The Fire have one more chance before the international break – and the halfway point of their season – to find their third win of the season, but to do so, they’ll have to get past an L.A. Galaxy team that went from second last in the Western Conference in 2023 to second from the top today.

The Galaxy win games with a high-powered offense, with several top-quality players in the attack, but are vulnerable on the other end of the ball. It’ll be the sternest for the Fire since they faced the Columbus crew two weeks ago, but if the Fire are going to make anything out of the season other than disappointment, they’ll need to start notching wins against opponents from the top to the bottom of the table.

L.A. Galaxy

Overview

When the L.A. Galaxy brought in David Beckham, they established themselves as the first global brand from MLS and created a reputation within the league of playing by their own rules as star-studded rosters won championships at the debut of “MLS 2.0.”

Over time, the league moved on from relying primarily on aging stars to win championships (and fans), but the Galaxy did not under former team president Chris Klein who ran the club from 2013 until last season.

In the past year, however, new General Manager Will Kuntz has brought the team firmly into the current era of MLS, and the team – which finished second-to-last in the Western Conference last season with 36 points – is now second from the top in the conference, thanks in no small part to savvy moves and a lack of sentimentality in letting players depart in the offseason.

Kuntz kept Head Coach Greg Vanney in his position, but the team’s game model has evolved with the squad, and the team now looks on the cusp of achieving the kinds of success Vanney had in his previous stint at Toronto FC, which he departed after the 2020 season.

Smart Signings

Before being named General Manager, Kuntz spent the majority of 2023 as a Vice President for Player Personnel after arriving from crosstown rivals LAFC and helped shape roster decisions through the season, particularly in the summer when the team acquired defenders Julián Aude and Maya Yoshida, who has been serving team captain this season after arriving on a free transfer last August.

Over the winter, Kuntz was even more active, bringing in Gabriel Pec from Vasco de Gama in Brazil and Joseph Pantil from Genk in the Belgian league. Alongside Riqui Puig – who just re-signed with the Galaxy – and Dejan Jovelić, the Galaxy have become one of the most potent attacking forces in the league.

The Galaxy haven’t quite affected a worst-to-first transformation, but going second-last to second-best in the conference isn’t bad for two transfer windows’ worth of work from the new general manager.

Puig is the Center of L.A. Galaxy’s Style of Play

Under Greg Vanney, the Galaxy have long played a possession-heavy style, and as it stands, they’ve had the ball 56% of the time, good four fourth in the league after the Columbus Crew, Houston Dynamo and Inter Miami.

They do that because they’ve got Riqui Puig – recently signed to a new contract – pulling the strings in the midfield. Puig, a Barcelona product was picked up by the Galaxy after he wasn’t getting a lot of first team minutes in Spain, and he’s been a fantastic player for them. He currently leads the league in pass attempts (with 1,463) and completed passes (1,239), and is considerably ahead of the second-ranked player in both those metrics - Sergio Busquets, a name you might have heard of.

Puig leads the league in total passing distance by almost 3,500 yards, which is remarkable for an attacking midfielder (most of the longest passes typically come from defenders, and, in fact, Puig’s teammate Maya Yoshida is #3 on the list).

Puig isn’t just a pure creator, however: He’s got nine goals on the year so far, and per FBRef, is 99th percentile amongst midfielders for non-penalty goals, non-penalty expected goals and shots, as well as shots created actions, progressive passes, progressive carries, and successful take ons.

He’s elite, and though, undoubtedly, he doesn’t have the same GOAT-level skill as the other former Barcelona attacking midfielder currently playing in MLS, he’s also a dozen years younger and is just as important to his team’s fortunes.

All About Ball Control

Largely (but by no means entirely) because of Puig, no team passes the ball more than the L.A. Galaxy, either in aggregate, or in passes per sequence: The Galaxy average 4.62 passes per sequence, per Opta, ahead of Miami (4.47), Houston (4.30), and Columbus (4.16).

As we’ve talked about before, attacking styles can be crudely divided into “fast and direct” (New York Red Bulls, but more recently, St. Louis), or “slow and intricate” (Columbus Crew). The idea is – fast and direct catches opponents off guard with quick counters, while slow and intricate lures teams out of position over time.

The Galaxy, though, are almost fast and intricate. They combine intricate passing with speed that’s just ever-so-slightly below the league average, and that average is dragged up significantly by teams that want to play with quick counters.

The model is: let the defense make long, line-breaking passes – usually to Puig – and then let move to create passing options for Puig. If he can’t find one, well, he’ll do it himself: Puig also leads the league in carries by an almost insane amount (he’s got 1,189; Cole Bassett is second in the league with 752), and total distance from carries (at 7,660 meters, considerably more than his countryman Carles Gil, in second at 5,192m).

Unlike teams like the Crew, that typically aim to take you apart, the Galaxy’s finishing looks a lot like a “fast-and-direct” team like St. Louis, and the Galaxy lead the league at passes into the penalty area (while being towards the bottom of the league at crosses into the area).

How will the Galaxy Line Up Against The Fire?

