OG Playoff Matchup

My apologies for my silence.  As I mentioned I wasn't going to have a preview for the Austin match and that's because I was in Tokyo on vacation.  If you follow me on Twitter/BlueSky you saw my live-thread of going to see a J2-League matchup between JEF United Chiba and Ventforet Kofu at this time last week.  I'll have a writeup of that here next week.  My plan was to get home On Tuesday and do an Austin post-game Tuesday night or Wednesday but I brought a head cold home with me and this is the first time in the last 72 hours where I could focus on writing something so we'll go straight to the playoff preview.

Tomorrow night we're on the road in LA-LA land for the first of the best of 3 series against the Galaxy.  This is an OG Western Conference playoff matchup between the only two teams to have played all 29 seasons in the Western Conference.  It was also for a long-time the most played competitive fixture (including regular season, playoffs, USOC, etc.) between MLS teams.  I haven't seen an update to that list in close to 10 years though so I don't know if it's still the case.  Regardless these are two teams that know each other quite well.  The Galaxy are also the last team we've beaten in the playoffs, going back to that epic series in 2016.  Kickoff tomorrow is at 9pm so plan for a late night.  And remember, in the best of 3 series there are no ties.  If its level after 90 minutes we go straight to a PK shootout to determine a winner.

Player Availability:

OUT: M Djordje Mihailovic (ankle)

Not a surprise after what happened in Austin to see Sjordje out for this one.  All signs point to him being prepped to return Friday night.  Great to see Bassett and Steffen back as well as Cabral.

I think Armas will use Bassett at the 10 but I'd prefer to see him at his normal 8 and maybe use Yapi up front with Navarro.  Cabral won't start but he'll be the first option off the bench.

Prediction: 2-1 loss, goal by Navarro.  So far this season we've lost 3-2 and 3-1 to the Galaxy and I don't see that changing tomorrow.  We should try to play this like we played the Club America game, being satisfied with a scoreless draw and trying to win it in PKs but I don't think we'll be successful at that.  Once LA gets one and forces us to attack they'll find a second.  We'll get one back but it won't be enough.