LOS ANGELES (Wednesday June 21, 2023) – The LA Galaxy played Sporting Kansas City to a 2-2 draw before 20,960 fans at Dignity Health Sports Park on Wednesday night. Preston Judd and Martín Cáceres both scored goals, while Riqui Puig, Douglas Costa and Raheem Edwards each recorded assists as the LA Galaxy extended their unbeaten run to three matches in league play dating back to May 31.
LA Galaxy Against Sporting KC
Wednesday’s match marked the 79th meeting across all competitions between the LA Galaxy and Sporting Kansas City, with the Galaxy leading the all-time series 31-29-19. Against Sporting KC, LA holds a 26-26-18 record in league play and a 5-3-1 record in the MLS Cup Playoffs. In 34 regular-season matches played at home against Kansas City, LA holds a 17-8-9 record. In two matches played between the two teams this season, the series was tied 0-0-2.
Galaxy Run Of Form
In LA’s last three matches played in league played dating back to May 31, the Galaxy hold an unbeaten record of 1-0-2 (5 GF, 4 GA). In the Galaxy’s last four matches played at home across all competitions dating back to May 10, LA holds a 2-1-1 record (7 GF, 5 GA).
LA Galaxy Debuts
Defender Mauricio Cuevas and forward Aaron Bibout both made their LA Galaxy and MLS debuts as second-half substitutes in the match against Sporting KC. Bibout was signed to a short-term loan after Javier “Chicharito” Hernández was placed on the Season-Ending Injury List. Ten different players have made their debut for the LA Galaxy during the 2023 campaign.
Goal-Scoring Plays
SKC – Alan Pulido (Erik Thommy, Daniel Salloi), 12th minute – Erik Thommy’s cross from the right flank found Alan Pulido, whose header from close range was powered past LA Galaxy goalkeeper Jonathan Bond.
LA – Martín Cáceres (Douglas Costa), 24th minute – From a free-kick near the left touchline, Douglas Costa’s in-swinging delivery to the back post found Martín Cáceres, who headed the ball into the top corner of the goal.
LA – Preston Judd (Riqui Puig, Raheem Edwards), 64th minute – Raheem Edwards won the ball in midfield and quickly played the ball to Riqui Puig up the field. Puig’s outside the boot, lofted pass into the box found Preston Judd, whose diving header looped over the head of Sporting KC goalkeeper Kendall McIntosh into the back of the net.
SKC – Alan Pulido (Penalty Kick), 90+1st minute – After a handball was whistled inside the box, Alan Pulido’s penalty-kick shot was fired off the fingertips of LA Galaxy goalkeeper Jonathan Bond and into the top corner.
Postgame Notes
- Wednesday’s match marked the 79th meeting across all competitions between the LA Galaxy and Sporting Kansas City, with the Galaxy leading the all-time series 31-29-19.
- Against Sporting KC, LA holds a 26-26-18 record in league play and a 5-3-1 record in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
- In 34 regular-season matches played at home against Kansas City, LA holds a 17-8-9 record.
- In two matches played between the two teams this season, the series was tied 0-0-2.
- In nine games played at home across all competitions during the 2023 campaign, the LA Galaxy hold a 3-4-2 record (14 GF, 14 GA).
- In the Galaxy’s last four matches played at home across all competitions dating back to May 10, LA holds a 2-1-1 record (7 GF, 5 GA).
- In LA’s last three matches played in league played dating back to May 31, the Galaxy hold an unbeaten record of 1-0-2 (5 GF, 4 GA).
- In his second start of the 2023 MLS Regular Season, Preston Judd scored his second goal of the season.
- Defender Mauricio Cuevas and forward Aaron Bibout both made their MLS and LA Galaxy debuts as second-half substitutes in the match against Sporting KC.
- Judd has tallied one goal and one assist in his last two matches played dating back to June 11.
- Douglas Costa recorded an assist, three chances created and six successful dribbles in the draw against Sporting KC.
- Costa has tallied one goal and two assists in three matches played across all competitions dating back to June 7.
- Riqui Puig tallied his third assist of the season in the draw against Kansas City.
- Raheem Edwards tallied his first assist of the 2023 campaign in the match against SKC.
- Gastón Brugman won four tackles and seven duels, tallied one interception, four clearances and completed a game-high 64 passes (88.9% passing accuracy).
- Tyler Boyd hit the crossbar in the 73rd minute of the match.
