Diego Fagundez’s next MLS game will be a milestone – No. 400 in his career.
“It means that I’m old,” he joked Thursday. “Four hundred games is amazing. It’s been a long career and hopefully many more to go. I’ve been chasing that 80-80 (goals and assists) and 90-90 and 100-100, so hopefully this 400 (game total) can keep going up, but what I really care about is trying to keep winning.
“The best thing would be a win on Saturday.”
The Galaxy, winless in MLS play (0-5-2) and recently eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions Cup, return home Saturday to face the Houston Dynamo.
“We’ve been fighting every game, in the last two, we’ve been fighting for 90 minutes, but I think we keep making these mistakes that are punishing ourselves,” said the Uruguayan, whom the Galaxy acquired from Austin FC in August 2023. “I think if we take care of our mistakes and everybody plays to their full standards, I think we could win games.
“I said it to the guys in the locker room, we have to be the first to score a goal, we need the first tackle, we need to be first at everything because right now we’re always playing from behind and it’s not because we’re getting outplayed by other teams. I think it’s more on us making those mistakes.”
The common theme this season has been the Galaxy finding ways to lose. In the last home game against Orlando City SC, a 1-0 lead in the 70th minute turned into a 2-1 loss after a misplayed goal and a penalty kick. In Tuesday’s second leg of the Champions Cup quarterfinal in Mexico, the Galaxy fell behind 2-0 after allowing goals in the ninth and 10th minutes. They allowed a third goal in the 57th minute, falling one goal short.
“It’s about details,” Fagundez said. “Pay attention to what we’re doing and in the game, the decisions that we’re making, we all need to be 100 percent committed to it. Last year when we used to make mistakes, I think we use to say, ‘All right, we can still score three goals.’ And this year, it’s not the same thing. Those mistakes need to be at minimum. If we make one mistake, OK, we can make one mistake, but I think right now, we’re making a couple of mistakes and that’s what really punishing us.”
The Galaxy currently sit at the bottom of the Western Conference standings. The offense has mustered just five goals and the team has allowed 14.
“You look at every game we played and you ask yourself, ‘Has the Galaxy been outplayed?’ I don’t think so,” Fagundez said. “Maybe the first game against San Diego and we still made mistakes in that game and we give them a goal and then we’re chasing. We’re shooting ourselves in the foot. It’s just us and if we can take that away, then we can be a team that can be winning. But at the end of the day, it’s going to take all of us.
“Everyone is frustrated, I know fans, players, everybody in this club, but at the same time we need to stay focused on the next game, take it game by game. We can’t be looking at the long run. I think we need to make sure that we are getting our points, a game at a time, and after that, once we start doing that, then we can start looking at the longer (run).”
HOUSTON DYNAMO at GALAXY
When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Dignity Health Sports Park
How to watch: Apple TV+ (MLS Season Pass)
Originally Published: April 11, 2025 at 12:58 PM PDT
