Recap of June 6, 2015 Match: LA Galaxy vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC

(Photo via Twitter User @LAGalaxy)

With so many injuries (Dan Gargan, A.J. DeLaGarza, Robbie Rogers) and absences due to international duty (Bradford Jamieson, Gyasi Zardes, Jaime Penedo), I worried about the outcome of the match between the LA Galaxy and the Vancouver Whitecaps FC on June 6, 2015. Would the Galaxy overcome these roadblocks? Would they add to their 29-game home unbeaten streak? Or would this streak be broken?

Starting Lineups and Substitutions

The first half was fairly uneventful, but it saw the downfall of the Galaxy at the StubHub Center. The Galaxy started off playing well, but by the fifteenth minute or so, things fell apart. Referee Ricardo Salazar issued two yellow cards—one to Steven Beitashour (Vancouver) and the other to Leonardo. Neither team played that well, although Vancouver showed more aggression in pursuit of the ball.

In the 32^nd minute, Mika Vayrynen passed the ball poorly in the midfield and Octavio Rivero intercepted it. Kekuta Manneh dribbled the ball into the box with Omar Gonzalez right beside him. Unfortunately, Omar was unable to turn Manneh away from the goal, and Manneh cut away from him to take the shot. It went right past Brian Rowe and into the back of the net.

Fans watched the Galaxy play a much worse second half. Leonardo mishandled a possible interception and Rivero passed a sweet ball to Pedro Morales, but Morales hit the post with his shot and Leonardo redeemed himself slightly by disrupting Rivero on the rebound. Not much later, Rivero and Darren Mattocks tried a similar play as the Rivero-Morales attempt, but the linesman called Mattocks offsides.

The Galaxy failed to equalize the match, even after all of the attempts to find Alan Gordon in the box. Stefan Ishizaki’s many set piece attempts lacked the accuracy and the power to find Galaxy players. The Galaxy midfield crumbled as did the defense (at least the majority of the time).

Neither Mika Vayrynen nor Kenney Walker play with the aggression and speed that the Galaxy need, so why did Bruce Arena sub in Walker for Vayrynen and then replace Ignacio Maganto (a speedy and aggressive player) with Sebastian Lletget? Lletget deserves a high-five because he played hard during the fifteen minutes allotted to him. The Galaxy’s night might have changed if Arena left Maganto on the field and replaced Vayrynen with Lletget, but that’s pure speculation.

With all of this said, the biggest problem facing the LA Galaxy is the inconsistency in the lineups. In almost every game, Arena has changed the defense in some way. Once all of the players recover from their injuries and stay healthy, the Galaxy should be able to add some more wins to their record. I just hope they all return before it’s too late.

Vancouver should have scored more than once, and they deserved this win after the Galaxy’s poor performance. They ended LA’s 29-game unbeaten streak at home and won their very first match at the StubHub Center.

The Next Match

Looking forward, the LA Galaxy will be without Robbie Keane against the Columbus Crew—the only regular-season matchup between the teams. He’ll be away with the Republic of Ireland National Team for two UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying matches against England and Scotland.

As of right now, the Galaxy will also be without Dan Gargan and Jose Villarreal, but we might see Robbie Rogers and A.J. DeLaGarza return. Rogers played an entire first half with the LA Galaxy II (the Galaxy’s USL team) on Saturday June 6 against the Orange County Blues.

Can the Galaxy make a rebound? Will we see any of the injured players—Gargan, Rogers, Villarreal, or DeLaGarza—return against the Crew? Tune in next week to find out, and don’t forget to support the United States Women’s National team as they try to win the 2015 Women’s World Cup hosted by Canada!

Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things LA Galaxy and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, all the time!

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