May the Force be with the Galaxy. Star Wars Night at Dignity Health Sports Park. Those in attendance get to have their fix of the Grogu bobblehead and all things Star Wars. This is the send-off game for the Galaxy and Houston Dynamo, before the FIFA World Cup break.
The first major chance of the game came in the 16th when JT Marcinkowski got caught out of place and a ball was coming right at the open net, only to be cleared by Justin Haak at the goaline. A mistake by the goalie that could have cost LA badly. On the other end. Good news for LA is that Jo Paintsil is running rough shot past the Dynamo defenders and creating chances.
You get the ball inside the box enough and something good happens, especially when Paintsil gets a touch on it. And that’s what happened in the 32nd minute when Paintsil connected on a loose ball in the box and ripped it to the upper corner of the net for the first goal of the match.
The Galaxy were only able to hold the lead for less than 10 minutes. A simple, not-threatening opening from midfield, on a pass to the top of the box to an open Guilherme who just takes a step forward and takes a long-range shot that goes past Marcinkowski. It was sudden, unexpected and anti-climactic goal from Houston. It looked like a surprise shot from distance that Galaxy weren’t expecting and ended up sleeping on.
That was late enough in the half to get Houston leveled heading into halftime. Galaxy had more opportunities pushing the ball, but Houston was able to maximize on their chance, after an earlier chance to get on the board was cleared short of the goal line. Galaxy will feel like they gave up a soft one, that was preventable.
Houston comes out in the second half doing a good job of possessing the ball. LA seems to have faded a bit after an aggressive start. Dynamo isn’t making an aggressive run, they are just playing ping pong with the ball. Surprising lack of urgency for either squad. It’s the last game before a long break, you’d imagine a win would be big before going into the break for both teams.
The crowd woke up when Dynamo keeper Jonathan Bond found himself lost way out of the box and Paintsil got the ball and was sprinting with it towards the goal. He gets past around Bond, but doesn’t have a good angle to take the shot with a defender tapered all over him. Paintsil drives in right into the goalie box but gets blocked as he tries to get off a shot. Tremendous chance for LA. Had they had someone trailing Paintsil, that could have been an drop-off and a likely goal chance.
LA is making a late push to try to get three points, but it ultimately wasn’t enough. Houston stood ground and held off the Galaxy and both teams head into the break with a point each.
Galaxy and the rest of the MLS will have a significant time off until they return mid-July. This Galaxy team might look vastly different when they return with the transfer window going into effect. Galaxy will have some work to do. I wouldn’t be surprised in seeing some surprise additions and subtractions to the club.
Rough start to the season, but Galaxy have been much better as of late. I’m expecting this team to be competing the second half of the season and make a legitimate playoff push.
Player of the Game:
Jo Paintsil scored the only goal for the Galaxy and was a big bright spot on the field on this night. Paintsil is really rounding into form after the injury and sees that he’s back to full speed.
Postgame Notes:
- Midfielder Marco Reus captained his ninth of 15 league matches for the Galaxy this season and has now donned the armband in five consecutive MLS Regular Season contests.
- Forward Joseph Paintsil’sfirst-half score was his third goal of the MLS Regular Season thus far, seventh total contribution in league play, and eighth overall contribution across all competitions in 2026 (four goals, four assists).
- The Galaxy extended their scoring streak to 24 consecutive matches with Joseph Painstil‘s goal in the first half, the longest active scoring streak in MLS.
- With tonight’s result, the Galaxy played the Houston Dynamo to their first draw of the season.
- Defender Emiro Garcés (foot) and forward João Klauss (foot) were unavailable for selection in tonight’s match due to injury.
Up Next:
The LA Galaxy return from the 2026 FIFA World Cup break and head into the famed El Trafico against LAFC on Friday, July 17 (7:45 p.m. PT, FOX/Apple TV) at Dignity Health Sports Park.