Galaxy seek first win of the season, face Sporting KC
Two proud franchises are struggling to gain traction in the 2025 MLS season, and they'll line up Sunday evening to see if they can do that against each other.
The LA Galaxy (0-7-3, 3 points) will travel to Sporting Kansas City (2-7-1, 7 points) still looking for their first win of the 2025 season. The Galaxy are one of two winless teams in the league. The other is CF Montreal.
The defending MLS champions matched their season-high with two goals in their most recent match, a 4-2 loss to the Portland Timbers. After falling behind Portland 3-0, the Galaxy used Christian Ramirez's team-leading fifth goal to get within two goals. Ramirez headed a cross from Joseph Paintsil in the 67th minute.
Ramirez then fed Marco Reus, who finished into the lower corner of the goal to bring Los Angeles within one goal two minutes later. However, Portland iced the victory with a goal in the 76th minute.
Head coach Greg Vanney has not lost faith in his club.
"I trust the guys, and I like them," Vanney said. "I feel like we have some good moments and some good stretches and then we are a little shaky and we sometimes create our own issues. We've got to keep working and find the solutions inside of our group to help us turn the results around."
Sporting KC will be hoping forward Dejan Joveljic continues his hot streak on his home pitch going against his former club. All five of Joveljic's goals for Sporting have come at Children's Mercy Park. He had a similar stretch with the Galaxy, and he now has 12 goals in his last 10 home appearances in MLS play with both clubs.
Joveljic spent four seasons with the LA Galaxy, scoring 45 goals and 18 assists; he led the Galaxy to the 2024 MLS Cup title, including scoring the winning goal against the New York Red Bulls in the final. He was acquired by Sporting KC in the offseason.
"It's going to be special, but I want nothing more than to win," Joveljic said.
SKC interim coach Kerry Zavagnin knows it won't be easy to keep the Galaxy down.
"Any time you play LA, you have to respect them," he said. "They have great players, and a lot of those players lifted a trophy not long ago. They know how to win and they're well-coached. Any time you play a team of that stature, it's a big occasion."
First Published: 4 May 2025, 04:15 AM IST
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