Ten months ago, after the Galaxy missed the MLS playoffs for the second time in three seasons under Greg Vanney, the coach was asked if he still was the right man to lead the team.
This week with his team chasing the Supporters’ Shield, the prize that goes to the league’s winningest team, he was asked a different question: Is he the MLS coach of the year?
“I don’t do it for coach of the year awards,” said Vanney, who already has one of those. “I do it to try to position us to win championships.”
The Galaxy can take a big step toward that goal Saturday when they play crosstown rival LAFC at Dignity Health Sports Park. A win would give the first-place Galaxy (15-6-7) a seven-point bulge over LAFC in the conference table and could pull them within four points of Inter Miami for the league’s best record with five games left in the regular season. Most important, it would greatly improve their chances of winning their first Western Conference title since 2011, giving them home-field advantage for the playoffs.
Even a draw would leave them with a comfortable four-point lead and control of their outcome in the Western Conference race. That’s quite a rebound for a team that went 8-14-12 a year ago, matching the franchise low for wins in a full season while finishing one spot out of the conference cellar.
The turnaround was engineered by Vanney and general manager Will Kuntz — for six seasons the assistant general manager at LAFC — who remade the lineup by adding seven starters who weren’t with the team when he joined 17 months ago.
An LAFC win would stall that momentum and leave the teams separated by just a point. And because LAFC (14-6-6) has two games in hand on the Galaxy, that result would swing the advantage heavily the other way.
“I can read the standings and I understand the urgency from [the Galaxy’s] perspective,” LAFC coach Steven Cherundolo said. “But I think the same thoughts and urgency from our side. I’m not sure putting the added pressure of the table helps.
“But it’s the reality of the situation. It’s late in the season and both teams want and need points.”
Added defender Aaron Long: “Two top teams. Time is running out. Three points is ever so important. You’re getting three points for yourself but you’re also taking three points away from the other team.
“There’s only so many points left. So it’s a huge game.”
LAFC midfielder Mateusz Bogusz (19) celebrates with, from left, defender Aaron Long, midfielder Timothy Tillman and defender Sergi Palencia during a match against Minnesota in May.
(Ryan Sun / Associated Press)
For much of its history, the Southern California derby has determined little more than local bragging rights. Since entering MLS in 2018, LAFC has won more games and amassed more points than any team in the league. Over the same span, the Galaxy have lost more games than they have won. As a result El Tráfico, while always competitive, often has meant little in the standings.
That won’t be the case Saturday when a safer path through the MLS playoffs will be on the line.
The Galaxy have the league’s best home record and have not lost at Dignity Health Sports Park this season. But they’re a .500 team on the road, so winning the conference title and the earning right to play all their conference playoff games at home would be huge.
The same goes for LAFC, which shares the league’s second-best home record and hasn’t lost an MLS playoff game at BMO Stadium since 2019. Just once in franchise history has it won a playoff game on the road.
“If you want to win the West, you have to win this game. It’s as close to that as you can get,” Vanney said. “We want to play at home. So this game has a lot riding on it for sure.”
Saturday’s result doesn’t guarantee anything, since both teams have challenging schedules remaining. The Galaxy play four of their final five games against teams with winning records, three of them on the road. LAFC, meanwhile, which entered the weekend with a just a one-point lead over Real Salt Lake in the conference table, will play eight times in the final 34 days, including this month’s U.S. Open final with Sporting Kansas City.
Half those games will be at home and only two are against teams that have winning records, but playing every four days will be punishing no matter where they are or who they are against.
Yet for LAFC co-president and general manager John Thorrington, who grew up in Southern California and began his soccer career here, just the fact that Saturday’s game is finally a meaningful one is a victory in itself.
“The rivalry is one of the most special things that this league has,” he said. “And while I am a competitor and certainly want LAFC on top in every single competition, this rivalry being healthy and at the positions in the table that it is, it’s a great thing for the league.”
Vanney agreed.
“This is the way it should be, honestly,” he said. “It’s two teams really contending to be at the top of this league. There are other franchises that need to be in that discussion but for sure the two L.A. teams need to be [there].
“And it’s about time.”