LOS ANGELES GALAXY v. SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC - LEAGUES CUP - SEMI-FINAL - AVALON BOULEVARD, CARSON, CALIFORNIA

Greetings to my brothers and sisters in Green. Sounders FC ring up yet more frequent flyer miles as they head to the Southland for a midweek, Leagues Cup Semi-Final banger at Avalon Boulevard.

What: Leagues Cup Semi-Final, Los Angeles Galaxy v. Seattle Sounders FC.

Where: Avalon Boulevard, Carson, California.

When: 7:45 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, Wednesday 27 August 2025 CE.

At Stake: That depends on where you are with Leagues Cup. If you don’t like what Leagues Cup has done to the domestic football calendar, then this match, and all matches in this tournament, are meaningless. If you really fancy MLS v. Liga MX, and that’s your jam, Leagues Cup is super-important. If you just think of it as another chance for the Sounders FC to win a trophy this season, then Leagues Cup is a potential means to that end. Finalists and winner of the match for 3rd Place qualify for CONCACAF Champions Cup next season. That pretty much sums it up.

Where to Watch: MLS Season Pass via Apple TV, Apple TV+, TUDN, and Univision.

Where to Listen: If there is radio coverage to be had, it would presumably be from KJR 93.3 FM and El Rey 1360 AM.

Hate this tournament. Still want to win it though. In other matters: So good to see a preview of our future in the comprehensive lashing that was our 5:2 victory over Kansas City on Sunday. I mean, what about that match wasn’t amazing? I can only hope that it wasn’t a one-off, and that our plan for the future is to maintain a squad that is at least two deep in every position. No favourites; whoever trains the best, plays. If someone is fatigued, they are deputised for. It’s really not rocket science.

I don’t have to mention how satisfying it would be to defeat Galaxy in this massive match. And yet, here, I’ll go on and do so anyweh. The laundry list of LA Galaxy’s honours: 6x MLS Cup champions, 4x MLS league champions, 2x US Open Cup champions, and one CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2000 that everyone is so quick to discount, because…I don’t know…it wasn’t enough prize money, or termite infestation, someone called no backsies, planets being out of alignment, etc. But I digress. LA Galaxy was an original MLS club in 1996, yet Seattle, every bit the equal or better of Los Angeles as a football city, had to wait a decade until 2009 to compete in the new league. They regularly outspend us for talent and, to be honest, this makes us not much care for them, really.

If you’re making the trip down to the Southland, look after each other and tie your scarves proper. Be present, and be as loud as humanly possible. Mind the brownshirts, and don’t get yourselves thrown in the gulag. Mixing my metaphors there, apologies.

It’s Leagues Cup football, such as it is, under the Wednesday night lights at Avalon Boulevard. GO ON YOU SOUNDERS!!! GET IN!!!

Before kick-off, please join me in the auld toast: “TO THE SEATTLE SOUNDERS FOOTBALL CLUB…AND VICTORY!!!”

Strike true, Osaze.

The Good News

Yeh, Musovski is suspended, but it should be remembered that Osaze De Rosario has already scored two goals in this tournament - one more than Musovski. In addition, De Rosario has one goal for us in the league, scored eight goals in the reserves, and two goals in the US Open Cup. That’s a total of 13 goals in all competitions. So, De Rosario will do nicely at centre-forward, thank you very much.

Hitting five goals past Kansas City has restored my faith that we can score goals, after a dry spell of being shut out twice.

If Sounders win this match, they are guaranteed a place in next season’s CONCACAF Champions Cup. Should we be defeated, we could still qualify for CCC by winning the match for 3rd Place.

The Gaffer’s wise decision to run out the lads on Sunday means our first-choice players are well-rested. I’m certain our first-choice players are grateful yet astonished to get a reprieve.

Our defeat at Minnesota United is the only one we’ve suffered in our last 13 matches (8-4-1). That’s a damn good run of form. Let’s continue it then.

The Bad News

LA Galaxy is tied for worst defence in the league with Kansas City with 55 goals conceded. However, in cup football, Galaxy are far more stingy, conceding 9 goals/8 matches for an average of 1.13 goals conceded per match in cup football (aggregation of results from CONCACAF Champions Cup and Leagues Cup).

Galaxy are an unimpressive 4-2-7 at home in the league, but in the Leagues Cup and CONCACAF Champions Cup they have an unbeaten home record of 4-2-0. Which team will we see midweek, the one we battered 0:4 on 10 August, or the one that beat Pachuca 2:1 and Colorado 3:0 in their last two matches?

