LA Galaxy took backwards step with heavy derby defeat, claims Haak

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Justin Haak said the LA Galaxy took a step in the wrong direction after their 3-0 defeat to Los Angeles FC.

The Galaxy resumed their MLS campaign with a heavy loss to their city rivals last week.

Mark Delgado, Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-min were on target for LAFC.

Haak brought Bouanga down for the penalty from which the LAFC forward made it 2-0, and the Galaxy defender knows he and his team-mates were way short of the mark.

“This was definitely not a step in the right direction,” said Haak.

“I think nobody is proud or happy with how that game went. We all expected much, much more, but that’s something that we have to learn from and do better.”

Next up for the Galaxy is a home game against St. Louis City SC, who restarted their season with a 3-2 win over Sporting Kansas City SC.

The Galaxy sit just one point and one place above St. Louis in the Western Conference.

On Tuesday, they confirmed the arrival of attacker Kyogo Furuhashi from English Championship side Birmingham City.

Welcome to Los Angeles, Kyogo Furuhashi pic.twitter.com/b8VxjPMF1H

— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) July 21, 2026

St. Louis City, meanwhile, come into the clash having confirmed the signing of Alexandru Matan from Panetolikos in Greece.

Matan spent two seasons working under St. Louis City coach Yoann Damet at the Columbus Crew.

“Alex is a player Yoann and I know very well, not only for the qualities he brings on the field but also his character off it,” said St. Louis City sporting director Corey Wray.

“He brings something different to the squad with his creativity, his ability to progress the ball and his bravery in one-on-one situations.

“He has a clear understanding of how we want to play and his familiarity with the system, combined with his experience in the league, should help him settle in quickly.”

Against LAFC, Sanabria led the Galaxy outright in both shots (four) and chances created (two).

His four shots were Sanabria’s most ever in an MLS match, while his two chances created tied a career high that was set last season against the San Jose Earthquakes and matched earlier this season against Real Salt Lake.

St. Louis City SC – Jeong Sang-bin 

In Thursday’s win over SKC, Jeong became the first player from South Korea to score 10 MLS regular-season goals (Son Heung-min scored his 10th on Friday).

Jeong’s goal was his fifth scored in the first half of an MLS match, but the first of those to come at home.

St. Louis City are unbeaten in their first six meetings with the Galaxy (W2 D4). They are the first team to avoid defeat in each of their first six regular-season matches against the Galaxy.

However, the Galaxy’s loss to LAFC ended a streak of 24 straight regular-season matches in which they had scored.

That streak ended one game shy of the club record as the Galaxy scored in 25 straight regular-season matches in 2014, and they are backed to get back on track by Opta’s predictive model.

St. Louis City have netted three goals in each of their last two MLS games. It is the fifth time they have had a streak of two or more consecutive MLS matches with three or more goals, but the other four streaks were all in their inaugural season in 2023.

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