HOUSTON (Saturday, April 8, 2023) – Playing in their fourth road match during the 2023 campaign, the LA Galaxy fell 3-0 to Houston Dynamo FC before 19,128 fans at Shell Energy Stadium on Saturday night.
LA Galaxy Against Houston Dynamo FC
Saturday’s match marked the 41st meeting across all competitions between the LA Galaxy (0-3-3, 3 points) and Houston Dynamo FC (3-3-0, 9 points), with LA leading the all-time series 17-14-10. Against Houston, the Galaxy hold a 13-14-10 record in league play, a 1-0-0 record in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and a 3-0-0 record in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs. In 20 all-time regular-season matches played on the road against Houston, the Galaxy hold a 7-9-4 record at Shell Energy Stadium.
2023 Debut
Javier “Chicharito” Hernández made his 2023 MLS Regular Season debut, logging 35 minutes as a second-half substitute.
Goal-Scoring Plays
HOU – Hector Herrera, 35th minute – Hector Herrera’s free-kick attempt from the corner of the 18-yard box was curled in at the far post.
HOU – Amine Bassi, 65th minute – Amine Bassi’s penalty-kick attempt was drilled into right side of the goal.
HOU – Amine Bassi (Corey Baird, Hector Herrera), 73rd minute – Corey Baird picked out Amine Bassi in the center of the penalty area. Bassi took a touch and fired his shot into the lower right corner of the goal.
Postgame Notes
- Saturday’s match marked the 41st meeting across all competitions between the LA Galaxy (0-3-3, 3 points) and Houston Dynamo FC (3-3-0, 9 points), with LA leading the all-time series 17-14-10.
- Against Houston, the Galaxy hold a 13-14-10 record in league play, a 1-0-0 record in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and a 3-0-0 record in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs.
- In 20 all-time regular-season matches played on the road against Houston, the Galaxy hold a 7-9-4 record at Shell Energy Stadium.
- In the Galaxy’s last 10 regular-season road matches played dating back to Aug. 28, 2022, LA holds a 3-3-4 record.
- In four road matches played during the 2023 campaign, the Galaxy hold a 0-2-2 record.
- Javier “Chicharito” Hernández made his 2023 MLS Regular Season debut, logging 35 minutes as a second-half substitute.
- Gastón Brugman finished the match with a team-high 81 completed passes (92.0% pass accuracy) and a game-high 10 possessions won.
- Riqui Puig ended the match with a game-high four chances created and three successful dribbles.
- Memo Rodríguez, who tallied 17 goals and 14 assists in 136 career regular-season matches (81 starts) for Houston Dynamo FC, made his first career appearance against his former club.
- Jalen Neal recorded a game-high seven clearances and 54 completed passes (96.4% pass accuracy).
Next Game
Next up, the LA Galaxy play host to Los Angeles FC in the 18th edition across all competitions of El Tráfico at Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday, April 16. The match on April 16 kicks off at 1:30 p.m. PT and will be broadcasted live on FOX, FOX Deportes and MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
2023 MLS Regular Season
LA Galaxy (0-3-3, 3pts) at Houston Dynamo FC (3-3-0, 9pts)
April 8, 2023 – Shell Energy Stadium (Houston)
Goals by Half 1 2 F
LA Galaxy 0 0 0
Houston Dynamo FC 1 2 3
Scoring Summary:
HOU: Herrera, 35
HOU: Bassi, 65
HOU: Bassi (Baird, Herrera), 73
Misconduct Summary:
HOU: Herrera (caution), 27
LA: Cáceres (caution), 34
HOU: Bassi (caution), 42
LA: Cáceres (second caution, ejection), 63
LA: Puig (caution), 65
HOU: Caicedo (caution), 77
HOU: Herrera (second caution, ejection), 90+4
LA: Costa (ejection), 90+6
Lineups:
LA: GK Jonathan Klinsmann; D Calegari, D Martín Cáceres, D Jalen Neal (Kelvin Leerdam, 77), D Raheem Edwards (Douglas Costa, 61); M Mark Delgado, M Gastón Brugman ©, M Riqui Puig, M Memo Rodríguez (Preston Judd, 45), M Tyler Boyd (Chris Mavinga, 45), F Dejan Joveljić (Javier “Chicharito” Hernández, 55)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Aaron Cervantes; D Kelvin Leerdam; M Daniel Aguirre, M Efraín Álvarez, M Uri Rosell
TOTAL SHOTS: 16 (Dejan Joveljić, 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (Three players tied, 1); FOULS: 7 (Martín Cáceres, 2); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 6; SAVES: 0
HOU: GK Steve Clark; D Franco Escobar (Griffin Dorsey, 83), D Ethan Bartlow, D Daniel Steres, D Teenage Hadebe; M Artur (Luis Caicedo, 72), M Ivan Franco, M Amine Bassi (Brooklyn Raines, 83), M Hector Herrera ©, M Coco Carrasquilla; F Corey Baird
Substitutes Not Used: GK Andrew Tarbell; D Djevencio van der Kust, D Micael dos Santos; M Nelson Quinones; F Sebastian Ferreira
TOTAL SHOTS: 13 (Three players tied, 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (Amine Bassi, 2); FOULS: 10 (Hector Herrera, Amine Bassi, 2); OFFSIDES: 3; CORNER KICKS: 9; SAVES: 3
Referee: Alex Chilowicz
Assistant Referees: Matthew Nelson, Eduardo Jeff
Fourth Official: Jason White
VAR: Luis Guardia
Weather: Clear, 69 degrees
Attendance: 19,128
All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial
LA GALAXY POSTGAME QUOTES
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH AND SPORTING DIRECTOR GREG VANNEY
On his thoughts after the loss:
“Yeah, I have essentially two statements because I said a lot to the group coming into this. And they heard it, and it was a good discussion. The second part is to our fans who show up and fight for us every single game, they won't see that again that. Was unacceptable and it was disrespectful I think to our brand and to who we want to be, and it won't happen again. Yeah, we just -- too many plays inside of the game that we were loose on. We were -- yeah, it doesn't even matter really to talk about tactics or anything. There was too many gaps inside of the competitive side of it for me through the course of the game. There was some emotion involved when the penalty gets called and then it gets overturned again. That was an emotional blow for this group that's had three penalties that could have gone their way previously, and this is the fourth game where you think you've got something and you don't get something and that's an emotional punch in the gut but you've got to bounce back from it and we have to fight through it. Today our emotions got the best of us, and that can't happen. We have to get out there and fight every minute, that's what we do when we play for this club and for our fans who fight for us, we fight for them, and that's the way it's supposed to be. So that won't happen again. The rest of it, for me, we can talk about it but we've got to close that up for now.”
