​LA Galaxy v San Jose: Back-to-back home games crucial for winless hosts

Greg Vanney says the LA Galaxy have a golden opportunity to earn their first victory of the season when they face the San Jose Earthquakes in the first of back-to-back home games on Wednesday.

The Galaxy's 2-1 loss at San Diego FC on Saturday continued the worst start in MLS history. 

Having won the MLS Cup last year, the Galaxy have collected four points from 15 matches in 2025, two fewer than any other team at this stage of a season. 

The Galaxy's minus-22 goal difference is also the worst at this stage of a season in league history.

They looked to have turned a corner when Marco Reus' late equaliser earned a 2-2 draw against El Trafico rivals Los Angeles FC, but they were then on the wrong end of a 95th-minute winner from Hirving Lozano on Saturday. 

After facing another local rival in the Quakes, the Galaxy welcome Real Salt Lake to Dignity Health Sports Park at the weekend, and Vanney hopes they can make home advantage count this week.

"I think the guys have been resilient, we now know we have two home games for the first time this season," Vanney said.

"We've got to bounce back, we've got to back up our partners. At the end of the last game, we made a couple of tough decisions and a couple of tough plays.

Full time pic.twitter.com/9jFyVyjo5F

— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) May 24, 2025

"We've got to try to come out on Wednesday fighting and defending our home turf.

"But as you say, coming off the Trafico draw, going down the road to San Diego, a draw, given the way the whole day played out, probably wouldn't have been the worst thing.

"We had chances, they had chances, it would have been a nice builder into two home games, but now we've just got to show some resilience and come back and battle again."

San Jose are eighth in the Western Conference, seven places and 15 points clear of the Galaxy, having given up a late equaliser in a 3-3 draw with the Houston Dynamo at the weekend.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

LA Galaxy – Marco Reus 

Reus has three goals in his last two home matches in MLS, netting twice in a 2-2 draw with rivals LAFC on May 18.

His six goal involvements this term (three goals, three assists) are the most of any Galaxy player this campaign, while nobody has created more chances for them (21). 

San Jose Earthquakes – Preston Judd 

Former Galaxy forward Judd came off the bench to score twice in San Jose's draw with Houston last Saturday. 

Judd is the second Earthquakes player in the last decade to score twice off the bench in a regular-season match, along with Chris Wondolowski, who did so against Real Salt Lake in 2021. Could Judd haunt his old club on Wednesday?

MATCH PREDICTION – LA GALAXY WIN

The Galaxy are winless in their first 15 matches of 2025, equalling the second-longest single-season winless run at any point in a campaign in MLS history (also San Jose – 15 straight in 2014). 

The only longer in-season winless run in MLS history was a 16-match streak by Houston between May and September 2021.

San Jose have kept clean sheets in back-to-back regular-season away matches (W1 D1) for only the second time since 2016 (also doing so in May and June 2023). 

The Earthquakes have never kept clean sheets in three straight away league matches before (in 434 total matches).

Could they be the team to get the Galaxy's season up and running? Wednesday's hosts have won seven of their last eight matches against San Jose in all competitions (D1), including the last five in a row.

The Galaxy's five-match winning streak is the longest by either team in the 102-match history of the California Clasico.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

LA Galaxy – 52.2%

San Jose Earthquakes – 23.4%

Draw – 24.4%