Enemy Scouting Report - LA Galaxy
(image via LA Galaxy)
The Houston Dynamo continue to play very well, but the lack of goal scoring opportunities has not yielded the best results this season. The Dynamo are coming off a disappointing draw against FC Dallas in the second installment of the Texas Derby in 2024. It was another game in which Houston had the better part of the possession, over double the total shots taken in comparison to their opponents, and could not put the game away. The worst part of the equalizing goal by Petar Musa was that Steve Clark went down after a collision with Artur and had to come off.
Losing a leader and a rock that Steve has been for Houston will be a big miss if he can’t go against the Galaxy. LA Galaxy started hot in Greg Vanney’s third season as the head coach. The club from Los Angeles, dropped Javier Hernandez and Douglas Costa, and replaced them with young attacking players. Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil were brought in as designated players to improve the team’s goal scoring opportunities.
The team was built around star player, Riqui Puig, who saw his jersey number change to number 10 this season. Puig can do everything and more on the field for the Galaxy and will need to be contained by Houston if the hope is to escape with some points from LA. Riqui has scored 3 goals this season, while assisting 8 others. Paintsil and Pec have come into the team and have not disappointed in scoring goals, Paintsil has 4 to his name while Pec has 3. Paintsil suffered a slight hamstring strain, nothing too serious but he will likely miss the game against the Dynamo. The last player to keep an eye on is Dejan Joveljic. The Serbian striker leads the team with goals in 2024 with 7. The Galaxy can score goals, unlike the Dynamo as of late, making this match up an interesting one.
LA Galaxy Record: 5W-7D-2L
Results in the last 30 days:
April 21 - LA Galaxy 4-3 San Jose
April 27 - Austin 2-0 LA Galaxy
May 5 - Seattle 0-0 LA Galaxy
May 11 - LA Galaxy 2-2 Real Salt Lake
May 18- Charlotte 0-0 LA Galaxy
Past Match Staring XI (from fotmob.com)
There will likely be some variation but look to see many of the players in the graphic starting.
2024 Active Roster
Goalkeepers: Brady Scott, Novak Micovic, John McCarthy
Defenders: Miki Yamane, Julian Aude, Maya Yoshida, Marcus Ferkranus, John Nelson, Eriq Zavaleta, Mauricio Cuevas, Martin Caceres, Jalen Neal, Emiro Garces
Midfielders: Gaston Brugman, Mark Delgado, Riqui Puig, Jonathan Perez, Edwin Cerrillo, Tucker Lepley, Gino Vivi, Daniel Aguirre
Forwards: Victor Bezerra, Ben Morris, Elvis Amoh, Yazeed Matthews
Will Houston add points in their LA road trip?
