Greg Vanney has defended his players on the back of three successive draws as the LA Galaxy's packed start to the season continues at Charlotte FC.

The Galaxy played out an uninspiring 0-0 draw at home to San Miguelito on Wednesday to advance to the last 16 of the Concacaf Champions Cup.

That followed a 1-1 draw in the away leg last week and a 1-1 home draw with New York City FC to kick off their 2026 MLS campaign.

After three games in a week and four games in 10 days, Vanney says it is understandable that his side have been below-par so far.

"I'm happy for the guys," he said after the stalemate with Miguelito. "I feel like we're trying to learn some things while we’re playing games.

"Playing three games really quickly in Coachella, to then very quickly jumping on a plane and going to Panama, to coming back and quickly playing New York and quickly turning this game around."

Charlotte played out a 1-1 draw with St. Louis in their opening game of the 2026 campaign as Pep Biel cancelled out Marcel Hartel's opener.

Kristijan Kahlina produced a career-high 10 saves to help earn his side a share of the spoils and a place in the MLS Team of the Week.

Head coach Dean Smith accepts that a point apiece was a fair result, but he is now expecting more from his players against the Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday.

"I felt it was an average game and an average performance, yet we still came away with a point," Smith told reporters. "I know players will get better from getting those minutes. 

"You're never quite sure what to expect in the first game because the intensity is always higher, but I expect my players to be better next week."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

LA Galaxy – Joao Klauss 

Joao Klauss opened the scoring 85 seconds into the game against NYCFC, making the Galaxy the eighth team in MLS history to score in the first two minutes of a campaign.

The Brazilian forward also registered one key pass and went on to play a full 90 minutes in midweek, and he is expected to retain his starting spot here.

Charlotte – Wilfried Zaha

Wilfried Zaha set up Biel for Charlotte's equaliser last weekend and now boasts 10 goals and 11 assists since the start of last season in MLS.

Biel has 11 and 12, respectively, making them one of two pairs of team-mates with double figures for goals and assists across that period, along with Inter Miami's Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.

MATCH PREDICTION: LA GALAXY WIN

This is just the fourth time these two sides have met, with a total of two goals being scored across the previous matches – one by each team.

The Galaxy have managed only five wins in 19 regular-season matches against Eastern Conference opposition since the start of the 2023 season, losing 10 of those.

However, all five of those victories have come at home, where they have a record of five wins, two draws and three losses against teams from the East.

Charlotte have managed just two wins in 14 regular-season away games against teams from the West, with the most recent of those coming in May 2023 against the Galaxy.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

LA Galaxy – 43.8%

Draw – 26.8%

Charlotte – 29.4%