New York Red Bulls v LA Galaxy: Vanney urges visitors to cut out mistakes in search of first win

The Galaxy were beaten 1-0 by Sporting Kansas City last time out, leaving them bottom of the Western Conference and seven points adrift of the Houston Dynamo.

Indeed, Kansas did not attempt a shot as the Galaxy became the first team in MLS history to lose a match without allowing a shot attempt, thanks to Maya Yoshida's own-goal.

Vanney has come under increasing pressure to improve results, and reiterated his team are doing everything in their power to turn their fortunes around.

"Let me just start with this. My reputation as a coach since I've come into this league is a guy who is tactically flexible, changes things, mixes things up," Vanney said.

"We did five different systems in Toronto. I honestly don't really believe that much in just the idea of system. It's more about movements, and it's more about where spaces are and how to build overloads. And we can do a bunch of systems.

"We need to be sharper as a group, and we're going to keep working on the training field about doing that. But we dominated this game in every single way, and we didn't execute, and we gave up an own goal.

"But ultimately, every single day in our staff locker room, we talk about the players we have and the best way to set them up to be successful in every single game, and we try to do that. I haven't seen a team that's played us off the field in any shape or form.

"I've seen us make mistakes and have a hard time finishing things. And those are things we have to keep improving upon."

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— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) May 5, 2025

The New York Red Bulls, meanwhile, responded from their 4-1 thrashing to Inter Miami with a victory in the U.S. Open Cup against the Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC.

Sandro Schwarz's team advanced to the last 16 of the competition with a comprehensive win, with Mohammed Sofo a particular standout for NYRB.

Sofo registered his first career multi-goal game for New York across all competitions. It was also the first time a player had scored more than once in the U.S. Open Cup since Daniel Royer did so back in June 2018.

The Ghanaian has four goal involvements in six appearances across all competitions this year, and Schwarz believes he can be a key part of the team this season.

"What we have seen of him today is the result of his development at the beginning of the year," Schwarz said of Sofo. "It started with the preseason.

"He's very aggressive, he's also very strong in the duel. He's not the physical, tall guy, but he's very, very strong in the duel, very aggressive on deep runs and then also to score, able to make the goals, to make the last pass.

"So it worked very well, and he showed us the last couple of weeks as well."

Choupo-Moting scored his fifth goal in 11 career regular-season appearances for the Red Bulls on Saturday.

No player has reached five goals for New York faster since Kenny Cooper scored six times in his first five appearances in 2012.

Ramirez has been the standout performer in an underwhelming season for the Galaxy, netting four league goals in 10 appearances in all competitions.

However, he has often struggled against NYRB. The Red Bulls are one of seven teams he has faced in the MLS without scoring against.

LA Galaxy have won their last two matches against the Red Bulls, including a 2-1 win in last season's MLS Cup Final. The sides haven't played in New Jersey in six years, since a 3-2 NYRB win in May 2019.

But Vanney's side are one of five teams in MLS history to collect three or fewer points through the first 11 matches of a season. No team in the competition's history has had three points or fewer after 12 matches of a campaign.

NYRB, meanwhile, have won four of their first six home games in 2025 (D1 L1). The Red Bulls managed only one win in their final 11 matches at Sports Illustrated Stadium in all competitions to end 2024 (D7 L3).

NYRB – 49.7%

Draw – 25.4%