Next Game
Next up, the LA Galaxy travel to face the Colorado Rapids at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Saturday, June 24. The match on June 24 kicks off at 6:30 p.m. PT and will be broadcasted live on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
2023 MLS Regular Season
LA Galaxy (3-9-5, 14pts) vs. Sporting Kanas City (5-9-6, 21pts)
Wednesday, June 21, 2023 – Dignity Health Sports Park (Los Angeles)
Goals by Half 1 2 F
LA Galaxy 1 1 2
Sporting Kansas City 1 1 2
Scoring Summary:
SKC: Pulido (Thommy, Salloi), 12
LA: Cáceres (Costa), 24
LA: Judd (Puig, Edwards), 64
SKC: Pulido (penalty kick), 90+1
Misconduct Summary:
SKC: Thommy (caution), 17
SKC: Rosero (caution), 23
LA: Aguirre (caution), 90
Lineups:
LA: GK Jonathan Bond; D Calegari, D Martín Cáceres (Kelvin Leerdam, 85), D Chris Mavinga, D Julián Aude (Raheem Edwards, 62), M Mark Delgado, M Gastón Brugman ©, M Riqui Puig, M Tyler Boyd (Mauricio Cuevas, 86), M Douglas Costa (Daniel Aguirre, 75); F Preston Judd (Aaron Bibout, 76)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Jonathan Klinsmann; M Efraín Álvarez, M Adam Saldaña, M Gino Vivi
TOTAL SHOTS: 10 (Three players tied, 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 2 (Martín Cáceres, Preston Judd, 1); FOULS: 11 (Mark Delgado, Preston Judd, 2); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 6; SAVES: 3
SKC: GK Kendall McIntosh; D Andreu Fontas, D Dany Rosero, D Tim Leibold, D Jake Davis; M Nemanja Radoja, M Erik Thommy (Roger Espinoza, 75), M Remi Walter; F Alan Pulido ©, F Khiry Shelton (Johnny Russell, 65), F Daniel Salloi
Substitutes Not Used: GK John Pulskamp; D Robert Voloder, D Robert Castellanos; M Danny Flores, M Felipe Hernandez, F Stephen Afrifa
TOTAL SHOTS: 21 (Alan Pulido, 6); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (Alan Pulido, 2); FOULS: 11 (Tim Leibold, 3); OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 8; SAVES: 0
Referee: Filip Dujic
Assistant Referees: Mike Rottersman, Stefan Tanaka-Freundt
Fourth Official: Alexis Da Silva
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero
Weather: Clear, 73 degrees
Attendance: 20,960
All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial
LA GALAXY POSTGAME QUOTES
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH AND SPORTING DIRECTOR GREG VANNEY
On if he saw the handball, if it looked legitimate to him and his thoughts on the game overall:
“I haven’t seen it. So, I don’t really have much of an opinion on it. We were a couple minutes from closing out. Unfortunately, again, we lose a center back. Right in that final phase of closing out the game. We don’t have any center backs on the bench, because we don’t have any here, because we have two away at national team and a couple injured. So, we just tried to create a little bit of a way to protect ourselves from not having center backs back there. I think we were okay. I think it turns a little bit as we get a foul call against us at the top of the box with Kelvin [Leerdam] as a player that’s facing away from the goal and isn’t going anywhere. That allows him to whip one inside of our box, which then leaves to the corner, which then leads to the incident that leads to the handball. Look, if we didn’t have bad luck when it comes to some of our player stuff right now, we wouldn’t have any luck at all. It’s just with guys that are important for us who have taken a couple injuries, and the international duty, and guys that have to come in and sometimes play a role, which, whatever role it is that’s necessary inside of the game to see it out. We had that opportunity. I thought in the second half, we were pretty compact defensively, and withstanding a lot of their attacks and we looked pretty dangerous in the transition. Preston [Judd] up top and Riqui [Puig], the runs that he was making, he got the ball in, building speed into the attacks. The one that Tyler [Boyd] hits off the crossbar, you want to get that one and then you create a little cushion for yourself down the stretch. So, I thought there was three points in there tonight for us, and, we didn’t get the one we needed, one extra goal, to close out those last few minutes down the stretch.”
On the status of Martín Cáceres:
“I just saw him inside. It seems like he took a hit in the knee. I don’t know yet if it’s contusion or something different, or more, came out of it. Or if it’s contusion. I don’t know. Certainly, he was immobile leaving the field. So, I just don’t know exactly. We probably won’t know too soon. But, we won’t know, maybe for a day. As of right now, I’m, hoping it’s a contusion, just a knock that he can quickly recover from.”