Sure we beat the pants off Galaxy last time we visited, but that’s just given them a trove of video to go over what they done wrong and train on it for 17 days.

LA Galaxy’s schedule permitted them an additional day in between matches before the Semi-Final on Wednesday.

Galaxy played a selection of mostly squad players against Colorado last Sat. Galaxy’s squad players beat Colorado 3:0, where we were unable to defeat them in our two league fixtures against Rapids this season.

Musovski serving a one-match ban for his outburst in the Quarter-Final against Puebla is not ideal for us. His absence will be palpable. This is underscored by his stunning, hat-trick hero performance against Kansas City on Sunday. To be fair to Musovski, the Puebla player that was constantly kicking and harassing him should’ve been booked for persistent infringement. This is what happens when you get a Ref that cannae control the match. We were lucky no one was hurt……………no one was hurt, right? Sorry. Hasn’t been an injury report since before we played the Loons.

The Side I Would Select

I’d have the same team that strafed Galaxy last time, minus Musovski and Kim. Although, if it weren’t a two-day turn-around, I’d say our youngers earned another run out, with their comprehensive 5:2 victory over Kansas City on Sunday night.

GK     Thomas

LB     Nouhou

LCH    Ragen

RCH    Gomez Andrade

RB     Alex

LDM    Vargas

RDM   Cristian

LF     de la Vega

CAM   Ferreira

RF     Rothrock

CF     De Rosario

The Side I Think The Gaffer Will Select

I don’t think the Gaffer will trust De Rosario at centre-forward with a Semi-Final cup tie on the line. He should, but history says he will favour the most experienced players available. Assuming that this is true, the only real option would be to have Ferreira as a false-9, where he is woefully miscast. To further complicate matters, if Ferreira is leading the line, who will play in the #10 role? Cristian? Leyva played the full 90 minutes, so theoretically he’s not available. Vargas is a #8. Rothrock? Move de la Vega to the #10 and double-shift Minoungou, who played the full 90 minutes against Kansas City, at left-forward? Play five at the back? This is making my head hurt, so given that I’ve covered my journalistic bases with the above speculation, I will predict Schmetzer will select the same team that I would select.

GK     Thomas

LB     Nouhou
LCH    Ragen

RCH    Gomez Andrade

RB     Alex

LDM    Vargas

RDM   Cristian

LF     de la Vega

CAM   Ferreira

RF     Rothrock

CF     De Rosario

Intangibles

Officiating.

The match referee for Wednesday night will be Adonai Escobedo Gonzalez.

LAG record with Gonzalez as Ref: 0-0-1

SEA record with Gonzalez as Ref: 0-0-0

Autocracy.

Pretty sure Los Angeles is currently under Martial Law. That’s probably not good.

We are being outspent.

SEA 2025 disclosed transfer fees paid: €1.45M

LAG 2025 disclosed transfer fees paid: €5.42M

General notes on personnel

LA Galaxy transfers IN:

“Zanka” Jorgensen (Anderlecht) free

Marcinkowski (San Jose Earthquakes) free

Yoshida - re-signed

Scott - re-signed

Zavaleta - re-signed

Wynder (Louisville City) €380,000

Sanabria (Nacional) €4.8M

Ramirez (Columbus Crew SC) €240,000

Nascimento (Botafogo) loan

Vivi (Saprissa) end of loan

LA Galaxy transfers OUT:

