SANTA MONICA – After eight straight weeks without a win, the Los Angeles Galaxy had a bye last week which gave them a little time to rest and recover. Hopefully, this time off will give them a refreshed mind and help them to finish the season strong.
Despite this losing streak, head Coach Sigi Schmid is optimistic looking forward to the future. During the LA Galaxy’s 2-0 loss to NYC FC on August 12th, Schmid felt he saw some improvements from the players.
“The more training we get the more the guys understand what we’re trying to do. I thought our ball movement was quicker in the back and that opened things up and got Romain and Ema isolated a little bit which is something we need to do for two of our most dangerous players. Now it’s just a matter of us continuing to do that and continuing to build our fitness. I thought our fitness tonight was much better than it’s been in our last few games and we have to continue to build on that,” he said to lagalaxy.com.
However, despite these improvements, The LA Galaxy are dealing with a lot of changes. In the past month, they have transitioned from coach Curt Onalfo to Sigi Schmid, signed experienced player Jonathan dos Santos to their roster, and had to say goodbye to a someone who was a major part of their team. Wednesday’s match against Columbus will be the first game the Galaxy will play without former caption and 2016 finalist for Defender of the Year, Jelle Van Damme. Van Damme, who has been with the club since the beginning of the 2016 season, made the difficult decision to transfer to Royal Antwerp in Belgium to be closer to his kids.
Will the LA Galaxy, who started the season having to adjust to many newer, less experienced players be able to turn things around without their former captain?
Watch the LA Galaxy take on Columbus tomorrow at 4:30 on SpectrumSN and SpectrumDeportes.
Wednesday’s game will be the first the LA Galaxy will play without former captain Jelle Van Damme.
Photo by: Michael Janosz
Photos by ISI.
