Los Angeles Galaxy 3-0 Los Angeles FC
The LA Galaxy reclaim the title of best team in Los Angeles winning the last encounters between the two teams. More importantly, the Galaxy players have been playing in a payback mode following the humiliating 6-2 loss in the MLS is Back tournament. That is two wins in a row for the Galaxy against their rivals and two clean sheets as well for the fourth straight wins.
Perfect since the restart
Four games into the MLS season restart and that is good for a tied 3rd place in the western conference. The LA Galaxy looked awful in the MLS is Back tournament but turned things around. They beat LAFC twice, San Jose and the MLS tournament champions Portland Timbers.
Galaxy player Lletget comments on the bounce back after finishing dead last in the group back in July:
“It’s a mental battle, because you can’t get carried away with the confidence. You have to sort of withhold that. You have to like really harness that and be like, just don’t get ahead of yourself. And I think we all reminded each other about that.”
LAFC in turmoil
LAFC have been struggling without MVP Carlos Vela rehabilitating his knee injury. The team only won 1 out of the last 4 games since the restart (against San Jose 5-1). They now falls back to 7th place in the western conference standings.
LAFC – coach Bradley on a rough stretch:
“The main message for group is that in moment when we are facing some tough times, everybody’s got to fight harder.
We had one big example of doing that tonight, and that was Diego, he was incredible. He kept going. After Mark went off he had the captain’s armband and I was really proud of just the way Diego kept pushing, and now we need to have a team full of guys that can push and fight through a game at that level.
Columbus Crew as early MLS cup favorites
The Crew has given the best impression so far in the four games since the MLS season restart. Already playing good football back in Orlando, Columbus is the best team in the league by a margin of 5 points. The Crew boasts the best defense in the country and one of the top offenses as well claiming 7 wins out of the first 10 matches.
