The Galaxy are traveling short-handed and headed to Washington to take on the Seattle Sounders, who have greatly improved their form since the beginning of the season. The two teams will meet for the first time this season on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Century Link Field. Here is what you need to know before the match:
- The Galaxy are 10-8-7 so far this season, and 4-4-4 on the road. They sit in fourth place in the Western Conference with 37 points from 25 matches.
- Seattle is 9-9-5 overall and 5-4-2 at home this season. Recovering from a very rough start to the season, they sit in eighth place in the Western Conference standings with 32 points from 23 matches.
- Seattle’s first win of the 2018 MLS regular season didn’t come until its fifth match, when the Sounders played Minnesota, and their first goal scored of the season didn’t come until their fourth match, a 2-2 draw against Sporting Kansas City. They have recovered and are currently on a five game winning streak and eight game undefeated streak.
- The list of injuries for the Galaxy took a sudden jump during the past few weeks, with all three designated players suffering injuries during the past two games. Coach Sigi Schmid said after the Galaxy’s match against Colorado Romain Alessandrini (bruised knee), Giovani Dos Santos (unspecified strain), Jonathan Dos Santos (groin strain), Michael Ciani (chronic hamstring tightness) are all expected to miss the match against the Sounders due to injury.
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic also did not travel to Seattle. Earlier in the season, Schmid mentioned that Ibrahimovic would not be playing in stadiums with turf during the regular season, so this match falls in line with those comments. Leading the team in goals, assists, shots and shots on goal, Zlatan’s absence will be felt, and players like Ola Kamara and Sebastian Lletget will be important keys for the Galaxy.
- Of the players available for the Galaxy for this match, Ashley Cole and Jorgen Skjelvik are each two cards away from suspension due to yellow card accumulation. Michael Ciani is only one yellow card away from suspension, but he is unavailable for the match due to injury.
- The referee for this match will be Mark Geiger, with ARs Frank Anderson, Mike Rottersman, 4th official David Gantar, and VAR Younes Marrakchi.