Foreign Exchange: Three questions with the Galactic Tribune's Alex Ruiz
It's Halloween, which means trick or treating, spooky vibes ... and a 4 pm CT kickoff for Verde? We dive into the matinee contest involving the Galaxy with one of our favorite SoCal soccer writers.
By the time you take the kids trick or treating, greet trick or treaters, or escape that altogether for something more adult, you'll know whether or not Austin FC's Halloween match was a trick or a treat.
In one of the most unusually-arranged matches of the year, Verde plays the LA Galaxy at 4 pm CT (2 pm PT) in Carson, Calif. It's the penultimate match and final road match of the year for Davy Arnaud's squad, who bowed out of playoff contention on Wednesday with a 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake.
Though Austin's now out of the playoff picture, it's not out of the playoff AFFECTING picture, as a win or draw for Austin would complicate the Galaxy's pretty straightforward path (which we'll get into) to making the playoffs, and depending on what Portland does against Houston on Sunday, Decision Day drama could involve Austin hosting the Timbers.
With the Gs playing Verde, we got to connect once again with Alex Ruiz, who in addition to covering one of the league's originals at his Galactic Tribune, has recently joined MLSSoccer.com — and he's not the first young writer I brought into The Striker (RIP) who completed the Striker-to-MLS pipeline. Also, our teams' 2026 seasons have been weirdly intertwined, so we explored that. (He asked me questions as well, and yes, Christian Ramírez was mentioned.)
To the questions!
The Galaxy are currently in 10th place in the West behind RSL, and after playing Austin, has a Decision Day match at RSL. Given all of that, do you see the Galaxy getting into the playoffs, or is this just not their year?
It feels like the Galaxy's playoff hopes are like a coin toss. In my opinion, I don't think this is the LA Galaxy's year.
The injury to Joao Klauss in April took him out of action for months. He's undoubtedly been the team's most dangerous player all season long and given head coach Greg Vanney a unique striker profile with his size and ability on the ball. But without him, the Galaxy had nobody able to pick up the goalscoring.
Will Kuntz and the front office looked to salvage the season by making massive changes and bringing in new players but it feels like those calculations haven't worked out on time.
Hirving "Chucky" Lozano hasn't arrived in LA scoring and assisting, plus he's been injured for over a month. Former Celtic striker Kyogo Furuhashi hasn't scored for the Galaxy and his recent injury hasn't helped take the pressure off of Klauss. The bench depth is still an issue.
The Galaxy has prepared better for next season than for this year. LA’s form has picked up of late, with one loss in the last seven games. Draws won’t make the Galaxy's lives easier; wins are needed now and not optional.
How is Greg Vanney faring? He's now the second most tenured coach in the league (just behind Brian Schmetzer), coming up on six years. Do you think he's in charge when the sprint season starts?
I feel very confident Greg Vanney will be back for one more season, mostly because of Riqui Puig's endorsement.
At a live Corner of the Galaxy podcast recording earlier this season, Puig was a guest and used his only time with the media over the past two years to declare that Vanney is still the right man to lead the club.
Had Vanney been putting up the results he's had over the last two seasons with Puig in the lineup, he'd be gone without a doubt. But Puig wanted Vanney to stay the leader of the club and publicly saying it means he's clearly attaching his message to the front office.
Is that the right decision? I don't know, you can really play both sides of this argument of Vanney In or Vanney Out. The fan frustration has started to grow and another season without playoffs isn’t going to calm them down.
I'm not surprised Puig wants to keep Vanney around, as he didn't have to play defense and the ball would always find him. (I'd never want my coach to go away if they let me do whatever I wanted.)
Austin has benefited from getting Christian Ramirez on waivers, and after Austin released Robert Taylor, he got picked up the Galaxy and has looked better than he did while at Austin. It's not really a trade per se, but how has that all worked out for the Galaxy?
Robert Taylor has been the MVP for the LA Galaxy for the last month.
The Finnish winger has four goal contributions (1g/3a) in his last five games and he’s stepped up while Lozano’s been hurt and Joseph Paintsil’s form has fallen off a cliff.
Taylor’s direct with the ball, his dribbling skills have surprised me and he’s comfortable playing on any side of the pitch. The Galaxy really needed winger depth after Gabriel Pec left and Harbor Miller would spend the rest of his playing time as a fullback.
With Austin coming to town, Vanney said Taylor is looking forward to showing what the team that let him go is missing out on.
“He’s looking forward to the opportunity to get his minutes and go show where he’s at, what he’s capable of doing,” said Vanney after Thursday’s training.
“He’s resurrected his career, and that’s always great for an individual player.”
Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) wherever you get your podcasts, and join us on Instagram to get updates on all our stories and podcast releases.
Austin FC announced its 14-match sprint season schedule as part of a leaguewide announcement. The season will start against a rival and end against another.
