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LA Galaxy ‘gain control’ in draw vs FC Dallas, Will Kuntz says reinforcements are coming.
MAX NELSON | EXC1tE MEDIA
PHOTOS BY GEMAR MACIAS
The LA Galaxy earned a draw against FC Dallas Saturday night at Dignity Health Sports Park following a second half turnaround that saw multiple players play higher to control the tempo.
Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney said in a postgame press conference that his side kept the game tight by moving the midfield closer together and cycling the ball through midfield.
“We just started to gain control,” Vanney said. “It’s very hard to be in possession and even rotate the ball from one side to the other if everybody’s too far apart from each other.”
Vanney continued to say the first half was a game of one-on-one situations vs a second half where the Galaxy overloaded Dallas’ defense.
The six-time MLS Cup champions only produced 0.01 expected goals (xG) in the first 25 minutes of the game, but went on to have 0.53 xG in the last part of the half after Marco Reus, Robert Taylor, Joseph Paintsil and Harbor Miller put shots on target.
Dallas’ goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois made nine saves throughout the game and several came from the 30th minute until the end of the first half.
Galaxy defender Maya Yoshida, who has donned the captain's armband multiple times, said the Galaxy have to keep this defensive standard going forward.
Yoshida said that the Galaxy saw how much Dallas pressed in the first half and believed they could break them down in the second half by coming out confidently.
“We had much, much more confidence,” Yoshida said.
Yoshida added that there was a fluidity in the second half that differed from what the Galaxy showed in the first half and in recent losses to LAFC and St. Louis City.
“That, as I said, has to be our standard,” Yoshida continued.
“Everybody go forward and try and connecting (to) each other. Not one passing stop, passing stop, but passing the legs, the triangle, (to) the side man running.”
Max nelson
REINFORCEMENTS
LA Galaxy General Manager Will Kuntz made a rare appearance in the postgame press conference and said the club will add a new designated player (DP) before its next match on Aug. 15 against Houston Dynamo FC.
“I think we are very close for a third DP,” Kuntz said. “Our expectation is that they will be here by the end of the week.”
The Galaxy GM signed former Celtic forward Kyōgo Furuhashi, who made his debut in the 67th minute and recorded a shot on target with his first touch of the ball.
Kuntz added that there may be one or two moves on top of that, potentially in the U22 Initiative department.
Kuntz helped put together the 2024 MLS Cup-winning team and said that building a team with more clear needs differs from his past 2 years as the GM.
“There’s always a different dynamic to it, but I do think, unlike maybe last year, we didn’t know what we would sort of be able to do in a roster build,” Kuntz said. “We have clarity on what we have available to us, we can work towards that.”
Max Nelson is a broadcast journalist for Exc1te Media. He focuses on person driven stories and the passion behind sports. Nelson is a junior at Cal State Long Beach focusing on play-by-play broadcasting and journalism.
