After a 10-year wait, Major League Soccer’s most successful team is back in the championship game for the MLS Cup. The Los Angeles Galaxy will look for a new star after winning the Western Conference crown in a tense battle.
A goal from Serbian Dejan Joveljic in the 85th minute gave the LA Galaxy a 1-0 victory over Seattle Sounders on Saturday night in Carson, where the white team will host the NY Red Bulls on Saturday, December 7, for the MLS Cup.
Seattle, the team that allowed the fewest goals this season, controlled the Galaxy’s explosive attack almost the entire game, specifically the speedy wingers Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil. But an innocent mistake opened the door for the decisive score.
Alex Roldán delivered a simple ball badly on the wing. Marco Delgado recovered in the enemy’s field and immediately touched Riqui Puig. The talented Spanish creative He waited for Dejan Joveljic’s movement and gave him a great pass filtered through the center for the Serbian scorer to score with a low shot from the right that goalkeeper Stefan Frei could not save.
The Sounders went ahead in search of an equalizer in the final minutes, including 6 in addition, but could not create a single truly dangerous arrival. The more than 26,000 spectators who filled the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson exploded when they heard the final whistle with which the Galaxy’s drought ended.
The resurgence of the Galaxy after an infamous year
The Galaxy finished second to last in the conference just last year. But A series of very successful signings, especially Pec and Paintsil, and consistent work from experienced coach Greg Vianney put the white team on the path to a clear recovery..
With a powerful offense that was the highest scorer in its conference, the Galaxy dominated the entire tournament in the West until on the last day – and at the last minute – they gave up the lead to their neighbor LAFC. Seattle showed up in Los Angeles to spoil a possible Los Angeles conference final.
Now, the Galaxy will look for their sixth star and will do so on their own court against the Red Bulls, who a few hours earlier were crowned in the Eastern Conference by defeating Orlando 0-1. Galaxy and Red Bulls are two of the founding clubs of the league. Back then the Red Bulls were called the New York/New Jersey MetroStars.
Seattle shut down the Galaxy attack for most of the game
After a first half without great emotions, where the most dangerous play was a shot by the Serbian Joveljic at 18 minutes that was saved by the Swiss Stefan Frei with good lying, the second half leaned on the side of the visitors, who disconnected the Galaxy attack like we haven’t seen in a long time.
Los Angeles entered Saturday’s game with 15 goals scored in these playoffsincluding a 6-2 victory over Minnesota United last weekend.
At 62′, the Sounders even came close to opening the scoring with a shot by Slovakian Albert Rusnák inside the area that was stopped by goalkeeper John McCarthy.
The MLS Cup is scheduled for 1 pm Pacific (4 pm Eastern). The Galaxy is an obvious favoriteagainst the No. 7 seed in the East, but as has been demonstrated throughout this postseason with unexpected defeats of the overall leader Inter Miami, Columbus Crew and LAFC, anything can happen in the always competitive MLS.
News in development.