Greg Vanney varied formations in his time with the Galaxy, but in 2024 has seemingly settled on a 4-3-3. Regardless of formation, he’s liked having two wingers on the pitch and a four-strong back line, anchored by team captain Maya Yoshida.

Some rotation is inevitable given the number of matches over the past week, and Joseph Paintsil is out with a hamstring injury. With a week off following this match, however, it’s likely Vanney will try to get ahead, secure three points and then substitute players off.

Chicago Fire

Frustratingly, most of what’s been said about the Fire’s issues over the past few months remains true: Though they aren’t on a goalless drought anymore, they’re still in a scoring slump, having last scored more than one goal in their win against the Dynamo back in April. That was, incidentally, the last time the Fire have had a lead; it’s now been nine full matches – over a quarter of a season – since the Fire have been ahead of their opponents on the scoreboard. The team’s winless skid has now hit nine matches, just two short of the longest stretch in team history without a victory.

They played well against D.C. – and outplayed their opponent for the second half – but couldn’t get a win.

Midweek, the Fire conceded a goal that was badly-enough defended that someone put it to Yakety Sax, putting the team in a hole early and despite generally looking competent throughout the match, they weren’t able to get more than a single goal, again getting a single point in a highly winnable match.

Adding to the Fire’s woes: Andrew Gutman had slowly grown into one of the Fire’s best players since returning from injury, and he left the game early on Wednesday with what really looks like a recurrence of the injury that kept him out for most of the Fire’s opening two months, and Chase Gasper, the team’s only other natural player at his position, remains sidelined with an injury. Federico Navarro also left with a non-contact injury and is listed as questionable.

That’s about how the Fire’s season has gone, and regardless of the result against the Galaxy, it’s going to go down in the history books as the worst record in team history after 17 matches, as the team’s always secured at least 17 points by this point in the season, and even a victory over the Galaxy will leave the team with 12.

There’s been precious little to cheer for, either individually or collectively for the team. A victory to close out the first half of the season will help the team go into the international break with its head held high.

Will the Fire Keep the 3-5-2 or Revert?

With the draw against Orlando on Wednesday, the Fire did something that hasn’t happened all season: Played in a formation other than 4-2-3-1 for consecutive matches and walked away with a point in each. Other than what can only be termed a SNAFU that gave Orlando a goal in the 4th minute, the team looked decent, if not great, playing with three center backs ahead of Chris Brady in net.

Still, it’s likely that Fire Head Coach Klopas will revert to four in the back for this match: Using a three (or five, depending on game state) strong back line with three center backs against opponents that do the same. Against the Galaxy, who play four in the back, Klopas will likely do the same. Still, the team’s offense has looked better with a dual striker setup, and so I wouldn’t be surprised if the team played out of a 4-4-2.

Reverting to a back four is a logical move, particularly when the team doesn’t have a natural left back, and will be lacking Gutman’s ability on both sides of the ball. Allan Arigoni has looked decent when he’s been pressed into service there, but the right is his natural side. It seems that Jonathan Dean is now the team’s second option on the right in Klopas’s estimation, ahead of Arnaud Souquet, so he will likely start again, as he did midweek with Arigoni out with a suspension.

At center back, the team’s preferred options remain Carlos Terán and Rafael Czichos, with Tobias Salquist still out with injury. With the team playing three CBs over the past two games, Mauricio Pineda started alongside them, but looks like he’s the next choice up for Klopas.

In the midfield, Kellyn Acosta is a lock; with Federico Navarro questionable, the other options are Fabian Herbers and Gastón Giménez. Giménez has just one start since the beginning of April, and there’s no reason to think the pecking order has changed; the question will be if Herbers, the longest-serving member of the squad, will be given the armband or if it will stay with Kellyn Acosta. Tradition says it goes to Herbers, but none of the people involved (coaching staff, Acosta, Herbers) seem particularly fussy about the issue.

Next to them, I’d expect Brian Gutiérrez and Maren Haile-Selassie to start. Both have been relatively anonymous of late; it’s time for them to make some noise. Both clearly have the skill to do so. If they step it up playing opposite the Galaxy’s talented midfield, the Fire’s chances of a result shoot way up.

Hugo Cuypers – who quietly has been involved in a full three-quarters of the team’s scoring during the slump – has been playing well on both sides of the ball, while Tom Barlow has pressed well, but when he’s moved in on goal, has shown why he hasn’t been starting. Finishing is hard, and Barlow’s level of ability doing so is the difference between his current paycheck and adding a zero onto it. Still – it seems like Klopas thinks of Georgios Koutsias as a better option to provide energy off the bench, meaning Barlow will likely get the nod again, though it’s close to a tossup.

The L.A. Galaxy have a good team that’s been playing well, but they’re far from infallible, and they have a defense that will concede.

Believe it or not, the Fire actually have more expected goals than their opponents in three of the last four matches, including against the Columbus Crew, who are the only team close to the Galaxy’s quality that the Fire have faced in recent weeks.

Multiple players have been performing below the level that they’re capable of, including Brian Gutiérrez, whose disappointing play in 2024 cost him an Olympic team call up. If some combination of the Fire’s squad can break out of their funk, there’s no reason the Fire can’t take it to the Galaxy and end the first half of their season with a positive note.