Galaxy’s Hernandez set to return after 11-week absence
The Galaxy return from the international break and are again facing a busy schedule, starting with three games in eight days.
At least this time, the Galaxy will have Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez available.
Hernandez, who hasn’t played since June 26 due to a calf injury, will be available for today’s road game against the Colorado Rapids.
“Him not being a part of the (MLS) All-Star and (game against) LAFC was to give him that time to recover,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said of Hernandez. “He’s trained all week with the group and he’s done well. He feels good, looks good, so he’ll be available this week and we’ll try to work together with him and make sure we create the right load and schedule to get through this busy week.”
Hernandez scored two goals in the June 26 win over San Jose. Then the following week, July 4, he was pulled out of the lineup during warmups after suffering the calf injury.
“We want to see as much of him as we can without putting him in a tough situation,” Vanney said. “But he’ll be ready to go.”
The Galaxy (11-8-3, 36 points) have 12 games remaining in the regular season, but the September schedule is extremely busy with five games in less than three weeks. Four of the games will be on the road.
This eight-day stretch will also see the Galaxy at home against Houston on Wednesday and at Minnesota United on Sept. 18, so incorporating Hernandez back to the mix will be an added boost.
Despite all of the absences during the week due to international duty, the Galaxy was able to conduct some 11-on-11 scrimmages, Vanney said. In those moments, Hernandez scored a couple of goals.
“Any time you’re a striker, regardless of who you’re playing against, or how, if you can score a goal, it gives you the right sensation, the right feeling,” Vanney said. “It was good to have him get those goals.
“As we set up this game, we get him (Hernandez) back and we now have Dejan (Joveljic) and other options, we will try to get these relationships working together and in sync and it gives us different options and different ways to approach things.”
Even with all of the players missing, Vanney said the club was able to work on some key areas, including defense.
“We had some time to work on some of the things that we talked about before, which is some defensive work,” he said. “We broke some things down. You can’t work on everything because you don’t have everyone here, so there’s a group of guys who were able to benefit from the two weeks of training and were able to connect with each other and were able to get through the things that we felt like we needed to get through.
“We were pleased with what we accomplished and I was really pleased with the intensity and work of the guys and now we look forward to playing again and see where we’re at.”
The Rapids are up to second place in the Western Conference (12-4-5, 41 points). In the first meeting, the Rapids came away with a 2-1 win.
Galaxy at Colorado, today, 12:30 p.m., Univision, TUDN