The LA Galaxy will face the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday at 10 p.m. ET at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. The match will have major playoff implications for both teams. Here’s what you need to know:
- The Galaxy are 11-11-8 overall, 7-4-4 at home, and in seventh place in the Western Conference standings with 41 points. Their last match was a 3-0 win over the Seattle Sounders at home Sunday, with goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ola Kamara and Ema Boateng. The win over Seattle gave the Galaxy enough points to leapfrog this week’s opponent in the standings, moving Vancouver to eighth place.
- The Whitecaps are 11-11-7 this season with 40 points and a 5-7-2 record on the road. After their last match, a 2-1 loss at home against FC Dallas, Vancouver parted ways with head coach Carl Robinson, assistant coaches Martyn Pert and Gordon Forrest and goalkeeper coach Stewart Kerr. The club’s academy technical director, Craig Dalrymple, is now the interim head coach.
- Speaking of interim coaches, this match will be Dominic Kinnear’s third with the Galaxy as interim head coach after the departure of Sigi Schmid. Kinnear is 1-1 so far, with a 5-3 loss in Toronto and a 3-0 win at home against Seattle.
- Heading into the match, the Galaxy have a 21 percent probability of making the playoffs, according to FiveThirtyEight. The Whitecaps have just a 10 percent probability of finding their way into the postseason. L.A.’s percentage rose after its commanding victory over the Sounders last week, but they still have a long way to go in a short time. However, neither team can mathematically clinch or be eliminated based on this match.
- Four Galaxy players will be suspended if they receive one more yellow card: defenders Rolf Feltscher, Michael Ciani and Jørgen Skjelvik and Ibrahimovic.
- Defender Jørgen Skjelvik missed the team’s last match due to the flu, giving Daniel Steres and Dave Romney the opportunity to pair together in centerback roles once again. After the shutout in that performance, it is hard to tell if Kinnear will defer to placing Skjelvik back in the starting line up, or if Steres and Romney will pair again.