CARSON — The Galaxy wanted to get off to a fast start at home in the 2026 season.
The wait continues.
The Galaxy dropped a second consecutive home game and fell to just 1-2-1 at Dignity Health Sports Park so far this season, following Saturday’s 2-1 defeat against Minnesota United in front of 22,147.
“It’s not good enough,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “The start’s not good enough, we’re giving up too many points at home. It’s got to get better.
“We’ve got to be much cleaner, much better. Am I concerned about it? Of course, because I think one of the things we have to really understand is as a team how we’re going to win games. We’ve got to have a better vision collectively of how we’re going to win and I felt like in the first half, when we broke that initial pressure, when we got to the attacking half of the field, we were just so fast to try to score and try to finish an attack and we never really established our control of the game. …we need to be very clear when we step on the field about the decisions we make and who we are to win games.”
The Galaxy were serenaded off the field by a loud “We want better” from the supporters, which made the night and season seem a lot like last season’s troubles and 2023, when the club was stuck near the bottom of the Western Conference.
Minnesota’s winning goal came in the 67th minute by Kelvin Yeboah.
The Galaxy (1-3-2, five points) appeared to have found their way after allowing Minnesota’s go-ahead goal in the 51st minute.
In the 57th minute, the Galaxy evened out that goal six minutes later with a double effort from Marco Reus. After a series of intricate passes, Reus found room and sent a shot toward goal, but Minnesota goalkeeper Drake Callender kept the initial shot out. Reus slammed in the rebound, tying the game at 1-1.
Minnesota had broken through on the scoreboard first with Anthony Markanich’s goal in the 51st minute. Markanich chased down a long ball over the top, got on the outside of defender Mauricio Cuevas and slipped the ball under Galaxy goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski.
After Yeboah’s goal, the Galaxy turned up their attacking pressure, but the result was lacking, even as the fourth official put up eight minutes of stoppage time.
Gabriel Pec had one of the final good looks in the 96th minute, with a low shot that Callender went low to scoop up.
The Galaxy finished with 20 shots and seven on goal.
“Today was really frustrating,” Reus said. “Mistakes are costing us in the moment. There was not really a danger from Minnesota, honestly. I was sure in the second half, we would build momentum on our side and the goal would come.”
Marcinkowski started his third consecutive game in goal for the Galaxy. Earlier this season, Marcinkowski was the starter in the Champions Cup, but after the second leg against Mount Pleasant, he also started March 22 against the Portland Timbers.
When asked about the starting goalkeeper position between Marckinowski and Novak Mićović, Galaxy coach Greg Vanney called it a “battle.”
“I think both of them are doing solid, and I think JT’s been really stable,” he said. “Different types of games than Novak has had …it’s (the schedule) busy still again, so we’ll see what the next sort of few weeks has in store.”
The Galaxy will return to action Wednesday in Mexico against Toluca in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinals.
Aside from the second leg at home (April 15), the Galaxy will have only one other home game this month.