LA Galaxy vs. Vancouver Whitecaps | 2020 MLS Match Preview

2020 MLS Regular Season – Week 19
LA Galaxy vs. Vancouver Whitecaps
Dignity Heath Sports Park – Carson
October 18 – 10:30 PM ET

TV: TSN 1/4

STREAMING: MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US

LOCAL TV: Spectrum SportsNet

A team coming off arguably their best performance takes on a squad that played one of its worst as the in-form Vancouver Whitecaps meet the slumping LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park Sunday night.

The Galaxy (4W-9L-3D) fell to the San Jose Earthquakes 4-0 at home Wednesday night, their sixth straight loss, while the Whitecaps earned their second consecutive 2-1 win, beating LAFC at Providence Park.

While the Galaxy have dominated the history of matches in California, the Whitecaps won the last encounter, with Tosaint Ricketts scoring the lone goal in the 74th minute in a Week 2 victory March 8.

LA Galaxy

Nick Lima struck for a brace as the Earthquakes celebrated a 4-0 Cali Clasico win in Carson that could well be the low point in a difficult season for a Galaxy squad that is last place in the West and six points below the playoff line with seven matches remaining.

"I’ve been talking with them recently before coming here, and I said, everyone has to take the responsibility in this moment because we have lost six games," Guillermo Barros Schelotto said after the match. "Me as a coach and them as players. But the only way to come back from this moment is to fight, to work, to run and we don’t have time to be down. We have a game in three or four days and we have to try to win against Vancouver and that’s it. We need to be strong. I am strong and everyone in the locker room is also strong [enough] to fight.”

There was a report in the Irish Sun claiming former Galaxy forward Robbie Keane was set for a return to the club as its next head coach, replacing head coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto, though the Galaxy dismissed that as a rumor.

Updated team roster
Injury Report:
- QUESTIONABLE: Danilo Acosta (M) - ACL injury
- QUESTIONABLE: Joe Corona (M) - lower body injury
Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: Perry Kitchen (M)
International duty: None

Vancouver Whitecaps

It's back-to-back wins for the second time this season for the Whitecaps, who moved into eighth place in the West following a 2-1 win over LAFC Wednesday night. Lucas Cavallini struck twice, giving him three goals in those consecutive wins. A big key to Cavallini's offensive production, according to Whitecaps coach Marc dos Santos, is his work on the other side of the ball.

“Cava is a player that when he is involved without the ball, it’s like something in his brain clicks, and then he's even more aggressive in the box, and he's more engaged with the game,” Dos Santos said after the match. “In the games that he’s disconnected without the ball well he loses connection even with the ball. It's a player that needs to be involved both in the defensive side and the offensive side and when he does that well, he’s very alive in the game. But of course something has to be said with how Fredy [Montero] is helping Cava and playing around him and taking decisions around him.”

Updated team roster
Injury Report:
- OUT: Maxime Crépeau (GK) - fractured left thumb
- OUT: Cristián Gutiérrez (D) - undisclosed injury
- OUT: Thomas Hasal (GK) - undisclosed injury
Suspended: Janio Bikel (M)
Suspended after next caution: Michael Baldisimo (M)
International duty: None