Caceres (Libertad) free

Brugman (Nashville SC) undisclosed

Neal (CF Montreal) €625,000

Delgado (Los Angeles FC) €385,000

Joveljic (Sporting Kansas City) €3.85M

Davis (MLS Pool) bought out

Bibout (Vasteras) €100,000

Essengue (Phoenix Rising) loan

McCarthy (New York RB) €128,000

Perez (Nashville SC) €1.3M

Comparison against common opponents

LAG 0:2 SD

SD 2:1 LAG

SD 3:0 SEA

SEA 1:0 SD

(against SD: LAG 0-0-2 -3, SEA 1-0-1 -2)  edge SEA

VAN 2:1 LAG

LAG 3:0 VAN

VAN 3:0 SEA

(against VAN: LAG 1-0-1 +2, SEA 0-0-1 -3) decisive edge LAG

LAG 0:3 STL

STL 3:3 LAG

STL 1:0 SEA

SEA 4:1 STL

(against STL: LAG 0-1-1 -3, SEA 1-0-1 +2) decisive edge SEA

POR 1:1 LAG

LAG 2:4 POR

POR 1:1 SEA

(against POR: LAG 0-1-1 -2, SEA 0-1-0 0) marginal edge SEA

MIN 2:2 LAG

SEA 2:3 MIN

MIN 1:0 SEA

(against MIN: LAG 0-1-0 0, SEA 0-0-2 -2) edge LAG

RSL 2:0 LAG

LAG 2:0 RSL

RSL 2:0 SEA

(against RSL: LAG 1-0-1 0, SEA 0-0-1 -2) decisive edge LAG

LAG 1:1 HOU

SEA 0:0 HOU

HOU 1:3 SEA

(against HOU: LAG 0-1-0 0, SEA 1-1-0 +2) edge SEA

ATX 1:0 LAG

LAG 1:2 ATX

SEA 2:0 ATX

(against ATX: LAG 0-0-2 -2, SEA 1-0-0 +2) decisive edge SEA

SKC 1:0 LAG

SKC 2:3 SEA

SEA 5:2 SKC

(against SKC: LAG 0-0-1 -1, SEA 2-0-0 +4) decisive edge SEA

LAG 2:2 LAFC

LAFC 3:3 LAG

SEA 5:2 LAFC

LAFC 4:0 SEA

(against LAFC: LAG 0-2-0 0, SEA 1-0-1 -1) marginal edge SEA

LAG 0:1 SJ

SJ 1:1 LAG

SJ 1:1 SEA

SEA 3:2 SJ

(against SJ: LAG 0-1-1 -1, SEA 1-1-0 +1) decisive edge SEA

COL 2:0 LAG

LAG 3:0 COL

COL 1:1 SEA

SEA 3:3 COL

(against COL: LAG 1-0-1 +1, SEA 0-2-0 0) marginal edge LAG

LAG 5:2 TIJ LC

SEA 2:1 TIJ LC

(against TIJ: LAG 1-0-0 +3, SEA 1-0-0 +1) marginal edge LAG

LAG 1:1 CAZ LC

SEA 7:0 CAZ LC

(against CAZ: LAG 0-1-0 0, SEA 1-0-0 +7) decisive edge SEA

LAG 4:0 CSL LC

SEA 2:1 CSL LC

(against CSL: LAG 1-0-0 +4, SEA 1-0-0 +1) edge LAG

Know Thine Enemy

When Galaxy lined up in their 3:0 victory over Colorado at Avalon Boulevard on 23 August, they did not select their first-choice players. Therefore, I will list Galaxy as they played against us in their 0:4 defeat on 10 August, as they will likely field the same selection when they face us midweek in the Leagues Cup Semi-Final.

GOALKEEPER

Novak Micovic, 23

Serbia

Notable Clubs: Cukaricki (22/0), IMT (11/0), Los Angeles Galaxy (17/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €400,000

Notes: Developed by Cukaricki. Won an MLS Cup with Los Angeles Galaxy.

DEFENCE

Julian Aude, 22

Argentina

Notable Clubs: Lanus (25/0), Los Angeles Galaxy (69/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €3M

Notes: Full name: Julian Ezequiel Aude Bernardi. Developed by CBP Nicolas Avellaneda and Lanus. Won an MLS Cup with Los Angeles Galaxy. Has played for Argentina at youth levels (5/0). Won a CONMEBOL U17 title with Argentina U17s.

Maya Yoshida, 36

Japan (126/12)

Notable Clubs: Nagoya Grampus (71/5), VVV Venlo (54/5), Southampton (154/6), Sampdoria (72/3), Schalke 04 (29/0), Los Angeles Galaxy (67/4)

Estimated Transfer Value: €200,000

Notes: Developed by Nagoya Grampus. Won an AFC Asian Cup with Japan. Named to AFC Asian Cup Team of the Tournament 2019. Won an MLS Cup with Los Angeles Galaxy.

Emiro Garces, 23

Colombia

Notable Clubs: Deportiva Pereira (53/1), Los Angeles Galaxy (29/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €700,000

Notes: Full name: Carlos Emiro Garces Torres. Won a Colombian league title with Deportivo Pereira. Won an MLS Cup with Los Angeles Galaxy.

Mauricio Cuevas, 22

United States

Notable Clubs: Los Angeles Galaxy (41/2)

Estimated Transfer Value: €350,000

Notes: Developed by Los Angeles Galaxy. Played for United States at youth levels (25/2). Won CONCACAF U-20 Championship with United States. Won an MLS Cup with Los Angeles Galaxy.

