Los Angeles Galaxy vs Leon Predictions
Los Angeles Galaxy have had a torrid time all season, but are surprisingly the favorites heading into this match against Leon, this year’s CONCACAF Champions League winners. Both teams aren’t in great form, with LA Galaxy sitting in 13th place on the MLS Western Conference table and Leon sitting in 11th place on the Liga MX table.
However, the Liga MX season has been underway for three weeks, and the MLS is over halfway done. Leon’s two losses in three games shouldn’t factor in so significantly against a team that has won just five of its 22 league games this season.
Despite Leon’s struggles, they’ve won their first group game in the Leagues Cup against Vancouver. The only factor going in favor of the LA Galaxy is the home advantage, but they haven’t been able to capitalize on this all year. We think picking Leon is a no-brainer because of the valuable odds on offer.
Previous Meetings
The two sides haven’t faced each other before, making this a difficult match to call. The two sides have made a mark in their respective leagues over the years but never encountered each other in the CONCACAF Champions League.
This is part of the reason behind the formation of the Leagues Cup. The Liga MX and MLS have been getting stronger over the years, and there has been an appetite from fans of both leagues to see more matches between teams from the two leagues.
There’s also the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Mexico has a football culture, but the same can’t be said for the US. The arrival of players like Messi will go a long way to building that culture, as he’ll fill up stadiums wherever he goes, but more work needs to be done to market soccer in North America.
Returning to the match, there isn’t much to add from the previous section. It’s best to stick with Leon because of the aforementioned value.
Vancouver Put Four Past LA Galaxy
LA Galaxy lost 4-2 to the Vancouver Whitecaps in their last MLS match before the break. As mentioned earlier, Vancouver are in the same group, so this doesn’t bode well for the five-time MLS champions.
They got off to the worst start possible, with Brian White making it 1-0 within two minutes. Ryan Guald made it 2-0 eight minutes later and added another in the 23rd minute via a spot-kick. Chris Mavinga, who conceded the penalty, was sent off. The half ended 3-0 to Vancouver, and the result seemed certain; however, LA Galaxy showed some spirit by scoring two goals in the second half.
The first came in the 61st minute through Gaston Brugman, and the second came through Marco Delgado in the 74th minute. It looked like LA Galaxy might get a result despite their horrific start to the game, but Sergio Cordova clinched the tie with a goal four minutes into second-half stoppage time to make it 4-2 to Vancouver.
Vancouver took 17 shots to LA Galaxy’s 12 and had 52% of the possession. Of course, the red card helped, but they were up by two goals even before the red card. LA Galaxy showed some pride in their second-half performance, but this was yet another disappointing result in a nightmare season.
Can LA Galaxy Turn Things Around?
As disappointing as this season and the last MLS match has been for LAFC, they’ve shown signs of a resurgence in recent weeks. They got the better of LAFC and Philadelphia Union recently, which is no easy task.
These two sides were last season’s finalists, and LAFC are city rivals, which shows that LA Galaxy are capable of far more than they’re showing. A big reason for their struggles this year was not having Javier Hernandez at the start of the season: the Mexican is the team’s captain and primary goalscorer.
The team has struggled to get wins even after his return, but this has more to do with the pressure of catching up. No matter how much quality a team possesses, catching up to other teams in the league can be extremely draining. Even Inter Miami, who’ve got the services of Lionel Messi now, will find this hard, and LA Galaxy can’t call upon talents like Messi.
The Leagues Cup allows them to start a tournament from scratch. They have players like Hernandez and Puig, who have the quality to go toe-to-toe with the best of the MLS and Liga MX. This tournament offers them a shot at redemption.
Leon Beat Vancouver on Penalties
Group C of the Leagues Cup kicked off with Leon and the Vancouver Whitecaps. Leon took the lead through Ivan Moreno in the 23rd minute. It looked like they were going to take this slender lead into halftime, but Sergio Cordova had other ideas to level the scores.
Cordova added another in the 57th minute to give Vancouver a 2-1 lead, but Leon had an answer in the form of Elias Hernandez in the 77th minute. At full-time, the scores were even and were set to be decided by a penalty shootout. This was a most ludicrous penalty shooting, with Leon coming out on top 16-15. The nature of the win will give the entire team a lift as they haven’t looked great in the Liga MX recently.
They were well worth the three points, as they took 14 shots to Vancouver’s eight and had 65% of the possession. They did enough to get all the points full-time.
Leon Have Made a Strange Start to the Liga MX Season
Leon have lost two of their three Liga MX matches so far this season. They’ve had some difficult fixtures to start with – Guadalajara, Pachuca, and Tigres – but as the current CONCACAF Champions League winners, more is expected of them.
They showed what they’re made of against Pachuca with a 4-0 win, but the losses against Guadalajara and Tigres showed that they still have a way to go when it comes to the league. The Champions League is a knockout competition, so any team can go through their day, but the league is a more accurate summation of a team’s standing.
They can’t take the LA Galaxy lightly, either. The MLS side hasn’t been in the best of form recently, but they’ve got some big wins recently. However, if Leon play to the best of their ability, there’s only going to be one winner in the tie.
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