Making their second successive appearance in the quarter-finals of the US Open Cup, the Los Angeles Galaxy have a shot at redemption when they travel to America First Field on Wednesday to battle Real Salt Lake.
RSL got to this stage by blanking their rocky mountain rivals, the Colorado Rapids, 1-0 in the previous round, while LA took out their enemies and reigning MLS Cup champions in the round of 16, defeating Los Angeles FC 2-0.
Match preview
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It has not been the prettiest football, but Claret and Cobalt have got the job done, making it into the last eight of this competition for the first time since 2015.
On that occasion, they made it to the semi-finals by defeating the Galaxy, but before this year, RSL had not made it beyond the round of 16 in four previous US Open Cup seasons.
Pablo Mastroeni's men have been relatively inconsistent on the back end from one match to the next, failing to win consecutive games since defeating Colorado twice in all competitions, while they have conceded five goals in their last three MLS affairs.
Their 3-2 defeat versus the Galaxy at the end of May ended a four-match unbeaten run against them, along with a streak of four games without a loss to them on home soil.
Salt Lake have struck first in four of their last five matches and have not lost when drawing first blood all season, while they have picked up six points in MLS play this year when facing a deficit at the interval.
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Not much has gone right for Greg Vanney and his Galaxy domestically in 2023, but things have evened out for them at the US Open Cup.
They were in this same position a season ago and failed to deliver, dropping a 2-1 decision to Sacramento Republic, while LA have not won a quarter-final match in this competition since getting past the Seattle Sounders 4-2 in 2016.
The Galaxy have had one of the most demanding roads to get into the last eight, taking out two of the top three teams in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (Seattle and LAFC) in convincing fashion.
Their last two competitive victories have taken place away from home, where they have conceded multiple goals on six occasions on the current MLS campaign while failing to score on the road in six domestic outings this season.
LA are dead last in the MLS table, having scored the fewest goals in the league so far (13) while conceding the third-most (26).
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Team News
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Zac MacMath has missed the last two matches for RSL due to concussion protocol, Diego Luna may not be ready to play as the United States Under-20 team was just knocked out of the World Cup on Sunday, Erik Holt has a sore shoulder and Zack Farnsworth is dealing with a thigh injury.
Jefferson Savarino had the only goal in their round of 16 triumph, with Gavin Beavers stopping all three shots that he faced, while Danny Musovski and Damir Kreilach lead them with two each at the US Open Cup.
Rubio Rubin had a brace in their weekend victory over Austin, with Jasper Loffelsend recording his first assist of the year.
Chris Mavinga is listed as questionable for LA because of a lower leg injury, something which has kept Douglas Costa on the sidelines, while Sega Coulibaly is unlikely to feature due to a sore knee.
Tyler Boyd and Riqui Puig scored in their round of 16 triumph, as Jonathan Klinsmann made six stops for the clean sheet.
Boyd, Memo Rodriguez and Gaston Brugman each found the back of the net in a 3-2 victory at RSL in their previous encounter, only the third win for the Galaxy on the MLS campaign.
Real Salt Lake possible starting lineup:
Beavers; Eneli, Glad, Vera, Brody; Ojeda, Ruiz; Loffelsend, Savarino, Kreilach; Musovski
Los Angeles Galaxy possible starting lineup:
Klinsmann; Calegari, Neal, Caceres, Aude; Brugman, Delgado; Edwards, Puig, Rodriguez; Chicharito
We say: Real Salt Lake 1-2 Los Angeles Galaxy
Neither side have been all that convincing in the league this year, but the Galaxy have had a much tougher road to get here than RSL, and we expect their experience from 2022 will be an asset come Wednesday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
