What led to the Galaxy's loss to San Diego FC?

CARSON, Calif. -- The panic and alarm bells that began ringing in the wake of the Los Angeles Galaxy’s stunning 2-0 opening-day loss to expansion team San Diego FC have mostly subsided.

Mostly.

Although it’s one defeat in their first game of a long MLS season, it’s only natural to have questions about the title-holder’s performance. The fact that the embarrassing defeat came on the day the Galaxy presented MLS Cup to its fans and hung a championship banner in its rafters made the defeat even more demoralizing to fans.

Against San Diego, the Galaxy looked sluggish, bereft of offensive ideas, and looked like the new team making its debut on the road.

Galaxy Head Coach Greg Vanney’s teams are known for their possession-based system, but against the league’s newest team, Vanney claimed LA looked “disjointed” and “disconnected” in a press conference after the defeat. It led to San Diego outperforming them in several key metrics. 

San Diego controlled the match from the first whistle on Sunday afternoon, enjoying 61% possession within the opening 15 minutes. By the end of the first half, that figure had dropped only slightly to 59%. 

The Galaxy were also beaten by San Diego in expected goals, shots on target, total passes, passes inside the opposition’s box, corners won, and passes in the final third. 

It’s little wonder that Los Angeles only created one big chance all game, a sliding Miguel Berry effort that San Diego Goalkeeper CJ dos Santos did well to save. 

But with all the odds in their favor, how exactly did the Galaxy fall to defeat?

The Culprits in the LA Galaxy’s Defeat

The dual culprits for this defeat are injuries and the Galaxy’s key departures in the offseason.

The latter saw LA only start five of the 11 players that featured in their MLS Cup triumph. 

The team’s hesitance and unfamiliarity with each other were evident on the pitch, as new arrivals and starters Lucas Sanabria and Christian Ramirez made their debuts. Vanney also gambled on starting Goalkeeper Novak Mićović over the keeper who won MLS Cup, John McCarthy.

It led to the Galaxy being caught out positionally several times across the match. Worse still, it led to uncharacteristic mistakes, much like the play that led to San Diego’s first goal.

“I think between our midfield and between the guys in the build, I felt like we just were not positionally where we needed to be when we needed to be there and showing up and working off each other,” Vanney said about the performance post-match.

“We just looked a little disjointed, and that maybe means we weren’t prepared for where we needed to be with the new additions that we’re sliding into the group. It didn’t look like a team that just won the championship. We looked like a team that’s fitting some things together still.”

The other culprit is something Vanney could do little about: injuries to important contributors to the team like Designated Players Riqui Puig and Joseph Painstil.

Paintsil’s injury forced Vanney into playing versatile attacker Diego Fagundez on the wing, and into handing Midfielder Marco Reus a start despite only playing a half in preseason and battling fitness issues.

“It's going to be the growing pains of this group, and not having a guy like Joe [Paintsil] changes how dynamic you are at the top and others,” Vanney said of the Ghanian winger’s absence. 

“It was one of my potential concerns of the day, if I'm being honest – how dynamic and how vertical we would actually be at the top.”

Vanney was right to be worried, as the Galaxy attack was slow in transition and predictable. 

Although Fagundez had a chance to put the Galaxy ahead in the first half, as the game progressed, he saw less and less of the ball. By the second frame, LA had basically forgotten that a left side was available to them, as Fagundez was starved of the ball.  

When asked by The Sporting Tribune if the emphasis on attacking down the right side was part of the game plan, Vanney answered in the negative.

“I think a lot of it is positional things that I didn't like about how we were set up. I felt like there were a lot of times when Diego was on an island on the outside, and he didn't have support around him and somebody that he could play off of and work with.”

“So I just feel like, again, he was isolated a lot, and that has to improve,” Vanney added.

Time to "Trust the Process?"

The culprits and conditions combined to create a perfect cocktail of opportunity for San Diego, which executed its game plan perfectly to score a famous first win over the champions. 

"Credit to them, they played very well. They took possession away from us and changed a few things in their buildup that made it difficult for us," Ramirez said. “There's no need to rush and over-analyze, we'll look at the film and be better next time.”

Captain Maya Yoshida considers the loss a wake-up call. 

“It should be. We are the champions, but it's a new season, and no one starts three steps forward. We are flat, and everyone starts equal, and that's why we have to be hungry and fight as a challenger,” Yoshida said of San Diego and the rest of the league’s motivation in trying to beat the Galaxy this year.

With everyone gunning to defeat the champions, Vanney and his team will have little time to gel and get it right. And with multiple competitions on the horizon, the challenge becomes even more difficult.

But Vanney is confident the team will get it right in short order.

“We've got to continue to build and prepare and get better with each training session each day and be more ready for the next one than we were tonight. Each guy understanding their positions and their roles a little bit clearer than we were.”

The Galaxy will have just a week to readjust before their first road trip of the season. 

On Sunday, they visit the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place, a ground the Galaxy has traditionally struggled at (but won at last year 3-1), in an effort to avoid starting the season with two straight defeats.