On the first home game in quite some time with the Supporters back, and what the atmosphere felt like:
“It did. It felt like we were closer, back to normal. I mean, it’s a Wednesday, you know, we’ll always… most Wednesdays are just a tough lighter than you would be maybe on a Saturday or a Sunday. But in general, I thought and felt like, the energy in the building, there was certainly more of that than the rest of the season. I think the guys profited off that noise and were able to use it in a positive way. It’s nice to have the environment like that to play in. It’s good for the players. It’s good for the game. So, it was good to have them tonight.”
On what it says about the team coming back from going down one goal in the beginning:
“I think we’ve seen that now from the last three league games we’ve played in. Two of those on the road, that we were in Salt Lake, we were up one, then we were down one, then we came back and won by one. And then in St. Louis we got down a goal and then we came back and got the point back. I think again there’s some resiliency in there. There’s some stick-to-the-plan kinds of things, where we’re not deviating or rush to get a goal. We’ve kind of stuck to it. We’ve seen that over time, we can get the goals and we can get ourselves back on the right side of the game. I’ve seen a different, just a good connection with the group and that resiliency over these last few games. It’s been good for us. Inside of that, what we’re talking about it just more consistency of our good moments. Continuing to, again, be stingier with the types of goals that we give away. Last weekend against St. Louis, that’s a goal you have to live with. The finish there. And then tonight, a little bit tougher in terms of how we view the goals of tonight. It’s got to be cleaner. A little better. And then taking your opportunities and just taking that. Like I said earlier, Tyler [Boyd] has a great chance to create a real separation in the game, and we don’t get it, and now we’ve got to grind it out and lose a center back and it becomes a whole different challenge at the end too that we’ve got to see it out. So, that, I do, I see it. And I find the resiliency. I see growth in our young players, and we’ve seen growth just in the collective. I sat back recently and, there’s some guys that are pretty new to the league, and new to the team, and new to this group, that are, they’re working on finding their way together. Also how to get these tough results in tough ways. So, I’m seeing that come around. Now we’ve got to turn these draws into three points. Especially with a game like tonight where we have the lead late, we’ve got to turn that into three points. They know that. That’s the disappointment in the locker room right now.”
On Preston Judd and his game and what he adds:
“Yeah. He’s a different type of forward than the other two. He likes to get on and run in channels. And he has… he’s probably our fastest player, potentially. I should know that off the top of my head. I think he is. And he’s big and strong and powerful. And he likes contact. And he looks for contact. And he actually uses contact to use benefit. And he plays center backs like that. He’s the type of forward that center backs hate to play against. But that way he… when we get him in those transitions, the way he opens runs and shapes and then the speed that he has, is another dimension for us. It was nice to see tonight and it gave us something different. We were able to… in the first half, I thought they were able to play through our lines a little bit too easy. I thought they were using [Alan] Pulido, who was dropping off as a striker, right between our pivots. And he was linking up the game. It was too easy for him to get in to our half of the field. So we decided to sit a little bit more compact and play into the transition a little bit more. And I felt that really opened up some opportunities for us. And using Preston’s [Judd] speed and using Riqui’s [Puig] pace with the ball and Tyler [Boyd] being able to get up a little bit, I thought we created some interesting moments out of the transition game as well. Which, again, that’s not something you always see from our group.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD PRESTON JUDD
On scoring a goal tonight:
"First off it was great having the fans back. It changed the whole atmosphere. It was nice playing in front of them for the first time and I'm looking forward to the next time. With Dejan [Joveljić] out, I knew I had an opportunity, I had been preparing for this the whole season, just waiting for my shot. So, I was confident coming in and I did what I could to help the team and unfortunately we didn't win tonight but I left knowing I did all I could tonight." _
On what he brings to the team:
"I think what I want to add is I want to be known as the guy that works hard. I want to work hard for the team, work hard for this club and if I work hard I know everything else will come. I am fast, strong, can score goals so as long as I'm working, I know all the rest will follow."
On Riqui Puig's assist on his goal:
"It was unbelievable once I saw it come off his foot, I knew it was a perfect ball. I watched the replay as I was walking back in, and I was still like ‘holy crap how did he do that?’ It was a crazy ball and not many people in the world can do that. It is unreal playing with him, I'm lucky to play with him, looking forward to more balls like that."
On if the team can build off being unbeaten in the last three games:
_“I think throughout the whole season, I think we have never lost trust, never lost faith. We got some unlucky bounces. Maybe it is not a PK again tonight, we don't know. But we just keep working hard and we'll start getting the lucky bounces to get the three points that we need.”
