PREVIEW | FC Cincinnati visit LA Galaxy in final Western Conference showdown of regular season
The Orange and Blue are headed to Hollywood! Well, Carson, California, at the very least, as FC Cincinnati gear up for their first-ever trip to play the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park. The visit also marks the final matchup with a Western Conference opponent of the 2025 season as they look to continue their strong run of form in interconference matchups.
With four games remaining in the regular season, the stakes of every match are heightened as playoff seeding and trophy potential remain on the line. FC Cincinnati have already clinched a spot in the 2025 MLS Cup playoffs, but with far more to play for, the desire to continue to improve and continue to “peak at the right time” is key.
“It certainly was a good moment for the group, and like I said after the game, to experience a victory in that fashion – which hasn't happened in a while,” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said Thursday before the teams departure to the City of Angels. “So more of a reminder of having the composure late in the game, when we're pushing for a goal, to understand how we got there and how we continued to create good chances by moving the ball the right way and getting into the box. So hopefully you take the energy and the feeling you have after a win like that, and take it into the training week and in our next match.”
The visit to LA sets up an interesting matchup between the two sides, as the Galaxy sit currently in the bottom place in the MLS table, but recently showed their capability in the Leagues Cup when they earned a third-place finish. So the matchup, while on paper is once between the top and the bottom of the table, Galaxy’s form has been positive of late and reflects a club looking to finish the year strong.
“It's a talented team, and like I always say, we're not looking at the table, we're looking at the challenge in front of us, and how this LA team can cause us problems, and how we think we can be effective in the game to do the same to them,” Noonan added in his press conference on Thursday. “I think maybe structurally some of the things have changed a little bit in recent weeks from what we've seen, but you always have to be prepared for an opponent to throw different things at you at this stage based on where teams sit and what they're playing for. But I can tell you this, we're well aware of the threats, and there's got to be caution going into it to know how to approach this game and find success.”
The trip to Los Angeles, like the one to Portland a month ago, also represents a challenge unique to MLS in that a regular-season match requires a team to travel over 2,000 miles and four time zones to play the match. FC Cincinnati has seen lots of success when playing Western Conference opponents under Pat Noonan, with a 16-4-5 record since 2022 and a 4-0-1 record this season. Noonan highlighted the preparation that goes into these visits West as part of the reason for success in how the support staff at the club keeps its athletes ready to play.
“They understand the challenges of playing on the road, whether it's in conference or out of conference,” Noonan said. “What I will say is from a sports performance perspective, a nutrition perspective, all of the travel and all the things that go into a west coast trip, our guys do a really good job of preparing our players with the right information to have the right diet, to have the right sleep, to get the recovery and just make that adjustment in the best way possible.
“As far as the coaching and the preparation, that's case by case. But I think the success that we've had is a lot in the preparation, from the things I just mentioned to just position the players the best way possible, physically, to go and play the game.”
Following this Saturday night west coast match, FC Cincinnati return home to take on Orlando City SC on Saturday, September 27, to close out the month in the penultimate home match of the regular season. They will then travel to Harrison, New Jersey, to take on the New York Red Bulls in the final road trip of the 2025 MLS regular season.
FC CINCINNATI @ LA Galaxy – Saturday, September 20, 2025 – 10:30 p.m. ET – Dignity Health Sports Park
Watch/Stream (English/Spanish): MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
English Local Radio: iHeart Media: FOX SPORTS 1360
Spanish Local Radio: La Mega 101.5 FM
FC Cincinnati Social Media: X/Twitter, Instagram and Facebook
FC Cincinnati Official Mobile App: iOS and Android
History with LA Galaxy
FC Cincinnati and LA Galaxy have only ever faced off once before, doing so in FCC’s first MLS season where the Galaxy visited Nippert Stadium in 2019. The Galaxy won the match 2-0 thanks to two LA goals in the first 15 minutes.
FC CINCINNATI NOTES
CLINCHED! – The Orange and Blue have qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. Only FC Cincinnati, the New York Red Bulls, Orlando City SC, LAFC and Real Salt Lake qualified in each of the three seasons between 2022-2024. With a win last Saturday, FC Cincinnati also became the first team in MLS history (post-shootout era, since 2000) to earn 55 wins over a three-season stretch.
Western Conference Success – Under Head Coach Pat Noonan, FC Cincinnati are 16-4-5 vs. Western Conference opponents in MLS play. Cincinnati are 4-0-1 this season against Western Conference clubs.
FCC have won five straight road matches against Western Conference foes, which is the longest interconference road win streak in MLS’ post-shootout era. A win Saturday would mark FCC’s second straight season of going 3-0-0 in road Western Conference matchups.
Road Warriors – With a win in one of the club’s final two road games, FCC would become the first team in the MLS post-shootout era to win 10+ road games in consecutive seasons. Only six clubs since 2000 have won 10+ road games in a single season. After winning 11 road games last season, the Orange and Blue enter Matchday 35 with nine road wins.
