LA Galaxy vs. Atlanta United | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

LA Galaxy vs. Atlanta United
2018 MLS Regular Season - Week 8
StubHub Center - Carson
April 21 - 10:30 pm ET
WATCH: ESPN+, MLS LIVE on DAZN (Canada)

The stars will certainly be out at StubHub Center on Saturday night when some of the league’s highest-profile players clash in Carson as the LA Galaxy host red-hot Atlanta United.

The Galaxy are coming off a 1-0 win over the Chicago Fire, while the Five Stripes are unbeaten in five straight matches following a scintillating 2-2 draw with New York City FC.

LA Galaxy

Zlatan Ibrahimovic made his first start for the Galaxy and struck for his third goal of the season, latching onto an Ashley Cole cross and heading across the goal in first-half stoppage time for what proved to be the lone goal of a 1-0 win over the Fire.

The win was a character-builder for the Galaxy, who battled harsh weather conditions for an important road win that came off the heels of a disappointing 2-0 home loss to Sporting Kansas City a week earlier.

“It’s a little bit like when we went into Vancouver where we were short a lot of players, especially today we knew it was going to be a difficult game from the standpoint of the wind and the conditions,” LA Galaxy coach Sigi Schmid said after the game. “We had a disappointing result last week and I think it showed our character to come back and to play 1-0 at the end of the day.”

Cole was named to the MLS Team of the Week presented by Audi for Week 7.

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: F - Bradford Jamieson IV (concussion); QUESTIONABLE: F - Giovani dos Santos (hamstring), D - Michael Ciani (groin)

Projected Starting XI
(4-4–2, right to left)
GK: David Bingham — Rolf Feltscher, Daniel Steres, Jorgen Skjelvik, Ashley Cole — Romain Alessandrini, Perry Kitchen, Jonathan dos Santos, Sebastian Lletget — Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ola Kamara

Notes: The Galaxy are averaging 2.6 goals per 90 when Ibrahimovic is on the field this season (137 minutes, 28 seconds), as opposed to 0.8 goals per 90 when he is off (437 minutes, 10 seconds). … The Galaxy’s clean sheet against Chicago last weekend was just their second of 2018 and their third in their last 14 league games (4W-6L-4D).

Atlanta United

Atlanta United’s four-match winning streak was snapped, but the Five Stripes extended an unbeaten stretch to five consecutive games following a thrilling 2-2 draw with NYCFC Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Greg Garza and Chris McCann scored for Atlanta, which saw a pair of leads evaporate thanks to a David Villa penalty kick and a golazo from Alex Ring.

Tata Martino made two changes to a team that defeated LAFC, 5-0, the previous week, with Leandro Gonzalez Pirez returning from a red card suspension and Kevin Kratz making his first start of the season.

The match also saw the much anticipated debut of Ezequiel Barco, who came off the bench for the last 20 minute after missing Atlanta’s first five matches with a right quad strain.

“I think that he looked good,” Martino said after the game. “Physically, I thought he looked fine. He was dynamic. I think that he was missing a little bit in his precision and when he came on we went to four midfielders and we had [Darlington] Nagbe and Jeff [Larentowicz] playing inside with Barco on the right and Miguel [Almiron] on the left.”

Almiron was named to the MLS Team of the Week presented by Audi for Week 7.

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: Chris McCann
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: D - Jose Hernandez (quad strain), GK - Mitch Hildebrandt (left knee sprain); QUESTIONABLE: D - Franco Escobar (head), F - Hector Villalba (lower body)

Projected Starting XI
(3-1-4-2, right to left)
GK: Brad Guzan — Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, Michael Parkhurst, Chris McCann — Jeff Larentowicz — Ezequiel Barco, Julian Gressel, Darlington Nagbe, Greg Garza — Miguel Almiron, Josef Martinez

Notes: Garza’s goal last weekend was his second in his last eight MLS games after scoring one in his first 22 league appearances. … Atlanta’s 2-2 draw with NYCFC means that they are now unbeaten in their last five league games (4W-1D). The franchise MLS best is eight games unbeaten, set from August 26 to September 30 of last year.