CARSON — Heading into another important offseason, the Galaxy wrapped up 2025 with a friendly against Club America at Dignity Health Sports Park Saturday.
The Galaxy fell behind twice against the Liga MX power and each time found the equalizer, sending the game to a 2-2 draw finale in front of 16,714.
Christian Ramirez scored the Galaxy’s first goal (15th minute) and Gabriel Pec had the second (41st minute). Mauricio Cuevas had the assist on both.
The game was called in the 87th minute due to lightning. The game was played through periods of heavy rain, and as soon as the game was called, a flash of lightning could be seen in the area.
The Galaxy’s regular season ended Oct. 18. Facing the prospects of an extremely long offseason, the club kept the group in town for an additional three weeks of training, leading up to Saturday’s game.
On the surface, the prospects of a postseason game might be odd, but Galaxy coach Greg Vanney used it as a way to get an early start on 2026.
“Good chances, as we all know, we could come back and play as early as February 3, and so that could end up being a four-and-a-half week preseason,” Vanney said. “So you don’t want to come off of 12 weeks vacation and then four weeks to prepare. You want to try to at least reduce that a little bit.”
The 2026 season for the Galaxy will begin in the first week of February with the first round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup, with preseason training camp likely opening in the middle of January.
If any player is looking forward to a new year, it would be Ramirez. He arrived during preseason and got off to a decent start with four goals in the first eight games, but then fell out of the playing rotation and never found his way back. His last goal came April 27.
“I wasn’t healthy at the end of the year and it’s good to put some minutes in our bank and then move on to the offseason and prepare for next year,” Ramirez said Thursday. “I think it’s important to win whenever you step out on the field, especially wearing this badge.
Ramirez’s ultimate goal was to stay healthy in the game, deliver a strong performance and to win.
“The most important thing, going into the offseason, is that everybody walks off Saturday night healthy and ready to hit the ground running in January (for training camp),” Ramirez said.
Galaxy academy product Jose “Pepe” Magaña, 18, came on late as a substitute. Magaña made 25 appearances with Ventura County FC, the Galaxy’s MLS Next Pro team, with 22 starts. Gabriel Arnold, another Academy product, was an 80th-minute sub. Arnold, 18, made 15 appearances for Ventura County.
Club America is in preparation for the Liga MX Apertura tournament and will begin later this month.