LA Galaxy Beat San Jose Earthquakes 1:0 While Playing Almost an Hour a Man Down

Sanabria picked up a straight red card in the 45th minute, and LA Galaxy played the entire second half a man down against a team that held the ball for nearly two-thirds of the match. San Jose fired 22 shots to the hosts' ten and outscored them on expected goals, 2.41 to 1.41 — but the match wasn't won by the team with the better process: a single Paintsil goal in the 79th minute delivered Galaxy a gritty 1:0 win.

Sanabria's Red Card in the 45th Flipped the Game Plan

Sanabria was sent off right before the break, in the 45th minute — from that point Galaxy had to completely rebuild their approach, abandoning any real attempt at ball control in favor of a compact, ten-man defense. That's exactly when possession tipped decisively toward San Jose: Bruce Arena's side held the ball 63% of the time across the full match, and most of that edge came during the stretch played with a numerical advantage.

How Twenty-Two Visiting Shots Broke Against a Ten-Man Defense

San Jose fired 22 shots in the match — more than double the hosts' total — with 16 of them coming from inside the box. But only five found the target, and Galaxy keeper JT Marcinkowski dealt with four of them, conceding zero goals all night. Galaxy, for their part, managed just ten shots but put seven on frame — an accuracy rate near 70% against roughly 20% for the visitors — and it was that precision, not chance volume, that ultimately produced the match's only goal.

Paintsil's 79th-Minute Strike Was the Only Goal of the Night

Paintsil scored the match's only goal in the 79th minute, converting one of the few chances Galaxy created while playing a man down. The match's combined goals-prevented figure came in at 1.06 — a positive number indicating both goalkeepers collectively outperformed the statistical model rather than underperforming it, and it was Marcinkowski's reliable night in goal that let Galaxy's single strike stand up as the winner.

What the Table Says About This Win

San Jose sit fourth with 33 points and a +10 goal difference, already in the MLS playoff picture, while Galaxy sit just tenth with 25 points and a −5 goal difference. On paper, Greg Vanney's side trailed their opponent in nearly every category — and still won a match they spent close to an hour playing a man down. The two sides' last four meetings were fairly even — one win each and two draws, including their most recent meeting on July 26, 2026, which finished 1:1. Tonight's win is a rare case of the team with the worse process — possession, shots, xG — fully outplaying its opponent where it counted: on the scoreboard.

Passing Accuracy and Corners Round Out the Ten-Man Picture

Even a man down, Galaxy didn't fall apart on pass accuracy — 261 of 325 (80%) against San Jose's 485 of 553 (88%) — and the corner count read five to two in the visitors' favor. The hosts committed 12 fouls to the visitors' 17 and picked up four yellow cards to their opponent's three — numbers that point to a team defending on its feet rather than one that had completely lost control of the match. Both sides lined up in an identical 4-2-3-1, and the fact that Galaxy held that same structure even with ten men helps explain why the defense survived nearly an hour a man down without conceding a second goal.