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Galaxy return from break with ‘important’ game against Minnesota

April 3, 2026

The calendar has flipped to April, but for the Galaxy it might look a lot like March.

The month of March was a busy one, consisting of five games in 16 days, including league play and the CONCACAF Champions Cup round of 16.

On Saturday, the Galaxy return to action at Dignity Health Sports Park, hosting Minnesota United FC. This month’s schedule calls for seven games in 23 days, which will include the Champions Cup quarterfinals.

“We had a small break to put some good work in, stuff that we haven’t really been able to do too much with so many games to start the season,” defender Justin Haak said. “It’s been good for us to really focus on some things we need to work on.”

The international break came at a good time for the Galaxy. With March’s jam-packed schedule and travels to Panama and Jamaica, the team didn’t have many days of training.

“I felt like just having some time to recover and catch our breath was important,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said of the break. “Since the last part of preseason when we were in Coachella, to then the really busy part of the season, we had one little week of recovery and then we were right back into it. I just felt like some of it was just to recharge.

“I felt like down the stretch, we were probably 8, 10 percent under the intensity level that we want to be at and some of that was just I think was guys were just tired. When I watch back games, I’m like, we’re lacking a little bit of that juice and I think it was fatigue because then we come out in training after a little bit of time off, I’m seeing that spark, that intensity that I think I felt through a lot of the preseason that had just started to fade a little bit toward the end.”

The Galaxy have gone winless in their last three MLS games, including March 22 at Portland, when they had a man advantage for nearly 70 minutes.

“I think Saturday is a really big game for us, points wise, there’s no two ways about it,” Vanney said. “We end up losing two points in the first game (1-1 New York City FC), then we don’t get the result that we should against (Sporting) Kansas City at home and so this becomes a really important game. I think we have to be able to look at ourselves too and say if we want to get to where we want to be, these are home games that we’ve got to be able to take three. So for that reason, it’s going to be really important.”

Paintsil, Glesnes injury updates

Paintsil will again be out with a thigh injury. He said he was feeling good and Vanney said he expects to be back in full training next week.

“He’s doing stuff on the field and he will jump into parts of training next week and then hopefully, whether it’s the end of next week or soon thereafter, he will be involved with the team and starting to play games,” Vanney said.

Glesnes (calf) appears to be a couple of weeks behind Paintsil.

“I would say, he’s probably a few weeks away,” Vanney said. “He feels great, but with calves it’s tricky. It was not insignificant, the strain. He feels great, feels like he could probably go, but it’s the sustainability once you come back. So it’ll be a few weeks he starts to run as we come back next week and then there’s a progression after that.”

MINNESOTA UNITED FC at GALAXY

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Dignity Health Sports Park

How to watch: Apple TV

Orange County Register

News Details

Galaxy return from break with ‘important’ game against Minnesota

Paintsil, Glesnes injury updates

MINNESOTA UNITED FC at GALAXY

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