Some Shared Personnel – There is at least some shared history with LA Galaxy and FC Cincinnati as several members of the FCC front office and coaching staff played for LA in their playing days. Head Coach Pat Noonan played one season with LA in 2012 before retiring and joining the coaching staff as an assistant. Assistant Coach Kenny Arena similarly served on the same Galaxy staff.
General Manager Chris Albright played for five seasons with the Galaxy where he won two MLS Cup’s and a US Open Cup trophy as a player, doing so alongside now FC Cincinnati 2 Head Coach Tyrone Marshall, who spent the same five years playing with Albright for LA.
SCOUTING LA Galaxy (4-16-9, 21 Points, 15th in the Eastern Conference)
The LA Galaxy is in the midst of what can be generously described as a challenging season, and with five games left to play, they are battling to avoid finishing the season in last place in the Major League Soccer table.
After winning the 2024 MLS Cup, which secured their sixth title in club history, the Galaxy have taken a tumble down the table as injuries and roster-building challenges have plagued the club in their 2025 campaign. The Galaxy opened the 2025 season going 16 games without a win, and in the second half of the season, only found a semblance of form by going 4-4-5. That said, while the original LA squad has been terrible on the road, going 0-9-7, they have been somewhat better at home with a 4-7-2 record in their own building.
The Galaxy have been without, and will be without, DP superstar Riqui Puig, who suffered a ruptured ACL in last year's Western Conference Final. With their star number 10 out, LA have struggled to score but still have some dangerous pieces to consider. German international star Marco Reus leads the team in scoring with 5 goals and nine assists, with Joseph Paintsil and Gabriel Pec contributing five goals each, with three and six assists, respectively. That attacking trio typically makes up the defining offensive group for LA.
Of the three, Reus is questionable for this match as he has been absent from the lineup for the last two matches with a thigh injury.
Deeper down the field, Diego Fagúndez has been the anchor in the midfield as the MLS icon continues his career as an impactful piece. Fagúndez, 30, signed his first MLS deal as a homegrown player for the New England Revolution at the age of 15 and has been in the league ever since. In 15 seasons, he has made over 419 appearances and has played for the Revs (where he was the first-ever Academy player signed as a homegrown), Austin FC and now LA Galaxy, where he joined in 2023. He won his first trophy in 2024 when Galaxy won MLS Cup.
On defense, veteran Japanese international Maya Yoshida leads the back line with young defender and MLS NEXT Pro standout Chris Rindov, 23, combining with him of late. Rindov was drafted by Sporting KC in 2023 and earned a first team deal with the club but mostly appeared with the second team, after exiting the club at the start of 2025 he signed a deal with LA Galaxy NEXT Pro side Ventura County FC but quickly proved his merit and has now started the last two matches for LA since signing a first team deal on September 4.
The outside backs in the Galaxy defense are each notable for their own reasons. John Nelson has been the starting left back for the side. The former member of FC Cincinnati played 24 games before being taken in the Expansion Draft by St. Louis. He would play one season in STL before signing with the Galaxy in 2024. On the right is Japanese international and member of Team Japan at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Miki Yamane. The 30-year-old defender was named to the Team of the Matchday last week for his goal against Seattle Sounders in a 2-2 draw.
Head Coach Greg Vanney has been at the helm of the LA Galaxy since 2021 and is now the third most tenured active head coach in the league. He became the seventh Head Coach in league history to win multiple MLS Cups last season, when he guided the Galaxy to its sixth title, and the fourth to do so with multiple teams, having previously won his first MLS Cup with Toronto FC.
Vanney joined the LA Galaxy at a time when the historically top MLS side had struggled to find success and had become at risk of losing local favor to in-city rival LAFC. The Galaxy had failed to make the playoffs in three of the previous four seasons, and having helped turn Toronto FC into one of the best teams in MLS history, the Galaxy sought out Vanney to try to replace that success. To which he has done, even with some bumpy patches in his long-term build. Despite some of the challenges LA has faced this season, Vanney was given a multi-year contract extension in May of 2025 for his success.
This season, the LA Galaxy have most often deployed a formation with four defenders at the back, with some variation in the midfield and forward pieces. Most recently, the side has used a 4-3-3 formation with Reus absent due to injury, but when he has been present the side has used a 4-2-3-1 formation most often.
LA Galaxy enter this game undefeated in their last three matches, and (dating back to Leagues Cup) have only lost one of their last six. The Leagues Cup has been their brightest spark of the 2025 soccer season, as despite their poor league form LA was able to earn entry into the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup by defeating Orlando City SC in the third-place game of the 2025 Leagues Cup tournament. In that run LA earned results against Tiajuna, Santos, Cruz Azul and Pachuca before falling to Seattle in the semi-finals.
