The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Galaxy seek momentum in very tight playoff race
The Galaxy are in a waiting game for Riqui Puig to get his clearance to make his debut.
While the wait continues, the club is in a sprint toward the end of the season, in an ever-evolving playoff race.
The Galaxy (9-11-3, 30 points) sit in ninth place in the Western Conference heading into tonight’s home game against the Vancouver Whitecaps (8-10-6), who are tied on points in 11th place. The top seven teams in the conference will make the playoffs, and to illustrate just how tight the standings are, only six points separate third place (FC Dallas, 36) from the Whitecaps.
“The attitude of the group this week has been great,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “The guys have worked hard ... they know the situation. We have a game in hand on most teams, which we don’t even consider, but the fact of it is, we have 11 games, nine of our 11 are where you finish in the table. For me, positions one and two are probably out of the equation as it relates to the Western Conference, but every other position is wide open.
“For us, it’s about finding that stability on the defensive side, getting ourselves into games, stop conceding early goals and doing that the right way and whenever we do that, our record speaks for itself and we can get on the right side of the game.”
The Galaxy will get a bit of a break with Vancouver playing without two of its top scorers in Lucas Cavallini (eight goals) and Brian White (three). Cavallini is out due to yellow-card accumulation and White is out with a rib injury.
Galaxy defender Derrick Williams also will miss the match due to yellow-card accumulation.
As for Puig, Vanney said Friday that he was “hopeful” that he would be cleared.
“I feel like the process is making progress this week,” he said. “I feel like there’s reason to have optimism, but I’m not certain.”