The calendar has turned to March and it’s going to be a busy one for the Galaxy.
Starting Sunday in Vancouver, the Galaxy’s March schedule holds seven games, including a trip to Costa Rica for the start of CONCACAF Champions Cup on Wednesday against Herediano
First is a chance to rally from their MLS season-opening loss against San Diego FC.
“This is an opportunity to respond and bounce back,” midfielder Edwin Cerrillo said of Sunday’s meeting with Vancouver. “We have an opportunity to go out there and really fight and compete and give it 110 percent. I felt disappointed the last game. I’m a person that gives it my all, which I did, but ultimately we play soccer to win games and to have that feeling after not losing at home for so long, still stings to this day, really, and I’m looking forward to getting out there on the field and to show our fans that we’re here to compete again this year.”
As for the busy schedule, players always say they like to play, rather than train. Here are the playing dates this month: Sunday in Vancouver, Wednesday in Costa Rica, March 9 and 12 at home, March 16 in Portland, March 22 in Minnesota, and back home March 29.
“Rest and recovery,” Cerrillo said. “We have to depend on everybody, who’s in and around this team.
“That’s why you play soccer, you want to play in as many games as you can and we want play in these competitions, which is a good thing. We’re coming off of a good year, which puts us in Champions League where it was a goal for us. Now we have to deal with the travel, just means we have to rest and recover and communicate a lot with our training staff and find the best way to mentally and physically prepare for the next game.”
The Whitecaps are also coming off a busy start, having won their Champions Cup opening series against Saprissa and kicking off the MLS season with a 4-1 rout last week against the Portland Timbers.
“We didn’t meet the occasion,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said of last week’s defeat. “It doesn’t define us, it just shows us the things we need to work on. This is going to be a little bit of a work in progress as we settle some guys in and make up for some of attacking pieces we have to get settled into our group to become ultimately dangerous in the final action.
“I was a little surprised because some of the things that we saw on Sunday in the game weren’t things that were showing themselves in preseason. I thought they came out a little bit inside of the game, so maybe that’s the pressure of the moment, I don’t know, but it’s something that we certainly need to settle in on and improve. We will build. You don’t repeat as champions on Game One, though you want to have a good showing. You repeat as champions by building through the course of the season and being in your best form.”
Vanney had to balance league and CONCACAF competitions back when he with Toronto FC.
The Galaxy will head straight to Costa Rica following Sunday’s game in Vancouver.
“It’s busy, but this is what we’re here for,” Vanney said. “We have to be solution-oriented. Try to find the right ways that we can balance our roster out for the two games, approach each game one at a time, see how the guys are recovering, see what the repercussions for being on a play for 9-10 hours going down (to Costa Rica) are going to be and just try to approach it one at a time. We have a larger plan for the two weeks, but we will also have to reassess after each game and make sure we’re moving where we want to be moving. It’s tricky.”
Galaxy at Vancouver Whitecaps
When: 11 a.m. Sunday
Where: BC Place, Vanouver, British Columbia
How to watch: Apple TV+ (MLS Season Pass)