Greg Vanney hailed the strong spirit of his LA Galaxy players and urged them to keep finding ways to win as they travel to CF Montreal next in MLS.
The Galaxy ended their six-game winless streak on Wednesday, edging to a 1-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes despite making their own task trickier.
Lucas Sanabria was given his marching orders on the stroke of half-time, but the Galaxy dug in to find the win that moved them up to 10th in the Western Conference, just two points back from the playoffs.
It was their first win since the World Cup break, and Vanney believes this will only boost their confidence heading into the closing stages of the season.
"Sometimes winning the hard way is even better for the mentality and the spirit of the group as you embark on an important part of the season," he said.
"The challenges are we lose another guy in the midfield going into the next game, and we're just going to have to see the guys step up. That's really important.
"I think the team has the capacity to not just, as we move forward, show the qualities we have but also the maturity and what it takes to understand how to win different types of games.
"We're starting to build our identity with a new group of players that are coming in and building our relationships in the core group."
As for Montreal, they remain second from bottom in the East, though they are only four points behind ninth-place D.C. United, meaning their playoff hopes are still very much alive.
Like the Galaxy, they ended their long wait for a win in midweek; having gone eight matches without a victory, they beat the Columbus Crew 2-1.
Alexis Sanchez made his debut in that game, getting his first minutes off the bench, and Montreal will be hoping to continue his winning start.
À bientôt, Montréal pic.twitter.com/SQ1aZqOI08
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) August 20, 2026
PLAYERS TO WATCH
CF Montreal – Prince Owusu
Prince Owusu has been involved in 18 of the 27 goals Montreal has scored this season (12 goals, six assists), including scoring the opener against Columbus on Wednesday.
Owusu is tied for fourth in goal contributions in MLS despite Montreal sitting tied for 23rd in the league in goals.
LA Galaxy – Joseph Paintsil
Joseph Paintsil scored his fifth goal of the season in Wednesday's 1-0 victory – it was the fourth time this season he has scored the Galaxy's lone goal in an MLS match.
Prior to that, the Galaxy had drawn all four MLS matches in which Paintsil had scored this season.
MATCH PREDICTION: CF MONTREAL WIN
LA Galaxy have won four straight meetings with Montreal after managing one win in the first five encounters (D3 L1).
The last meeting between the sides was in California in July 2022, while they have not played in Montreal since May 2018.
Montreal snapped an eight-match regular-season winless run (D5 L3) with a 2-1 away win over Columbus. Montreal have put together back-to-back wins in league play just once since the start of the 2025 season, doing so against the New York Red Bulls and New York City FC this April.
As for the Galaxy, they snapped a six-match regular-season winless run (D3 L3) with their victory over San Jose. Since the start of last season, they have managed back-to-back league wins just twice, with both coming in pairs of home matches (July 2025 and October 2025).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
CF Montreal – 44.4%
Draw – 25.1%
LA Galaxy – 30.5%
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