The LA Galaxy make their first of two trips to Houston this season on Friday in a nationally-televised match on UniMás (5:45 p.m. CT; TICKETS). The Galaxy are coming off a 1-1 draw at home against the Portland Timbers, benefitting from a Timbers own goal to get a point out of the proceedings.
LA was without Designated Players Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard against Portland, and could be without offseason acquisition Nigel de Jong after this tackle on Darlington Nagbe. De Jong was shown a yellow card, but many are expecting a further suspension from the MLS Disciplinary Committee later this week. Even without these players, the Galaxy have shown to be a threat with Mexican star Giovani dos Santos, U.S. international Gyasi Zardes, and former MLS MVP Mike Magee.
Here's what Houston Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle had to say about the Galaxy:
“Everybody knows about the Galaxy. If you speak about MLS (around the world), then their name is mentioned in the same breath, because of the success they’ve had. They have huge stars and at this time are probably the biggest club in MLS, both financially and in terms of the coverage they get and the stars they have. I know a number of them from my time in England, and I played against most of them, including Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard. [Their other stars include] Giovani Dos Santos, Ashley Cole, (Nigel) de Yong, the list is endless.
"But, we’ve shown we can go toe to toe with the best teams and we have huge respect for what they do. [Galaxy head coach] Bruce (Arena) is a huge success in the league, but we know because we showed last year, and we’ve shown this year, that we can go with the very best. We have to be focused and concentrated and move the ball well. We have pace in our team and a real threat now, and the Galaxy will know that. It will be a really good game, two teams going all out to win. I think they’ve brought different types of players [than last year], good players, ultimately they brought quality that bring different things to the party in respect to what attributes they are. We will look at that closely, as we always do, and will work as a staff to recognize the strength the opposition have.”