An apparent penalty that would have given Austin FC a lifeline was taken away after VAR review on Wednesday night, and we learned why, as well as what's next for the team now the postseason dream has died.
Austin FC got an early lead that looked as if may extend its 2026 season, but two goals ceded within five minutes led to a loss that took the team out of playoff contention two matches before Decision Day.
If Austin FC loses to or draws Real Salt Lake tonight, the dream of playoffs in 2026 is officially over. Learn more about who this version of RSL is; they're different than the team Verde lost to in March.
By the time you take the kids trick or treating, greet trick or treaters, or escape that altogether for something more adult, you'll know whether or not Austin FC's Halloween match was a trick or a treat.
In one of the most unusually-arranged matches of the year, Verde plays the LA Galaxy at 4 pm CT (2 pm PT) in Carson, Calif. It's the penultimate match and final road match of the year for Davy Arnaud's squad, who bowed out of playoff contention on Wednesday with a 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake.
Though Austin's now out of the playoff picture, it's not out of the playoff AFFECTING picture, as a win or draw for Austin would complicate the Galaxy's pretty straightforward path (which we'll get into) to making the playoffs, and depending on what Portland does against Houston on Sunday, Decision Day drama could involve Austin hosting the Timbers.
With the Gs playing Verde, we got to connect once again with Alex Ruiz, who in addition to covering one of the league's originals at his Galactic Tribune, has recently joined MLSSoccer.com — and he's not the first young writer I brought into The Striker (RIP) who completed the Striker-to-MLS pipeline. Also, our teams' 2026 seasons have been weirdly intertwined, so we explored that. (He asked me questions as well, and yes, Christian Ramírez was mentioned.)
To the questions!
The Galaxy are currently in 10th place in the West behind RSL, and after playing Austin, has a Decision Day match at RSL. Given all of that, do you see the Galaxy getting into the playoffs, or is this just not their year?
It feels like the Galaxy's playoff hopes are like a coin toss. In my opinion, I don't think this is the LA Galaxy's year.
The injury to Joao Klauss in April took him out of action for months. He's undoubtedly been the team's most dangerous player all season long and given head coach Greg Vanney a unique striker profile with his size and ability on the ball. But without him, the Galaxy had nobody able to pick up the goalscoring.
Will Kuntz and the front office looked to salvage the season by making massive changes and bringing in new players but it feels like those calculations haven't worked out on time.
Hirving "Chucky" Lozano hasn't arrived in LA scoring and assisting, plus he's been injured for over a month. Former Celtic striker Kyogo Furuhashi hasn't scored for the Galaxy and his recent injury hasn't helped take the pressure off of Klauss. The bench depth is still an issue.
The Galaxy has prepared better for next season than for this year. LA’s form has picked up of late, with one loss in the last seven games. Draws won’t make the Galaxy's lives easier; wins are needed now and not optional.
How is Greg Vanney faring? He's now the second most tenured coach in the league (just behind Brian Schmetzer), coming up on six years. Do you think he's in charge when the sprint season starts?
I feel very confident Greg Vanney will be back for one more season, mostly because of Riqui Puig's endorsement.
At a live Corner of the Galaxy podcast recording earlier this season, Puig was a guest and used his only time with the media over the past two years to declare that Vanney is still the right man to lead the club.
Had Vanney been putting up the results he's had over the last two seasons with Puig in the lineup, he'd be gone without a doubt. But Puig wanted Vanney to stay the leader of the club and publicly saying it means he's clearly attaching his message to the front office.
Is that the right decision? I don't know, you can really play both sides of this argument of Vanney In or Vanney Out. The fan frustration has started to grow and another season without playoffs isn’t going to calm them down.
I'm not surprised Puig wants to keep Vanney around, as he didn't have to play defense and the ball would always find him. (I'd never want my coach to go away if they let me do whatever I wanted.)
Austin has benefited from getting Christian Ramirez on waivers, and after Austin released Robert Taylor, he got picked up the Galaxy and has looked better than he did while at Austin. It's not really a trade per se, but how has that all worked out for the Galaxy?
Robert Taylor has been the MVP for the LA Galaxy for the last month.
The Finnish winger has four goal contributions (1g/3a) in his last five games and he’s stepped up while Lozano’s been hurt and Joseph Paintsil’s form has fallen off a cliff.
Taylor’s direct with the ball, his dribbling skills have surprised me and he’s comfortable playing on any side of the pitch. The Galaxy really needed winger depth after Gabriel Pec left and Harbor Miller would spend the rest of his playing time as a fullback.
With Austin coming to town, Vanney said Taylor is looking forward to showing what the team that let him go is missing out on.
“He’s looking forward to the opportunity to get his minutes and go show where he’s at, what he’s capable of doing,” said Vanney after Thursday’s training.
“He’s resurrected his career, and that’s always great for an individual player.”
Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) wherever you get your podcasts, and join us on Instagram to get updates on all our stories and podcast releases.
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