Greg Vanney has accepted that the play -offs are out of reach of La Galaxy, but has encouraged his team to set up a defensive show when they travel to Seattle Sounders on Saturday.
The Galaxy is at the bottom of the Western conference, but are not yet officially out of the play -off fight, because they are 15 points behind the earthquakes of San Jose with six games to play.
It would be a monumental swing, with LA that relies on other results, although they are unbeaten in their last two MLS matches (W1 D1), throwing away a late 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo.
The Galaxy recently confronted the Sounders twice and lost 4-0 in MLS and 2-0 in the semi-final of the League Cup, and Vanney noticed how important a strong defense will be.
“To be honest, I don’t think we’re concentrating on or we’re eliminated from the play -offs or not,” said Vanney.
“I think we understand where our positioning is and what we should achieve from now on. What the key is for us, against a difficult team in a difficult place to play, is to make us firm on the defensive side of things.
“We know that we probably won’t go there and score three goals, so we can leave with a 1-0? We know their quality, and I imagine that they get a few boys healthy, so we will certainly have our hands full.”
Back at home on Saturday pic.twitter.com/R26TRBZ7B2
– Seattle Sounders FC (@Soundersfc) September 11, 2025
Since their last MLS outing, the Sounders have won the Leagues Cup, defeating Inter Miami 3-0 in the final and have a three-game winning series in all competitions. They are currently fourth in the West.
Head coach Brian Schmetzer is also stimulated by players who return from an injury, including people like Albert Rusnak and Jordan Morris, but he still has to decide whether they are thrown straight into.
“I’ve already started with those conversations,” said Schmetzer. “I just reminded those players that the power of this team is the collective.
“The best they can do is push their teammates, and if they are not in the group, train them hard, be ready for your chance.
“I had that conversation with everyone, specifically with the boys who come back from injury. They have to show me that they are ready to go. That is a fact.”
Players to watch
Seattle Sounders – Danny Musovski
In the last match of Seattle, Danny Musovski became the eighth different Sounders player who scored a hat trick in MLS game.
Because the Sounders became an MLS team in 2009, only DC United (10) registered more different players who register at least one hat trick.
La Galaxy – Lucas Sanabria
Lucas Sanabria scored the game-type goal on Saturday in the 99th minute against the Houston Dynamo on Saturday.
It was the last goal (98:16) scored by the Galaxy in the last 15 seasons, and was only the second goal of Sanabria of the campaign.
Lucas Sanabria called Game. pic.twitter.com/zcfla2uyyg
– La Galaxy (@lagalaxy) September 7, 2025
Match forecast: Seattle Sounders win
Seattle is unbeaten in their last nine home games (W5 D4) playing against De La Galaxy in the regular season. That is the longest undefeated line in competition against the Galaxy since Sporting Kansas City had an 11-game run from 2008 to 2018.
In their last league match, the Sounders earned a 5-2 victory over Sporting KC, which marked the fourth time this regular season that they scored four or more goals.
The only season in which Seattle had more regular seasonal matches with at least four goals was 2014 (seven).
As for the Galaxy, they are Winless in their 15 regular season races on the road in 2025 (D6 L9). The last MLS team that won on the road through an entire season was Toronto FC in 2023, while La once did this (2003).
Opta wins probability
Seattle Sounders – 62.3%
Drawing – 20%
La Galaxy – 17.7%
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