Playing in the first regular season encounter in club history, San Diego will travel to Dignity Health Sports Park for a date with the reigning MLS Cup champions, the Los Angeles Galaxy, on Sunday.
Last season, the Galaxy claimed their sixth league title by defeating the New York Red Bulls 2-1, with San Diego winning their last pre-season affair in convincing fashion, 6-0 over the same side.
Match preview
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At long last, the Galaxy were back on top of the Major League Soccer podium last year, lifting the trophy for the first time in a decade (2014).
It was Greg Vanney's second title as a manager in this league, with the previous one coming as the head coach of Toronto in 2017.
Given the depth they boast at every position, there is no reason to believe this team cannot repeat as champions once again, something no MLS side has done since the Galaxy successfully defended their title in 2012.
LA did not lose a single MLS affair in Carson last season, winning their four playoff home fixtures in 2024 by a combined margin of 14-3.
The Galaxy led the Western Conference with 69 goals in the 2024 regular season, the joint-most for this side in a single campaign, on par with the 2014 team.
This club have not won their regular season opener since 2022 when they triumphed 1-0 over New York City FC, the defending MLS Cup champions at the time.
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San Diego begin their MLS journey on Sunday, aiming to replicate the expansion success that we saw out of St Louis City in 2023.
That year St Louis became the first expansion side in this competition to finish on top of the Western Conference table with 56 points, and San Diego have some exciting attacking players that may be able to give them similar success in 2025.
We saw some of that quality on display last weekend as they netted six goals against the Red Bulls for their only pre-season victory.
While they had a strong attacking display last weekend, San Diego have looked vulnerable on the back end, conceding six goals in their three pre-season affairs.
Head coach Mikey Varas comes with a strong reputation for developing players at the youth level, guiding the American Under-20 team to a CONCACAF Championship in 2022.
Historically, expansion teams in MLS have proven to figure out this league quickly, with the last five new MLS sides making the playoffs within their first two seasons.
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Team News
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A torn ACL suffered in the Western Conference final last November means that Galaxy star midfielder Riqui Puig will not be available at least for the early portion of 2025, while Joseph Paintsil may be a question mark for Sunday because of a hamstring strain.
Over the off-season, they added Christian Ramirez, Matheus Nascimento (on loan from Botafogo), Lucas Sanabria and Mathias Jorgensen while letting Dejan Joveljic, Jalen Neal, Mark Delgado and Gaston Brugman move on to other MLS teams.
One of the first big moves San Diego made was signing Mexican Hirving Lozano, before acquiring Luca de la Torre on loan, while also adding Andres Reyes and Anders Dreyer.
They will be counting on the experience of Paddy McNair at the back with the Northern Ireland international playing nearly 300 matches at club level in England, while they also brought in Jeppe Tverskov and Marcus Ingvartsen from the Danish Superliga.
Los Angeles Galaxy possible starting lineup:
McCarthy; Yamane, Garces, Yoshida, Nelson; Cerrillo, Sanabria; Pec, Reus, Fagundez; Ramirez
San Diego possible starting lineup:
Dos Santos; Kumado, McNair, Reyes, Negri; De la Torres, Tverskov, Valakari; Dreyer, Lozano; Ingvartsen
We say: Los Angeles Galaxy 4-1 San Diego
While many expansion sides have had early success in the past, there are many questions about who can be that number nine in San Diego, and they may be in for a hard lesson on Sunday.
Even without Puig at their disposal, the Galaxy have plenty of talent to call upon, and we expect them to make a strong early statement.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