On Martín Cáceres and Douglas Costa receiving red cards in the match:“It's unacceptable. They know it's unacceptable. They apologized to the group. They know it's unacceptable. It can't happen. These guys are veterans in our team and they are supposed to be leaders in our team and they need to set examples and they need to, again, control their emotions and we need them available always. And yeah, they understand that and it's not acceptable.”
On whether or not he considered starting the match with the 3-5-2 formation:
“Yeah, it's certainly something for us to consider, and there are reasons for that that are both tactical and also personnel that are in there for us to consider it. My concern in not starting, again, a little bit is us just being clear on the defending side of things when teams adjust in games. We haven't spent much time inside a 352 and you're on the road and having adapt a little bit inside of games we haven't had enough experience to date in my opinion to be somewhat versatile inside of it. Last week we used it when we could be aggressive. We were down two goals, it's tough to do that from the opening whistle, and you saw a little bit in the second half, we were overaggressive at times even inside of it and things start to open up when they put guys in the right spots, and we don't adapt well inside it and quickly enough, and so that was my reason. Didn't feel like we were quite ready for something like that just yet.”
On Javier “Chicharito” Hernández receiving his first minutes of the season:
“Well, look, by the time he got in, a lot of what he was doing was just getting match fitness and would you telling in some work, getting touches on the ball and integrating in the group because I think we were down a man quickly if not the moment he came in. Pretty quickly, we were there. Then the game gets a little bit more difficult. Look, we had a couple moments but -- a couple moments but there wasn't enough inside of that for me to have an impression of the two of them together. I thought there was disconnect between the group and Preston at sometimes and there were just some moments that -- not the day for me to give an assessment ton that, that's for sure.
On whether or not he spoke to Douglas Costa after the match:
“I had a collective talk with the group and individual discussions will follow. But right now, everybody is regrouping a little bit and like I said, it was a great locker room discussion that stays in the locker room and I expect a response.”
On any positives to take away from the match:
“I mean, the takeaways and things that I like are when we are -- when we are disciplined, when we are in the spots that we want to be, and -- and not roaming around into other spots and creating sort of these rotations that we don't want, then I think we're very good. When we are disciplined and we get the right people in the right spots to make a difference in the game, I thought we had those few moments inside of that where it really shows up and it's crystal clear. But there's too many moments where there's a lack of discipline or impatience, and again, we start moving into other people's spaces, which then gets other people moving out of spaces and then we end up disorganizing ourselves, which then we lose the ball and then the counterattack is on and that was happening a fair amount during the first half, which again, just the energy spent in recovery is too high when things like thathappen, and it becomes -- it becomes problematic both physically and also emotionally because you get -- it's unnecessary. So you know, discipline inside of our structure is important. Discipline inside of the game, which we saw with two red cards is important, so those things need to -- will; they don't need to, they will, they will change, and guys are very clear of that. We haven't been doing that the last couple games and today we got back into what I saw earlier in the season which is, again, like an impatience to want to get on the ball to try to impact the game at the wrong moments, and then we are not where we should be when we should be there and that leaves gaps inside of our game.”
On the status of Séga Coulibaly and Chase Gasper:
“Chase, he's progressing. He trained last week. And Sega has -- he has a bit of, I don't know exactly what you call it, but in kind of the groin region, he's getting some fatigue inside of there and he has progressed towards the tail end of the week, so he'll hopefully rejoin inside of training this week and be able to sustain. He's been able to go through a path to a quarter to three quarters of training sessions without having sort of those symptoms. But I feel like hopefully he's moving in the right direction. We'll integrate him this week and see exactly if he can get through all those things. The other is, you didn't ask injury-wise but Julián Aude joined the team here in Houston, so he'll be -- he'll start his training with the group as soon as we get back.”
