Despite the LA Galaxy suffering through a six-game winless streak and multiple injuries, they’ll still be supplying three national teams with players during the upcoming break.
Midfielders Sebastian Lletget and Jonathan dos Santos, as well as defender Rolf Feltscher, have all been called into their national teams for upcoming matches.
Dos Santos will join up with the Mexican National Team for games against Uruguay (Friday, September 7, 7 p.m., NRG Stadium – Houston, TX) and the United States (Tuesday, September 11, 5:30 p.m., Nissan Stadium, Nashville, Tennessee).
Feltscher, after enduring a prolonged injury absence because of a torn pectoral muscle, has been called into the Venezuelan National Team. They’ll play against Colombia at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami (Friday, September 7, 5 p.m.) and against Panama in Panama City on September 11 (Estadio Rommel Fernández, 6 p.m.)
Lletget makes his return to the US Men’s National team for the first time since a March 2017 ankle injury derailed his development. He scored a goal in that game before suffering a broken foot that limited his minutes and games with the Galaxy to just three games and 270 minutes.
He’ll play in games against Brazil on September 7 (MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, 4:30 p.m.), and against Mexico, and dos Santos, on September 11.
All three players departing for their national teams have suffered through injury issues as of late.
Lletget came off the bench in the Galaxy’s 6-2 loss with Real Salt Lake on Saturday night after picking up a knock in the previous game – a 1-1 draw with LAFC. Dos Santos, on the other hand, was limited to just 34 minutes in the previous three games after suffering a Grade 1 groin strain against the Colorado Rapids but did play 90 minutes in Saturday night’s loss. And Feltscher and his pectoral tear have seen the defender play in just 10 games this season and only three since returning from injury.
The Galaxy won’t feel great about the timing of the call-ups. And with the playoff race quickly getting away from them, there’s little time to be worried about players getting injured away from their club. Especially with all three players recently missing games and coming off injuries.
The only bright side to any of this is that the Galaxy will be observing the International break with no games scheduled until September 15.
But each player is also in a tough bind. None of them are regulars for their respective national teams and denying a call-up now could hurt their future with those teams.
For now, the only thing the Galaxy can do is let their players depart for the international break and hope that they return when without any issues.