KANSAS CITY, Kansas. Galaxy hasn’t had much respite in the last three games of the season and the team is now very unlikely to make mistakes after losing the first of those matches 2-0. Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday night.
With Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez unavailable for what the team called a non-COVID disease, Galaxy has completed its four-game unbeaten streak and is now dangerously close to missing the MLS playoffs …
The Galaxy (13-12-7, 46 points) is sixth in the Western Conference, three points behind fourth-placed Portland (15-13-4, 49), one point behind fifth-placed Vancouver (12-9. -11, 47 points) and one point ahead of seventh-placed Real Salt Lake (13-12-6, 45 points), which has three more matches left. Minnesota (12-11-9, 45 points) and the skyrocketing LAFC (12-12-8, 44 points) round out the top nine, with the top seven moving into the postseason.
Whether the team is aware of the playoff line:
“We’re not really focusing on the lane,” said Galaxy defender Julian Araujo. “We know we want to make the playoffs. We know what it takes. We know we need to win the upcoming games. ”
Johnny Russell scored both goals for Kansas City and extended his streak to eight games. SKC (17-7-7, 58 points), who have won six of their last eight matches, is now on par with Seattle (17-7-8), but has a game to spare and has a tie-breaker for a better result. seed.
Russell, 31, who has scored 14 goals this season, hit Gadi Kinda’s cross in the 40th minute, broke past the defender and beat goalkeeper Jonathan Bond, opening the score in the 40th minute and finding the net again. 82nd – His 10th goal in his last eight games.
“We weren’t in a good mood, and then we felt like we were trying to organize the whole game in such a way that we could fit in and feel more comfortable, get more ball, still be dangerous and defend in,” Galaxy coach Greg said. Vanni. “The guys fought and we dealt with a lot of things, but we just never found comfort and our flow in the game, how we were going to control the game and how we were going to create a chance.”
While Galaxy struggled to create moments, Kansas City made the most of its possibilities.
“We have lost a few sloppy balls. We lost a lot of balls in the center of the field to get them on to us. They had two shots on goal and they scored both of their chances, ”Araujo said.
Playing without the most dynamic scorer didn’t help Galaxy.
“It was not related to COVID, but he had a high fever and some other physical problems,” Vanni said of Hernandez. “It’s just a sore throat, soreness and the like, it’s the risk of putting him on the plane with the rest of the group. So it’s better to give him a rest, hopefully, to fully recover and give us everything he has for the last two games. ”
Galaxy has another tough road game ahead – Monday night in Seattle – ahead of the close of the regular season with a home game against Minnesota on Sunday, November 7th.
“This game is over. We can no longer worry about this, ”said Araujo. “We know we have two games. … We need to recover, we need to focus on what we need to focus on, and learn from the mistakes we made today. We will have a full roster next week, so we will be ready for Seattle and hopefully things will change. ”
