On the other side of the international break, the Galaxy will be facing a critical three-game stretch over seven days, with two of the games against teams currently in the playoff fight in the MLS Western Conference.
On Sunday, the Galaxy hope to maintain that edge and momentum, in some form, gained from winning their last two games, as they host Liga MX club Cruz Azul in a late-season friendly.
“We look to get some guys who haven’t played a lot of minutes lately, the extended version of the game,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “Guys like Emiro (Garces), Maya (Yoshida), guys that we’re going to need the following week because we play three games in six (sic) days, because the scheduling is silly to be doing that at this time of the year, coming off an international break, so we need everybody ready to go.
“Even down the stretch, we’re going to need everybody ready to go, you never know who’s going to get called upon and when, so we’ve got some guys who need to get 60-plus (minutes) out there. We’ll have a couple of young guys that we want to get out and see them play and compete against a high-level opponent.”
The Galaxy have recorded back-to-back wins for the first time this season, defeating Minnesota United and the Colorado Rapids to move into a tie with Colorado for eighth place in the conference. With Seattle’s win over Sporting Kansas City on Thursday, the Galaxy will be in the ninth and final playoff spot when MLS play resumes.
The Galaxy will return Oct. 11 on the road against St. Louis CITY SC, followed by an Oct. 14 home game against the Portland Timbers and hosting San Diego FC on Oct. 17.
“We want to keep a rhythm,” Vanney said. “Just trying to keep momentum and rhythm and play. We’ll protect the guys who have things that we’re kind of managing and the other guys, we want to, like I said, extend minutes and just keep guys in a rhythm.
“That’s why we threw this game in against Cruz Azul, to try to, on some level, maintain momentum, while at the same time not trying to overexpose anybody, but to keep some of the guys who haven’t played a lot engaged and ready to go when called upon.”
Forward Joseph Paintsil (thigh) and midfielder Elijah Wynder (ankle) will be two players receiving minutes Sunday. Paintsil has been sidelined since Sept. 5.
“He needs some minutes,” Vanney said of Paintsil. “He’ll play some minutes, it won’t be a ton of minutes, but he’ll play because just in order to move him forward, we need this game. We don’t want to do all of that inside of games where we’re fighting for playoff spots. If we can get him 20, 30 minutes this weekend and start to progress him for a busy next week, then that would be great.
Wynder, who was on the game day roster Saturday, hasn’t played in a game since Aug. 15.
“He’s trained full (this week) and he trained full last week,” Vanney said. “He’ll start in this game and he’ll get a good stretch of the game to get his legs under him.”
Wynder said it was an ankle injury, but he also had a pair of torn ligaments.
“I’m pretty good for the most part,” Wynder said. “Still got a little stuff here and there that bothers me. Just rehabbing it right now, we’ll see how the rest of the season goes. Just trying to get my rhythm back, trying to get my fitness back, getting all of the rust out of the way. I’ve had a few weeks of training right now, so this weekend will be good.”
Cruz Azul played to a scoreless draw Thursday against America in San Diego and will resume Liga MX play Oct. 11 against Pumas.
Harbor Miller (U.S. U-20s) and Chucky Lozano (Mexico national team) will not be available for the Galaxy.
CRUZ AZUL at GALAXY
When: 5:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Dignity Health Sports Park