MIDFIELD

Diego Fagundez, 30

Uruguay

Notable Clubs: New England Revolution (261/53), Austin FC (89/15), Los Angeles Galaxy (68/9)

Estimated Transfer Value: €2M

Notes: Full name: Diego Santiago Fagundez Pepe. Developed by Leominster Youth Soccer, Greater Boston Bolts, and New England Revolution. Won an MLS Cup with Los Angeles Galaxy.

Edwin Cerrillo, 24

United States

Notable Clubs: FC Dallas (87/0), Los Angeles Galaxy (66/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €2.5M

Notes: Developed by FC Dallas. Won an MLS Cup with Los Angeles Galaxy.

Marco Reus, 36

Germany (48/15)

Notable Clubs: Rot Weiss Ahlen (43/5), Borussia Monchengladbach (97/36), Borussia Dortmund (294/120), Los Angeles Galaxy (24/6)

Estimated Transfer Value: €2M

Notes: Developed by Post SV Dortmund and Borussia Dortmund. Won two German Cups and three German Supercups with Borussia Dortmund. Three times named German Player’s Union Bundesliga Player of the Season. Won Bundesliga Breakthrough of the Season. Bundesliga Top assist provider. Named six times to the Bundesliga Team of the Season. Twice named Footballer of the Year in Germany. Germany national Player of the Year.  UEFA Team of the Year. UEFA Champions League Team of the Season. Won an MLS Cup with Los Angeles Galaxy.

FORWARD

Joseph Paintsil, 27

Ghana (15/0)

Notable Clubs: Tema Youth (22/10), Ferencvaros (25/10), Genk (130/30), Ankaragucu (33/11), Los Angeles Galaxy (46/14)

Estimated Transfer Value: €8M

Notes: Developed by RB Ghana and Tema Youth. Won a Belgian league title and Belgian Super Cup with Genk. Won an MLS Cup with Los Angeles Galaxy.

Matheus Nascimento, 21

Brazil

Notable Clubs: Botafogo (84/9), Los Angeles Galaxy (17/3)

Estimated Transfer Value: €3M

Notes: Full name: Matheus Nascimento de Paula. Developed by Botafogo. Won a Campeonato Brasileiro Serie B, Copa Libertadores, and Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A with Botafogo. Won the Pan American Games with Brazil U-23s.

Gabriel Pec, 24

Brazil

Notable Clubs: Vasco da Gama (168/25), Los Angeles Galaxy (54/20)

Estimated Transfer Value: €10M

Notes: Full Name: Gabriel Fortes Chaves. Developed by Vasco da Gama. Won an MLS Cup with Los Angeles Galaxy. Named MLS Newcomer of the Year 2024.

Familiar Faces

Galaxy forward Miguel Berry played for the Sounders U23s (9/2) in 2017.

Galaxy defender Eriq Zavaleta played for the Sounders FC (5/0) from 2013-2014.

Squads

LA Galaxy from:

Micovic, Yamane, Aude, Yoshida, “Zanka” Joergensen, Cerrillo, Fagundez, Sanabria, Nascimento, Puig, Gabriel Pec, Marcinkowski, Nelson, Zavaleta, Parente, Ramirez, Reus, Cuevas, Lepley, Wynder, Ramos, Garces, Miller, Berry, Paintsil, Vivi, Scott, Rindov, Sullivan.

Sounders FC from:

Sousa, Burney, Nouhou, Cristian, Ferreira, de la Vega, Rothrock, Bell, Alex, Vargas, Kim, Baker-Whiting, Frei, Ragen, Thomas, Gomez Andrade, Castro, Baker, Brunell, Shour, Kingston, Leyva, Kossa-Rienzi, Gomez, Minoungou, De Rosario.

Injury List

Best guess for Galaxy, Sounders FC injury data as of the last league match against Kansas City.

LA Galaxy -

OUT: no information

MATCHDAY DECISION: no information

Sounders FC -

OUT: Kent (hamstring), Rusnak (hamstring), Morris (shoulder), Joao Paulo (knee), Arriola (knee), Hawkins (quadriceps).

MATCHDAY DECISION: none.

Discipline

LA Galaxy: Cerrillo, Micovic, and Cuevas are carrying bookings into this match.

Sounders FC: Musovski will serve a one-match ban.

Fun Fact

Sounders FC have played four matches in the 2025 Leagues Cup, scoring 11 goals and conceding only two, for a goals differential of +9. Sounders FC Leagues Cup goal scorers are as follows:

De Rosario 2

de la Vega 2

Gomez Andrade

Vargas

Ferreira

Nouhou

Minoungou

Musovski

(Ortega - own-goal)