The Galaxy’s search for their first win continues Saturday on the road against Minnesota United FC.
It will be a homecoming of sorts for forward Christian Ramirez.
The La Quinta High grad’s soccer journey took him to Minnesota United in 2014, when the club was in the NASL. The Loons joined MLS in 2017. Ramirez was eventually traded to LAFC in the 2018 season, then had stops in Houston, Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership and Columbus.
“My first child was born there, it’s a place that gave me a lot over five years,” Ramirez said of Minnesota. “Place that I have a special connection with the city and fans. Last year was the first time I’ve ever went back to Allianz (Field). I’m excited to go back.
“Seeing some old faces in the stands, seeing where that club has gone, that stadium is immaculate. Dr. Bill (McGuire) has done a fantastic job building that franchise and connecting it to the city, so it’s a very special place in my heart for sure.”
Ramirez is finding his comfort level with the Galaxy, who acquired him from the Crew last month. He has scored in consecutive games, including Sunday’s late tying goal in a 1-1 final with the Portland Timbers.
“Doing my part, picking my moments,” he said of his early process. “Building more and more trust with each other, more understanding of each other’s movements and tendencies. That only happens with time, time on the practice field, and this is one of the rare weeks so far that we have a full week of training, so it’s nice to be all together and find some success.
“We sense some good momentum. It’s always good to come off of two good results. Portland is historically a tough place to play and we stuck together and fought back to get that point, so we just continue to build, plug pieces in and build momentum.”
Minnesota will have a different look with six players – Michael Boxall (New Zealand), Canada’s Dayne St. Clair and Tani Oluwaseyi, Carlos Harvey (Panama), Robin Lod (Finland) and Alejandro Bran (Costa Rica) – away on international duty.
The Galaxy continue to search for that success and consistency, but coach Greg Vanney said some positives can be found in the last two performances: a victory in the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup against CS Herediano and Sunday’s draw.
“We aren’t super killer in the counterattack right now, so I think it’s really important we control our fair share of possession and we’re creating opportunities through short transitions or through possessions,” Vanney said. “Once we get Joe (Joseph Paintsil) back and others, our counterattack and our fast attack, over distance becomes more effective.”
Paintsil has yet to make his season debut. He’s been sidelined with a quad injury.
“He’s starting to enter good chunks of training and he’ll get into full training as we get into the early part of next week,” Vanney said. “I think he’ll be available next weekend. We’re getting close. He’s doing a lot of things that he needs to do, he’s on the last stages of his return-to-play, which he will get through this weekend.”
GALAXY at MINNESOTA UNITED
When: 1:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Allianz Field, Saint Paul, Minn.
How to watch: Apple TV (MLS Season Pass)