressive job of pressing the Galaxy’s midfield, who could not come up with solutions to break through the press the entire match.
24-year-old Edwin Cerillo is now the Galaxy’s most experienced midfielder but is still not used to carrying his team forward. As a deep-lying ball winner, he has not developed the skills to progress the ball and beat the press effectively, relying on backwards passing, which keeps his team’s play within their own half.
Despite his lack of MLS experience, Elijah Wynder proved to be the best outlet, as his forward pass in the 39th minute finally gave the Galaxy some attacking spark. He gave Miguel Berry a ball in-behind to fight for, and fight he did as he outworked the Vancouver defender and keeper to just about force a cut-back to Gabriel Pec.
While none of them had any gloves on, there were still four Vancouver players clogging the goal, making this by no means an easy chance.
Still, Pec got his head up and was able to place the ball in the very corner, just about avoiding all of the defenders to score the Galaxy’s first goal in 2025.
Gabriel with our first goal of the year 🎯 pic.twitter.com/N0FUHtb3bN
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) March 2, 2025
The goal gave Vanney’s team a newfound sense of belief, and they went on to play their best football of the entire match, circulating the ball well and working a couple more chances.
Unfortunately, the energy dissipated at halftime as Garcés picked up a calf injury late in the first half, forcing Vanney to make a change while Whitecaps coach Jesper Sørensen gave his team instructions on how to neutralize any threat in the second half.
Vancouver upped the ante on their pressing, playing with most of their players within the Galaxy’s half and targeting their defense and midfield.
This made it nearly impossible for the LA Galaxy to play out from the back.
With Vancouver constantly breathing down the necks of their midfielders, Zanka and Maya Yoshida didn’t have any forward options, so they played to their outside backs. They were immediately closed down and forced into a pass back or giving up possession in a dangerous area.
The times the midfielders could get involved were for naught as Vancouver’s press forced them into finding creativity that simply wasn’t there. Backward passes became the order of the day as the Galaxy could not figure out how to get past such effective press.
Lucas Sanabria faced the brunt of Vancouver’s aggressive pressure. He didn’t get a foul call for this studs-up challenge above the ankle, which arguably should have been a red card in the 47th minute. Later on, in the 72nd minute, Sanabria and Vancouver’s Tristan Blackmon got entangled, and the young Uruguayan suffered a fractured collarbone upon impact with the turf.
LA Galaxy Academy graduate Harbor Miller came on for Sanabria in the 75th minute, making his MLS debut. Although it was undoubtedly a proud moment for him and his family, Miller couldn’t help his side break the suffocating press.
While the midfield struggled, Yoshida and Zanka had done a good enough job to repel Vancouver’s repeated attacks, and the match seemed to be heading into a stalemate. That is, until the 87th minute, when Pedro Vite turned provider for a second time, whipping in a perfect delivery towards Brian White.
Zanka had no clue where White was and couldn’t even contest the header as Vancouver took the lead and all three points in the dying minutes.
It was a painful way to lose, but the Galaxy have no time to feel sorry for themselves or nurse the two new injuries. They’ll be hopping a 7,000-mile flight from Vancouver straight to Costa Rica for their round-of-16 Concacaf Champions Cup match against C.S. Herediano on Wednesday, March 5th.
Greg Vanney and his remaining players must find a way to overcome the fatigue and current difficulties to win and avoid losing their first three games of the season in a row for the first time in club history.
The LA Galaxy made history in 2024; now it’s up to a depleted squad to avoid making history for all the wrong reasons in 2025.
PHOTO: Andre Bannis Photography/LAXSportsNation
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Categorized:Credentials Galaxy News