Joseph Paintsil and Dejan Joveljic scored in the first half, and the LA Galaxy won their sixth MLS Cup championship with a 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday.
After striking twice in the opening 13 minutes of the final with goals from their star forwards, the Galaxy held on to lead in a goalless second half to lift their league’s biggest trophy for the first time since 2014.
MLS’s most successful franchise struggled for most of the next decade, even finishing 26th in the 29-team league last year. But the Galaxy turned it all around this season with a new high-scoring lineup that finished second in the Western Conference and then cruised through the playoffs with a whopping 18 goals in five games to win another crown.
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Sean Nealis scored for the seventh-seeded Red Bulls, whose improbable charge through the playoffs ended with a win ahead of their first Cup championship. With the youngest roster in the league, New York fell short of becoming the lowest 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 MVP of the 2022 MLS Cup Final 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 ran impressively all season, tore a ligament in his knee last week in the Western Conference final.
Puig watched the game in the suit, but his teammates hadn’t forgotten him: after his substitute Gastón Brugman scored LA’s opener with a superb pass, Paintsil handed out Puig’s shirt to his supporters during the celebration
Etienne Laurent / AP
Paintsil put the Galaxy ahead in the ninth minute when he met Brugman’s sublime pass to score his 14th MLS goal, including four in the playoffs, in the Ghanaian forward’s outstanding first season.
Just four minutes later, Joveljic beat four New York defenders to score the 21st goal of his outstanding year as a Galaxy forward.
Nealis put New York on the scoreboard in the 28th minute when he volleyed home a ball that was lost in the LA penalty area following a corner kick. The Galaxy’s generally shaky defense gave up a handful of good chances before going into the break with a slim lead.
The second half was animated, but goalless. 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 moments later.
The ball was released again in the Galaxy penalty area in the third minute of extra time, but two Red Bulls could not finish. The Galaxy bench rushed onto the pitch and prematurely celebrated a victory in the seventh minute of injury time, only to be taken off with 30 seconds left to play.
The Galaxy finished this season 17-0-3 at their oft-renamed suburban stadium, where the sellout crowd of 26,812 for the final included several solid cheering sections of traveling Red Bulls fans hoping to see the ‘advancement of his New Jersey club into the biggest MLS. stage
Galaxy’s Greg Vanney became the fourth manager 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 from David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Robbie Keane and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez rebuilt this season with lesser-known young talents from around the world.
The Galaxy signed Brazil’s Pec and Ghana Paintsil out of Belgium, and the duo combined with Serbian starter Joveljic to form a potent attack that could outlast almost any MLS opponent.
But the Galaxy also put a lot of trust in Puig, their Catalan catalyst and one of the best players in MLS. Puig sat out last week’s game after injuring his knee, and even provided the decisive pass to Joveljic for the game’s only goal.