Galaxy starts July with ‘two big derby games’ in four days

It is rivalry week for the Galaxy.

The Galaxy kicks off July against their Northern California and traditional rival San Jose on Saturday at Stanford Stadium (7:30 p.m., Apple TV+). Just three days later, it takes on city rival LAFC on Fourth of July at the Rose Bowl in front a crowd that is likely to break the MLS attendace record of 74,479.

“They’re two big derby games,” Galaxy goalkeeper Jonathan Bond said. “It’ll be something we will all look forward to. It’s definitely one the fans are looking forward to and we’re hoping to do it for them.”

The Galaxy heads into San Jose on a four-game unbeaten streak, though it is only one win and three consecutive draws. In order to make up ground in the Western Conference, the draws are going to have to turn into wins at some point.

“Through stretches of these last four games, I’ve liked what the group has been able to do,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “I feel we’re positive about some of the things we’ve settled in. The gap for us, I think we’re No. 1 or 2 league in chance creation, but we are so far behind it in the actual execution of those chances. We’ve got to close that gap and that will take a little stress off of the defensive side because there is a sense that you really have to be perfect at times on the defensive side, which we haven’t, but I think we’ve improved and will continue to improve.

“The mentality has been strong, we’ve gotten out of front games, we’ve come from behind in games, the one we really rue was the one here (June 21 against Sporting Kansas City). We’re up 2-1 and it’s late in the game and not taking those (three points). If you take those points, we would be over the moon with this stretch of four games because three of the four have been on the road and in tough places to play.

“We’re showing some resiliency and some progress, but we’ve got to close that gap of finishing the chances that we’re creating for ourselves, which then takes a little bit of stress maybe off of the defensive side. And when you’re protecting a lead, you get everybody really focused on that protection and not feeling like we have to overpush to get those goals that haven’t been easy for us to get.”

The Galaxy have four games to start the month before the Leagues Cup break. After San Jose and LAFC, it will host the Philadelphia Union on July 8 and hit the road for a July 15 clash with the Vancouver Whitecaps.

“We feel good about going into San Jose, I think we played one of our best games against them here (May 14, 2-1 win), so we’ve got to learn from that. I’m sure they’ll adapt to some things, but it was one of our days where we did a lot of things well on the day for 90 minutes and deserved the win,” Vanney said. “Then when you go to the Rose Bowl, and it’s 80,000-plus people and you’re playing your cross-city rivals, anything can happen. It’s going to be hell on wheels … Right now we’re in a section (of our season) where it’s one game at a time. Get everybody ready to get a result on that day.”

“Thing about July is, there are four games (in league), we’ve got to really do our best to manage these four games and get as much as we can out of these four games.”

Sega Coulilbaly waived

The club announced Friday that it had waived the French defender after two-plus seasons. Coulilbaly had been slowed by a knee injury this season.

“We’re going to leave it at undisclosed medical reasons,” Vanney said as a reason. “He will return back to France to try to get himself ready to go again. We’ve been working close with him and we just think, for all of us, this is the scenario.”