The LA Galaxy attack was flying going into Saturday night’s Western Conference final.
Seeking their first MLS Cup berth in 10 years, things did not come so easily against the Seattle Sounders.
It took more than 85 minutes for the Galaxy to unlock Seattle’s organized approach, but Dejan Joveljic got on the end of a pass from Riqui Puig and beat Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei to lift the Galaxy to a 1-0 win.
Waiting to make his move ♟️@JoveljicDejan lights @dignityhealthsp on FIRE! pic.twitter.com/P0mcyvCNhx
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) December 1, 2024
LA will now host MLS Cup next Saturday against the New York Red Bulls, two of the league’s original franchises meeting in the championship. It is the Galaxy’s first appearance in the championship final since winning MLS Cup in 2014.
“Just staying with it,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney told Apple TV, when asked about the resiliency his side had to show to move into the title game. “There were stretches when we just had to defend and protect our goal. (Seattle is) not the best defense in the league for nothing. We knew it was going to be a challenge.
“It has been a long time since we lifted a trophy, but we have got one more (win) left — to do what we really set out to do.”
The combination of Puig to Joveljic on the game-winning finish was fitting. Those two players were early building blocks in a roster that has helped turn around a Galaxy franchise that had been incredibly disappointing in the last few years. After the final whistle, Puig kept his head under a towel as he hugged Vanney, seemingly crying into his coach’s shoulder.
Last year, LA finished in 26th place out of 29 teams. Those struggles led to an overhaul in the front office. Longtime president Chris Klein and technical director Jovan Kirovski were out. Will Kuntz, a former New York Yankees and MLS executive who also helped build the Galaxy’s crosstown rival LAFC, was in as the new general manager.
Under Kuntz, the Galaxy spent around $20 million in transfer fees on two stars, Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil. The two wingers were a departure from the Galaxy’s longtime star-driven, big-name approach.
Paintsil and Pec may have had less name recognition, but they didn’t lack on-field value. LA would go on to finish second in the Western Conference by goal differential tiebreaker.
The two DP signings turned the team around. Pec had 16 goals and 14 assists in the regular season; Paintsil added 10 goals and 10 assists. No two players benefited more from the arrival of the two wingers than Puig and Joveljic, two standout players who were still not fully hitting their potential impact.
Joveljic would score 15 regular-season goals with six assists. Puig had 13 goals and 15 assists. In the biggest moment of the season, it was those two that combined to lift the Galaxy to the win.
The Sounders were left heartbroken by a loss in a game that they approached with a near-perfect gameplan on the road. The Galaxy had run over and through every team they faced in the postseason, but the Sounders not only limited LA for much of the game, they were the better team for large chunks of Saturday night.
Despite controlling the game, however, Seattle couldn’t find the back of the net and LA pounced on a mistake in those final minutes. Puig took a turnover and fed a perfectly-weighted pass into the path of Joveljic, who turned his right foot around the ball and past Frei at the near post.
(Jeff Rueter / The Athletic)
It was Joveljic’s 20th goal of the season across the regular season and playoffs.
The Galaxy are now one win away from a tremendous one-year turnaround.
In LA’s way for what would be a sixth MLS Cup — the Galaxy’s five Cups are most in MLS history — are the seventh-seeded New York Red Bulls, which came into the postseason having won just two of their previous 20 games.
GO DEEPER
Red Bulls advance to MLS Cup final with 1-0 win vs. Orlando City
The Galaxy will be heavy favorites to add to their storied history.
(Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Imagn Images)
