LA Galaxy: 2020 Preview – Welcome, Javier Hernandez
By Matt Coles
With less than a month to go until the start of the 2020 MLS campaign, we are taking a look at how each team has evolved since last year and their chances this term. This time, we look at the LA Galaxy.
In 2019, the Los Angeles Galaxy returned to the postseason for the first time since 2016. The five-time MLS Cup champions finished in fifth in the Western Conference and were awarded a road playoff game with Minnesota United, the first in their history. The LA Galaxy were the only road team to win in the first round of the postseason, but their 2019 campaign ended in the next round as they lost out to city rivals Los Angeles FC in the first-ever postseason El Trafico.
For the third season in a row, LA did not qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League and they also failed in the U.S. Open Cup when they were pumped 4-0 by the Portland Timbers in the Round of 16.
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Here is how 2020 is shaping up for the LA Galaxy.
Best Performers
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the LA Galaxy’s best player over the course of the 2019 campaign was some little-known Swedish international who scored 30 goals in just 29 appearances. Zlatan Ibrahimovic made his mark in 2018, but he rose to new levels in his second year. In what would turn out to be his final season in the league, ending his time in LA with 53 goals in 58 games for the club, Zlatan’s WhoScored rating last season averaged out at exactly 8/10.
His strike partner for the latter half of the season, Cristian Pavon, came in with a 7.7/10, as he had a hand in 11 goals in 11 appearances, with three strikes himself along with eight assists. Jonathan dos Santos was the other man in the squad to average more than a 7/10 across the course of the 2019 term, as he scored twice, adding three assists.
Goalkeeper David Bingham had one of the better average ratings across the entire league, with a 6.87/10 rating coming from his 33 regular-season appearances.