Joseph Paintsil and Dejan Joveljic scored in the first half and the LA Galaxy won their record sixth MLS Cup championship with a 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday.
After scoring twice in the first 13 minutes of the final thanks to goals from their star forwards, the Galaxy held on to their lead through a scoreless second half to lift their league’s biggest trophy for the first time since 2014 .
MLS’s most successful franchise has struggled for most of the decade since, even finishing 26th in the 29-team league last year. But the Galaxy turned it all around this season with a high-performing new roster that finished second in the Western Conference, then cruised through the playoffs with 18 goals in five games to win another crown.
(Frédéric J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
Sean Nealis scored for the seventh-seeded Red Bulls, whose improbable charge during the playoffs ended a victory away from their first Cup championship. With the youngest team in the league, New York is far from becoming the lowest-ranked team to win the MLS playoff tournament under first-year German coach Sandro Schwarz.
Galaxy goalkeeper John McCarthy made four saves to win his second MLS title in three seasons. He was the 2022 MLS Cup Final MVP for the Galaxy’s rival Los Angeles FC.
The Galaxy won this title without perhaps their most important player. Riqui Puig, the Barcelona midfielder who has led his attack impressively throughout the season, tore a knee ligament last week during the Western Conference final.
Puig watched the match in costume, but his teammates didn’t forget him: after his replacement, Gastón Brugman, scored Los Angeles’ first goal with a superb pass, Paintsil presented Puig’s jersey to his supporters during the celebration.
Etienne Laurent / AP
Paintsil gave the Galaxy the lead in the ninth minute when he collected this sublime pass from Brugman and scored his 14th MLS goal – including four in the playoffs – in the Ghanaian forward’s stellar debut season.
Just four minutes later, Joveljic got past four New York defenders and scored the 21st goal of his exceptional year as a Galaxy forward.
Nealis got New York on the scoreboard in the 28th minute when he returned a ball that came loose in the Los Angeles penalty area after a corner. The Galaxy’s usually shaky defense squandered a few good chances before reaching halftime with a tenuous lead.
The second half was lively, but scoreless. Red Bulls captain Emil Forsberg hit the outside of the post in the 72nd minute, while Gabriel Pec and Galaxy substitute Marco Reus almost converted chances moments later.
The ball came loose again in the Galaxy penalty area in the third minute of overtime, but two Red Bulls could not finish. The Galaxy bench rushed onto the field and prematurely celebrated a victory in the seventh minute of added time, only to be pushed back for another 30 seconds of play.
The Galaxy finished 17-0-3 this season at their oft-renowned suburban stadium, where the sellout crowd of 26,812 for the final included several enthusiastic sections of traveling Red Bulls fans hoping to see their club based in New Jersey breaks through on the biggest game in MLS. scene.
The Galaxy’s Greg Vanney became the fourth coach to win an MLS title with two clubs. The former Galaxy player also won it all with Toronto in 2017.
The club famous for employing global stars such as David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimovic through to Robbie Keane and Javier “Chicharito” Hernández has rebuilt this season with lesser-known young talents from around the world.
The Galaxy signed Pec from Brazil and Ghanaian Paintsil from Belgium, and the duo teamed up with incumbent Serbian striker Joveljic to form a potent attack that could outplay almost any MLS opponent.
But the Galaxy also relied heavily on Puig, their Catalan catalyst and one of the best players in MLS. Puig remained in last week’s match after injuring his knee, and he even provided the assist to Joveljic for the only goal of the match.
