Youthful LA Galaxy lose 4-1 vs. Revolution in preseason action

The LA Galaxy played their second preseason game in recent days against the New England Revolution at Dignity Health Sports Park on Wednesday, and this time it was the Revs’ night, as they beat LA 4-1.

The Galaxy went with an extremely young lineup, featuring four unsigned players, Galaxy Academy player Adrian Aguilar at right back, draft pick Josh Drack at left back, trialist Daniel Aguirre and Galaxy Academy player Felix Barajas both in attack. The most experienced players were probably Jonathan Klinsmann and Ethan Zubak, to give you a sense.

New England also went with a younger XI to start, but still had AJ DeLaGarza(!), Ema Boateng(!), Teal Bunbury, Brad Knighton and Adam Buksa on the field.

New England took the lead in the 6th minute, with a slow backpass from Marcus Ferkranus basically setting up Buksa, who obliged with the jailbreak goal.

The Revolution got their second goal in the 23rd minute, with a cross to a wide-open Bunbury leading to a header that still squirted by Klinsmann, so a couple breakdowns on this play.

LA got on the board in the 28th minute. Kai Koreniuk forced a save on a counterattack from Knighton, before Barajas cleaned up the rebound with a nice one-timer.

Buksa notched another goal before halftime but it was chalked off on an offside call in the buildup. And the teams went to the halftime break with New England leading 2-1, Koreniuk the standout from the 1st half.

There were wholesale changes at the start of the 2nd half. Augustine Williams, Sacha Kljestan, Nick DePuy, Cameron Dunbar, Jonathan Perez and Jorge Villafaña all entered the game for LA.

Right after kickoff in the 2nd half, Klinsmann and New England’s Tommy McNamara collided in the 6-yard box, and Klinsmann was looked at by the medical staff on the field. But he remained in the match, hopefully no worse for the wear.

The Revolution scored again in the 64th minute, this time from McNamara, taking a feed from Gustavo Bou and hitting an uncontested shot from outside the box.

A few minutes later, Bou scored himself, the Revs blasting past a flat-footed Galaxy defense once more.

Perez nearly scored for the Galaxy in the 79th minute, but his sharp one-timer on the edge of the 6-yard box was saved by Revs goalkeeper Matt Turner.

I think this was a tough game to assess since there was a big talent gap and LA’s starting lineup will look nothing like this when MLS starts. Obviously minutes are important and I imagine the upcoming games in Tucson will look more like the XI Greg Vanney will use starting on Apr. 18.

Of course, the defensive miscues in this game will also give a glimpse of some of the things the Galaxy need to work on before they start the regular season. Win, lose or draw, the preseason results don’t matter an iota, but hopefully this helps LA build for the season to come.

The Galaxy will be back in action Saturday in Tucson, when they are scheduled to face Sporting Kansas City.

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